Browsing by Subject "Civil-military relations--Turkey."

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Open Access
A comparative analysis of the 1960 and 1980 military interventions in Turkey
(1995) Makrihalilaki, Siret
The objective of this thesis is to analyse the evolution of the role of the military in Turkish politics as the guardian of the state. In doing so, the thesis provides a comparative analysis of the 1960 and the 1980 military interventions. This comparison allows us to see that, although both interventions had aimed at bringing the ” rationalist democracy " back in the political life, each intervention employed a different conception of democracy; used it as a ground for the legitimacy of the intervention; and acted, in fact, as a decision-maker to restore state power and state autonomy. The main argument of this thesis, which was constructed on and out of the comparison between the 1960 and 1980 military interventions, is that in a time when the military acts as a decision-maker and as a state elite, it functions as the guardian of the state. In order to subserve this argument, the thesis proceeds by delineating, in a detailed manner, the way in which each intervention was organised and attempted to restructure the political scene. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the 1961 and 1982 Constitutions in such a way as to demonstrate that, despite their differences, the military in each case placed the need to guard the state- its power and autonomy- at the apex of the political stage of Turkey.
Open Access
Construction of civil-military relations in Turkey
(2011) Halistoprak, Burak Toygar
Maintaining civilian control over military constitutes the classical problematique of the civil-military relations (CMR) scholarship. Besides, the relationship between military and civilians are taken as conflictual. Constructivist approach, on the other hand, argues that roles of social actors are not constant but they are socially constructed through an interaction process. Building on the constructivist approach, this thesis aims to focus on the relationship between military and civilians as an outcome of a process. Its argument is that the nature of relationship between civilians and soldiers are socially constructed within the social interaction process. Thus, it uses constructivism as its theoretical framework to provide insights to the factors determinant on the role of military in the political system. It uses a “theory-building case study” method and intends to make some theoretical implications derived from Turkish case. It analyzes the role construction of military in two domains: Organizational domain; societal domain. While organizational domain focuses on the legal status and self-perception of Turkish Armed Forces, societal domain is composed of political sphere and citizenry. The study shows that instruments such as ideology, compulsory military service system, education and media are used to build a strong military role. It makes a comparison of two periods. First period is between 1980 and 2001. The thesis argues that a strong and active military role can be observed in the first period. The second period is post- 2001 period. In the second era, it is observed that there is a structural and discursive change in the military‟s role in Turkish political system with the effect of the relations with European Union. The thesis makes a modest contribution to the civil- iv military relations literature by using a theoretical framework which has not been used very often in the literature.
Open Access
Europeanization, domestic political change and civil-military relations in Turkey
(2007) Karatekelioğlu, Petek
This dissertation explores the impact of the European Union on domestic political change in the area of civil-military relations in Turkey. The history of modern Turkey is characterized by the objective of becoming a full member of the European society of states. For this purpose, Westernization and modernization are the constituting discourses and practices of the modern Turkish Republic. Yet beginning in the 1960s and culminating in the 1990s, the deepening of the process of European economic and political integration has led to serious transformations in the European state system and society. Recent works studying the nature and scope of this change conceptualize this process as Europeanization. According to these studies, the European Union is the main variable triggering domestic transformation in the member states and candidate countries. The impact of the European Union is also strongly felt in Turkey, which is a candidate for membership in the phase of preaccession. This dissertation analyzes domestic political change in the realm of civilmilitary relations from the perspective of the Europeanization approach. The framework proposed to study the Turkish case is intended to contribute to the knowledge of Europeanization and Turkey-European Union relations.