Print media and civil-military relations in Greece and Turkey

Abstract

This study investigates how Greek and Turkish newspapers columnists interpreted and framed military takeovers in their countries after the takeovers had happened. Refuting arguments in the literature asserting that Greek columnists kept their silence during the military regime due to censorship, while there was strong and open support in Turkey among newspaper columnists for the 12 September coup and the subsequent rule, this study argues that the situations in both countries were much more complex than these studies have claimed. Directed by this approach, it focuses on the pieces published in the Greek newspapers Akropolis, iv Eleftheros Kosmos, and Ta Nea during the first six months of the military interregnum (after the 21 April 1967 takeover), and the ones published in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, and Milliyet (after the 12 September 1980 takeover). It shows that important similarities existed between Greek and Turkish officers’ approach to the media in their countries during their respective periods of rule. In addition, Greek and Turkish columnists shared both similarities and differences in their framings and interpretations of the military’s takeover in their countries and the subsequent interregna. This study argues that these similarities and differences can be better understood by examining the development of journalistic profession in Greece and Turkey, as well as by analyzing the development of civil-military relations and the role and position of the military in politics in both countries since their establishments as nation-states.