The forgotten dimensions of civil-military relations in Turkey

Abstract

Many analysts, in explaining civil-military relations in Turkey often develop their arguments within the framework of a binary and conflict-oriented paradigm. Although the confrontational analyses have long been reflective of certain aspects of the Turkish case their explanatory value is increasingly fading as a result of newly crystallizing trends characterized by an intense cooperation between the democratically elected government and the General Staff. The main defect of the dichotomous and confrontational paradigm is that it overlooks three fundamental epistemological approaches: The rational (strategic) action approach; the international structural-institutional approach, and the cultural approach.