The Justice and Development Party government and the military in Turkey

Abstract

Civil–military relations in Turkey have always been problematic. On several occasions the military has intervened in politics. With the coming to power of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in November 2002, those relations could have taken a new twist, for the military in Turkey has always been a robust guardian of secularism and there has been a suspicion on the part of the military and other secularist groups in that country that the AKP was engaged in dissimulation (takiyye), and that it would sooner or later try to bring back in Turkey a state based on Islam. The present essay takes up this issue and in particular indicates instances of hostile relations between the military and the AKP turning into cooperative, if not friendly, ones.