CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 47

HRANUSH DERMOYAN
established republic would take. 19 Gerassimos Karabelias also states that
the military institution of Turkey has been the driver of social, economic
and political reforms. Hence, in order to understand CMR in Turkey after
the establishment of the Republic, the military’s standing in the Ottoman
Empire should be examined as well. Although Ataturk included men with
military backgrounds in almost all state institutions, he also made sure to
create legal barriers so that the military does not get involved in everyday
political life. After each military intervention the military did not return
power to civilians until it made sure that its desired political environment
had been established. 20 In an attempt to legitimize military interventions
the offi cers presented it as a forced action for the preservation of democ-
racy. 21 Moreover, the military postulated that Kemalism and Ataturk’s
principles are the foundation for Turkey’s democracy. Thus by defending
Kemalism the military is also ensuring the prevalence of democracy in
the country.
Since the Turkish military had a big contribution in the establishment
of the Turkish Republic, it prescribed itself the right to protect the repub-
lic and the national interest. As Samuel Finer argues, military’s which
take on the roles of guardians come up with their own understanding of
the national interest. In the case of the Turkish military the national in-
terest was understood in line of the principles of Kemalism. A deviation
from those principles led to military intervention.
Military Interventions in Turkey
The Turkish military regarded coups as legitimate interventions for the
sake of the national interest. The interventions mostly occurred whenever
the ruling government failed to maintain stability in the country and di-
verted from the path desired by the military. After each intervention the
generals strengthened the legal ground for them to infl uence the political
processes even more. The military interventions which took place in Tur-
key must be examined in light with the political, cultural and socio-eco-
nomic situation in Turkey at that time. Junior offi cers started to show
signs of unrest in the mid-fi fties. This coincided with the worsening of
the economy in the country and it turned out that the civilian government
did not meet up the expectations of the people. Low ranking military of-
19
20
21
Nasser Momayezi, “Civil-military relations in Turkey,” International Journal on World
Peace 13, no. 3 (1998): 3-28.
Gerassimos Karabelias, “The evolution of civil-military relations in post-war Turkey, 1980–
95,” Middle Eastern Studies 35, no. 4 (1999): 130-151.
Gerassimos Karabelias, “The Military Institution, Atatürk’s Principles, and Turkey’s Sisy-
phean Quest for Democracy,” Middle Eastern Studies 45, no. 1 (2009): 57-69.
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