CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 57

HRANUSH DERMOYAN
main duty of the Secretariat became the defi nition of the agenda of the
NSC thus its duties were limited to clerical services. The Prime Minister
also gained executive control over certain funds that had been allocated to
the NSC. One of the major achievements regarding the civilianization of
the NSC was the appointed of a civilian Secretary General of the Coun-
cil instead of a four-star army general. Although Turkey did not fulfi ll all
reforms proposed by the EU, there were signifi cant changes done to civ-
il-military relations in line with EU reforms as a result of which civilian
leadership gained more authority than it ever had previously in the history
of the Turkish Republic. The military participated and infl uenced the re-
forms demanded by the EU for accession, nonetheless, the reforms did
play a role in curbing the powers of the military and strengthening the po-
sitions of the civilian government. One major achievement was limiting
the powers of the National Security Council. Since its establishment af-
ter the 1960 military intervention the NSC had served as one of the main
channels of infl uence for the military.
Findings and Analysis
By creating the role of guardians of secularism and Kemalism for it-
self, the Turkish military had in a way legitimized military interventions
as a way to restore order in the country. Whenever, according to them
the civilian leaders diverted from the right path, the military intervened
to restore order and stability. As a result since the establishment of the
Turkish Republic the military has had fi ve successful interventions, a
few unsuccessful ones and the latest failed coup of 2016. Since the 1960s
there have always been factions in the military which have sought to sort
matters through military intervention. There have been abortive coups in
the 1960s where younger offi cers have tried to intervene but older gen-
erals have been able to hold them back. During previous coups, gener-
als who did not wish to participate in the interventions would keep sol-
idarity and not inform civilian leaders about coup plots. The 2016 failed
coup, although similar to the previous ones in the way it was carried out
and the in what followed afterward, was diff erent in essence. The style
of the coup did not diff er much from the previous ones. However, the
main diff erence between the 2016 and previous coups was that not only
a small faction within the military participated in the coup. The remain-
ing factions showed their support for Erdogan’s government and took ac-
tion against coup plotters. The plotters may have hoped that their move
might ignite a spark and other offi cers would join the coup, as they had
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