What Turkey needs is the separation of state and military

Turkish society is overwhelmingly Muslim, and Islam does neither have an institution like the Church nor does it even suggest a specified political regime. The founders of the Republic didn’t get that

Ali Murat Yel  Some political actors, in the light of secularism theses, have analyzed recent developments in Turkey. They assume that in order to achieve a truly democratic state, one has to separate the state and church as was once done in Western democratic states especially after Enlightenment. Yet, they seem to forget the fact that the current situation of the West owes very much to some historical events and the nature of societies that experienced them. In other words, the West has achieved democracy as a result of certain developments peculiar to itself. So, other societies cannot just import the result without the existence of similar reasons.

  If one looks at the Turkish case, especially with reference to the latest presidential elections in Parliament, from a socio-cultural perspective it is obvious that the country needs to separate powers if she wishes to establish a democratic regime. Throughout history many states have attempted to divorce the two basic institutions of society, namely, the military and state. This separation, however, has its fault especially in a modern nation-state since the state has been defined as the one having monopoly on the use of organized violence.

  

Keeping the military under control:

  A state's legitimacy surely depends on this monopoly of using power as it imposes its will on its subordinates and citizens otherwise if it cannot use this legitimate power of using violence its very own future would be in doubt. If and when a gulf appears in the values and the priorities of society and its military, it would indicate a grave danger for the country in which such an alarming development arises. In this case the military prioritizes and protects its own interests before that of the citizens' and consequently, the state would not be able to use its own armed forces to defend itself. If the gap widens between the military and its parent society, that is, the values, ideals and goals of the society that it is supposed to serve, recruitment would be very difficult or at least, individuals would not voluntarily serve the military.

  Perhaps, the most obvious difficulty that a liberal democracy faces today is how to handle and keep the military under its control. At the foundation of a democratic tradition lies the sovereignty of the individual and the rights of an individual can only be limited for the benefit of the majority. A military organization, however, cannot grant the individual such a degree of freedom and for the sake of a common goal, individual objectives and needs should be ignored. In the military “efficiency” takes full priority in the chain of command. For this reason in modern democracies the conflict between individual choice and authority needs to be solved at once and for all. Yet, the insistence of both parties on their priorities gives way to more conflicts.

  

Every Turk a soldier?

  The Turkish case differs from that of the Western experience on many points; first of all, the gap between Turkish society and its military has never been wide. The Turks believe that every one of them is born a soldier (her Türk asker doğar) in other words; they feel the need to serve their military voluntarily under any sort of conceivable conditions. Historically the land has been considered something sacred and regardless of gender every Turk is ready to die in order to defend it against any attack. So, this emotional bond between society and its armed forces is so strong that one cannot talk about any schism between the two.

  Since the Turkish military has enjoyed great moral support by the warrior-spirited public throughout the centuries it has become the one and only powerful actor on the political, social, and economic scene. Furthermore, due to its great role in forming the new society on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire it has also assumed the role of the guardian of the new republican regime. It has been the military that decides whether the country should be modernized or not, if so, to what extent it could go down the path of modernization and democratization. In other words, if and when the country realizes any democratic reforms it is the military that allows or puts a limit on these attempts. Under such conditions Turkey would not and could not improve her democratic record on her own but recently such attempts have been imposed on Turkey by the European Union.

  

Turkish Islam:

  The Turkish military feels free to easily intervene in political affairs when it feels insecure or threatened by political reforms. So much so that, such interventions have become an ordinary and commonplace action of the military. When it comes a little later than expected some other segments of society invite the armed forces to do its job.

  It is said that for a proper liberal democracy there must be a separation of powers. In the West these powers were the state and the Church, but in Turkey these powers are the military and the state. Simply put, in order to separate powers, there must be powerful entities so that a conflict does not arise in due course. In the Turkish case, one of these two powerful entities is not the Church. Turkish society is overwhelmingly a Muslim society and Islam does neither have an institution like the Church nor does it even suggest a specified political regime. Muslims can live under any political regime as long as they can freely practice their religion. So, Muslims, especially Turkish ones do not demand any political regime. But the founders of the Turkish Republic, as they have been alienated from the indigenous values and ideals of Turkish society, are afraid of such a fictive and imaginary demand. If only they could live among the ordinary people, they would easily realize that such fears are totally groundless.

  As a result, Turkey needs to solve this problem of separation immediately if she wishes to achieve a truly liberal democracy by not separating a powerful state and a powerless church, but a very powerful military.

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  Dr. Ali Murat Yel teaches sociology at the Istanbul-based Fatih University