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The National Security Council (Milli Güvenlik Kurulu (MGK) in Turkish) is a powerful body that unites the top civilian and military leaders, and issues ‘recommendations’ to the government upon all matters vaguely defined as touching on the security of the state of the Turkish Republic.
The role of the military in Turkish politics
The MGK is widely perceived as the institutionalisation of the Turkish military’s influence over politics. Since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the modern secular republic of Turkey in 1923, the Turkish military has perceived itself as guardians of the Kemalism, the official state ideology, even though Atatürk himself insisted separating the military from politics. The role of the military has explicitly been underlined by the two direct coups d’états in 1960 and 1980, the 1971 coup by memorandum, and what later has been labelled a post modern coup, when Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan from the pro-Islamic Welfare Party stepped down after mounting pressure from the military in 1997. Paradoxically, the military has both been an important force in Turkey’s continuous Westernization but at the same time also consisted an obstacle for Turkey’s desire to join the EU. At the same time, the military enjoys a high degree of popular legitimacy; with continuous opinion polls suggesting that the military is the state institution that the Turkish people trust the most..
History of the National Security Council
The creation of the MGK was an outcome of the military coup in 1960, and has been a part of the constitution since 1961. In this way the 1961 constitution created what the Turkish scholar Sakallioğlu labels "a double headed political system: the civilian council of ministers coexisted with the national security council on the executive level, and the military system of justice continued to operate independently alongside the civilian justice system." The role of the MGK was further strengthened with the 1982 constitution, adopted by the military junta in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup, before transferring power to civilian politicians. From now on its recommendations would be given priority consideration by the council of ministers. Furthermore, the number and weight of senior commanders in MGK increased at the expense of its civilian members. In 1992 then chief of general staff Gen. Doğan Güreş proclaimed self-confidently that Turkey is a military state .
Recent reforms in the National Security Council
In order to meet EU's political demands for starting membership negotiations, the Copenhagen criteria, Turkey has passed a number of reforms aiming at strengthening civil control over the military. These reforms have mainly focussed on the MGK, its duties, functioning and composition. On 23 July, 2003 the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi – TBMM) passed the so called seventh reform package, which exactly aimed at limiting the role of the military, through reforms of the MGK. According to an editorial in the Financial Times the reforms passed with the 7th reform package constitutes nothing less than a ‘quiet revolution’ .
Firstly it is now underlined, that MGK is a consultative body, now with a civilian majority. The 7th reform package made it possible to appoint a civilian Secretary General of MGK, which happened for the first time in August 2004. The council has not anymore expanded executive and monitoring authorities, and has for instance not any more the authority on behalf of the president and the prime minister to follow up on the implementation of MGK’s ‘recommendations’. In addition, MGK has not anymore unlimited access to all civil institutions. MGK does no longer have a representative in the Supervision Board of Cinema, Video and Music. It was however still represented in civil institution such as the High Board for Radio and TV (RTÜK) and the Commission for higher educations (YÖK), but after critics in the 2003 European Commission report this representation was withdrawn from both institutions in 2004.
Criticisms from the European Union
Despite the impressive institutional changes, the 2004 European Commission report concludes that "Although the process of aligning civil-military relations with EU practice is underway, the Armed Forces in Turkey continue to exercise influence through a series of informal channels." In the Commission report of the following year it was stated that: "Reforms concerning civil-military relations have continued, but the armed forces still exert significant influence by issuing public statements on political developments and government policies."
See also
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
External links
- Official website of the National Security Council (Turkish and limited English information)
- European Commission 2005 Progress Report on Turkey (pdf)
References
- Momayezi, Nasser: “Civil-military relations in Turkey”, International Journal on World Peace. New York: Sep 1998. Vol. 15, Iss. 3., p. 3.
- Momayezi, Nasser: “Civil-military relations in Turkey”, International Journal on World Peace. New York: Sep 1998. Vol. 15, Iss. 3., pp. 19-22.
- Ersel Aydinli, Nihat Ali Özcan, and Dogan Akyaz: The Turkish Military's March Toward Europe, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2006
- Sakallioglu, Cizre: The Anatomy of the Turkish Military's Autonomy, Comparative Politics, vol. 29, no. 2, 1997, p. 157.
- Sakallioglu, Cizre: The Anatomy of the Turkish Military's Autonomy, Comparative Politics, vol. 29, no. 2, 1997, pp. 157-158.
- Özcan, Gencer: The Military and the Making of Foreign Policy in Turkey, I: Kirişci, Kemal (red.) & Rubin, Barry (red.): Turkey in World Politics. An Emerging Multiregional Power, Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 2001. pp. 16-20.
- Financial Times (editorial): A quiet revolution: Less power for Turkey's army is a triumph for the EU, July 31, 2003.
- Informations in this passage are from: European Commission: 2003 Regular Report on Turkey’s progress towards accession, November 5, 2003; European Commission: 2004 Regular Report on Turkey’s progress towards accession, October 6, 2004 and European Commission: Turkey 2005 Progress Report, Brussels, 9 November 2005.
- European Commission: 2004 Regular Report on Turkey’s progress towards accession, October 6, 2004. P. 15.
- European Commission: Turkey 2005 Progress Report, Brussels, 9 November 2005, p. 41.