Politicians vs generals
A confident Turkish government has not overreacted to the first ever en bloc resignation by the chief of staff and three service chiefs. Early last year, the government arrested scores of army officers including generals, both serving and retired, when a newspaper published copies of documents detailing the Operation Sledgehammer prepared in 2003 to avowedly overthrow the government. The General Staff claimed the plan was only a war game scenario. The government, however, went ahead with the arrests. The army now wanted some of the accused to be promoted at the meeting of the promotion board on Monday. Erdogan put down his foot maintaining that those arraigned could not be promoted and the law will have to take its course. This led the generals to resign. A decade back they would have overthrown the government.
The government has reacted to the development with equanimity. It is on account of its performance that the government can do this in a country where till the last decade the army played a dominant role in politics. Since it was swept to power in 2002 elections, the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has brought peace and stability to the country, improved national economy and has emerged as an important regional actor. The policy of reconciliation with Kurds has paid off, removing a major source of unrest and terrorist attacks that the army had miserably failed to tackle through military action. On Saturday, widely respected Kurdish politician, activist and poet Kemal Burkay returned home after 31 years of exile in Sweden saying he had never lost hope of a democratic future for Turkey. The government’s performance has increased its clout internally while providing it international prestige. The armed forces have periodically clashed with Erdogan but the prime minister has repeatedly outflanked them by continuing to win big in popular elections.
Turkey is an example of what elected governments with a history of military coups need to do to ensure their supremacy over the armed forces. It is not enough to claim that they have been elected by the people. They must turn the country into a better place by addressing internal strife through political means, improving the common man’s lot and providing the country a peaceful environment.
