TIME TO TURN OVER A NEW LEAF: TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPTUALIZATION OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN TURKEY
TIME TO TURN OVER A NEW LEAF: TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPTUALIZATION OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN TURKEY

Summary/Abstract: An enormous amount of curiosity about Civil-Military Relations (CMR) in Turkey has emerged. In the literature, one may easily find descriptive historical analyses that seek to answer “what happened” types of questions as well as more analytical papers seeking to elucidate the “why did it happen” aspects of the story. Those who want to read model-proposing works on the “Hows” of Turkish CMR, however, would be disappointed in these pieces. This article suggests that the explanatory power of the traditional literature on Turkish CMR, which limitedly addresses the dichotomous conflict-ridden power relations between militaries and governments, has increasingly been fading away as a result of the established mutual collaboration between the Turkish Military and the governments from 2002 onwards. Then, it is time to turn over a new leaf and expand the conventional understanding of civil military relations in Turkey. The overall aim of this study, therefore, is to present a constitutive framework for more analytical “model-proposing” pieces on Turkish CMR that would transfer current debates on CMR in Turkey to more fertile ground.

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