Turkish Politics and the Military

Hale, of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, has established himself as one of the West's leading specialists on Turkey, and his new book shows why. With much knowledge and intelligence, he deals with one of the central issues in modern Turkish history, "the Turkish armed forces' political experiences, and their position in the political system as a whole."

While Hale's detailed narrative goes back to 1960, the most interesting and original section concerns "the general and apparently voluntary disengagement of the military from the political system after 1983." This disengagement involves two main developments: the military's withdrawing from day-to-day administration of the country and its no longer seeing military policy as its exclusive preserve, outside the control of elected politicians. The remaining exceptions to Western norms are today in two areas: southeastern Anatolia, where the PKK campaign is underway; and in an arrangement whereby the chief of the general staff reports to the president (rather than the defense minister). As a result of the army's disengagement, Hale argues that by 1993, "the possibility of yet another military intervention seemed further away than at any time in the country's post-war history." If he's right, Turkey has entered a new political era.

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