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Military Bestrides Turkey's Path to the European Union
ISTANBUL, Jan. 13 -- Turkey's powerful military, whose influence and economic reach are unparalleled in other democracies, is facing its toughest fight yet not on the battlefield, but in a struggle against those who want to remodel the country to enter the European Union.
Of all the reforms Turkey is being asked to undertake to join the European club, none would transform it as deeply as asserting civilian authority over the generals.
The outcome of the tussle between the military and those who demand change is important to more than Turkey. It will affect the balance of power in a strategic area between Europe and Asia, Christianity and Islam. Turkey, a NATO and American ally, fields the region's strongest army and is regarded as a bulwark against instability.
Still, a senior European Union diplomat said, in its present military- civilian configuration, Turkey would be unacceptable to the E.U.
The Turks, the diplomat added, have to find a way to get the pashas out of politics.
That task confronts the generals with the prospect of losing their well- known dominance of civilian affairs and their much less publicized but no less influential role in the country's economy. Both are changes they are prepared to resist.
Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by a general, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and his successors have staged coups three times in four decades, returning to barracks only after deeming affairs sufficiently secure to entrust to civilians.
After the most recent coup, in 1980, it was the military-backed government that drew up the 1982 Constitution that still governs Turkey. The document anointed the generals guardians of Turkey's secular government and territorial integrity, a mandate that has been interpreted broadly to cover almost any issue from the 15-year war against Kurdish separatists to pushing out an Islamic-led government in 1997.
This week, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer whom opinion polls recently placed in the unusual position of being more popular than the traditionally respected military threw down the latest of several challenges to the generals, calling for the Constitution to be rewritten.
Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz has said that change in the role of the military is inevitable as the country approaches European Union membership, though he carefully added that reforms would take time.
But the generals and their many supporters in government are resisting any major realignment, arguing that the strategic importance of Turkey in a rough neighborhood demands a powerful military.
The conflicts and relations in the Balkans, Caucasus and Middle East require us to maintain strong armed forces with a deterrence capability, Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said in an interview.
European countries face far less hostility from their neighbors and do not understand the need for a powerful military in Turkey, he said.
The potential for tension between politicians and the military was further illustrated this week when the army was accused of meddling in government affairs through an investigation of corruption in the state energy department.
Mr. Yilmaz, the deputy prime minister, remarked that government under the military would be more corrupt. Stung, the general staff swiftly responded with a statement accusing Mr. Yilmaz of the greatest slander.
Turkish military experts and Western diplomats said in interviews that Turkey's armed forces represent a stable and uncorrupted element in a society whose politicians are often weak and where scandals are routine.
Believe me, we are not happy to be involved in all kinds of problems of Turkey, said Atilla Kiyat, who retired 18 months ago as an admiral. The lack of civilian authority is forcing us to be involved in those kinds of issues.
In a coincidence seen by some as symbolic, the offices for the new bureaucracy created to guide Turkey's candidacy for the European Union sit squarely in the shadow of the eight-story headquarters of the National Security Council in Ankara, Turkey's capital.
The 10-member council, including the president, four cabinet ministers and the five top military commanders, sets the agenda on almost every important issue. It is an arrangement that many say enables the generals to dominate, because they present a united front while the ministers are often divided by fractious politics.
The European Union identified the reduction of the council's role as a top priority for Turkey's membership. Volkan Vural, the country's general secretary for European Union affairs, said that the military supports membership and that the security council is already the advisory body the Europeans demand.
How this can be clarified, I don't know, said Mr. Vural, a veteran diplomat who is preparing a 900-page outline on joining Europe for government leaders this month.
Indirect pressure to curtail the military is also coming from the International Monetary Fund, which asked the government last month to trim the budget for the armed forces as part of reforms in return for $7.5 billion in emergency aid.
The annual defense budget is about $9 billion, about 3.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product and four times the amount spent on education. Analysts say billions more are spent through mechanisms that are not reported in the budget.
Turkey is currently on a military buying spree, shopping for about $10 billion in tanks, helicopters and airborne early-warning systems an illustration of the military's economic resources that are almost never discussed, even as the military's political involvement comes under increasing scrutiny.
Military-owned businesses including a bank, 47 percent of a leading automobile maker and 10 percent of Turkey's cement-making capacity are among Turkey's largest enterprises and exist free from taxes. The businesses operate outside government control and profits pay for pensions, resorts, and other benefits for members of the armed forces, helping attract and retain top personnel and cementing the soldiers' elevated social standing.
Through a large holding company called Oyak, the military has financial interests in 24 companies involved in manufacturing, automobile production, agriculture, construction and finance. It owns a bank, a supermarket chain, extensive real estate and 47 percent of Oyak-Renault, one of the country's two dominant automobile makers.
Many of these businesses are partnerships with the elite of the economic world, from powerful and wealthy families of Turkey like Sabanci and Koc to multinationals like Goodyear and DuPont. The effect is to align the economic interests of the military and important segments of the business establishment.
Oyak, the Turkish acronym for the Armed Forces Trust and Pension Fund, was established by Parliament in 1961, after the first military coup, to provide economic benefits for military officers.
Competing with Oyak and its estimated 30,000 employees can be tough. Although it was set up outside the government, the company is exempt from taxes and financed by payroll contributions from military officers and land donations from the treasury.
Describing the history of Oyak in 1998, Taha Parla, a professor at Bosporus University in Istanbul, concluded, The civil servant on horseback already turned politician was further to become merchant, industrialist, financier and rentier.
The military also controls the Foundation for Strengthening the Turkish Armed Forces, a sister corporation established in 1987 that has interests in 30 defense-related companies manufacturing everything from aircraft and artillery to missiles and telecommunications systems. It employs an estimated 20,000 people and 80 percent of its income is donated to the armed forces.
Critics like Mr. Parla and Eric Rouleau, a former French ambassador to Turkey who wrote about the Turkish military's power in Foreign Affairs last month, argue that Oyak and its sister foundation blur the line between the private and public economies and help militarize the society.
The traditional respect for the military is underpinned by a yearlong class that every Turkish 10th grader must attend, taught by a current or retired military officer using a textbook prepared by the military. Besides inculcating the principles of Ataturk, the course covers political events from the military perspective, concentrating on threats posed by Turkey's neighbors.
The course has helped internalize the idea that the military has a
space in civilian life, said Ayse Gul Altinay, a cultural
anthropologist who interviewed dozens of students and teachers on
the topic. Even students who are critical of what the officer
says still believe he is the most qualified to speak about these
issues.
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