Turkey

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Turkey Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Turkey is a secular, republican parliamentary democracy. ...

Constitution of Turkey President (List) Ahmet Necdet Sezer Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Parliament Bülent Arınç Political parties Elections Provinces (İller) Legal system National Security Council Human rights Foreign relations EU accession

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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. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Constitution of the Republic of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey was enacted in 1982 during military dictatorship, replacing previous Turkish constitutions enacted in 1876, 1921, 1924, and 1961. ... There have been ten Presidents of the Republic of Turkey since its inception. ... There have been ten Presidents of the Republic of Turkey since its inception. ... Ahmet Necdet Sezer (born September 13, 1941 in Afyon) is the tenth and current President of the Republic of Turkey. ... This is a chronological list of every government formed by the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Turkey. ... Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan (born February 26, 1954), became Prime Minister of Turkey on March 14, 2003. ... The Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi in Turkish) is the unicameral parliament of Turkey which carries out legislative functions. ... Bülent Arınç (1948) is a Turkish politician and the 22nd Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey. ... Political parties in Turkey lists political parties in Turkey. ... Elections in Turkey gives information on election and election results in Turkey. ... Provinces of Turkey are called iller in Turkish (singular is il, see Turkish alphabet for capitalization of i). ... Turkey is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Turkish Constitution guarantees basic human rights to all Turkish citizens. ... Foreign relations of the Republic of Turkey are primarily with the Western world and its neigboring countries. ... Turkeys formal application to join the European Community—the organisation that has since developed into the European Union—was made on April 14, 1987. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... This page has been protected from editing to deal with vandalism. ...

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–10 November 1938), until 1934 Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Turkish army officer and revolutionist statesman, was the founder and the first President of the Republic of Turkey. ... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. ... The Military coup in Turkey, On 27 May 1960. ... The Military coup in Turkey, 1980 was a coup detat made on September 12, 1980 by General Kenan Evren, head of the general staff and also chief of Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of Gladio. ... The Coup by memorandum is the second military coup of Turkey carried out on March 12, 1971. ... The Post-modern Coup Detat was a military coup in Turkey, occurred on February 28, 1997 overthrowing the coalition government of Necmettin Erbakan. ... Necmettin Erbakan Prof. ... The Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) (RP) in Turkey was founded by Ahmed Tekdal in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, Milli Nizam Partisi (National Order Party, MNP) and Milli Selamet Partisi (National Salvation Party, MSP), which were banned from politics. ...

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." ^[4] 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.^[5] In 1992 then chief of general staff Gen. Doğan Güreş proclaimed self-confidently that Turkey is a military state ^[6]. The Turkish military coup of 1980 was a military coup made by the highest ranking commanders of the Turkish Army on September 12, 1980. ... The Chief of the Turkish General Staff is a military person of rank general, who presides the general staff of the armed forces - army, navy, air force - of Turkey. ...

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’ .^[7] The Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a nation is eligible to join the European Union. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi in Turkish) is the unicameral parliament of Turkey which carries out legislative functions. ...

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.^[8] The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...

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."^[9] 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."^[10]

See also

Accession of Turkey to the European Union Turkeys formal application to join the European Community—the organisation that has since developed into the European Union—was made on April 14, 1987. ...

Politics of Turkey Turkey is a secular, republican parliamentary democracy. ...

Turkish Armed Forces Turkish Armed Forces (Turkish: Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri TSK) consists of the Army, Navy (includes Naval Air and Naval Infantry) and Air Force. ...

Military coup in Turkey, 1960 The Military coup in Turkey, On 27 May 1960. ...

Military coup in Turkey, 1971 The Coup by memorandum is the second military coup of Turkey carried out on March 12, 1971. ...

Turkish military coup, 1980 The Turkish military coup of 1980 was a military coup made by the highest ranking commanders of the Turkish Army on September 12, 1980. ...

External links

• Official website of the National Security Council (Turkish and limited English information)
• European Commission 2005 Progress Report on Turkey (pdf)

References