Pride and Prejudice: Party Views on Militarization and Civilianization in Turkey

After three full-scale coup d’etats and numerous interventions in politics, the Turkish military had established itself as a major extraparliamentary actor. The exit mechanisms and permanent advisory councils secured continuation of the military’s supervision of the policy-making. In this sense, the Turkish military had been an implicit partner of the political parties in the parliament. This study analyzes the perceptions and attitudes of the Turkish political parties towards the military’s political role. Relying on the party documents and interviews, it tries to understand whether the self-attained role of the military in preserving the republican principles were also recognized by the parties. Hence, it aims to capture the civilian context and collaboration of militarization of the Turkish politics.