Q & AMiddle East & North Africa

Turkey’s Erdogan Exercises Enhanced Civilian Control over Military

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) moved to rein in the Turkish military last week by blocking the promotion of a high-profile commander, Gen. Bekir Kalyoncu, and instead forcing the general’s retirement.

Turkish media described the move as being tied to what is called the Ergenekon case, in which military officials are accused of trying to overthrow the government.

Kalyoncu’s forced retirement, combined with the life sentence handed to former military chief Gen. Ilker Basbug in the Ergenekon case, underscored the shifting state of civil-military relations in Turkey, which is marked by a divide between secularists in the military and the political opposition on the one hand, and the Islamist-oriented government led by Erdogan and the AKP on the other.*

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