| ID | 177009 |
| Title Proper | Praetorian army in action |
| Other Title Information | a critical assessment of civil–military relations in Turkey |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Esen, Berk |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | With four successful and three failed coups in less than 60 years, the Turkish military is one of the most interventionist armed forces in the global south. Despite this record, few scholars have analyzed systematically how the military’s political role changed over time. To address this gap, this article examines the evolution of civil–military relations (CMR) in Turkey throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Based on a historical analysis, this article offers a revisionist account for the extant Turkish scholarship and also contributes to the broader literature on CMR. It argues that the military’s guardian status was not clearly defined and that the officer corps differed strongly on major political issues throughout the Cold War. This article also demonstrates that the officer corps was divided into opposite ideological factions and political agendas and enjoyed varying levels of political influence due to frequent purges and conjectural changes. |
| `In' analytical Note | Armed Forces and Society Vol. 47, No.1; Jan 2021: p.201–222 |
| Journal Source | Armed Forces and Society Vol: 47 No 1 |
| Key Words | Turkish Military ; Turkish Politics ; 1960 Coup ; 1971 Memorandum ; National Unity Council ; Ismet Inönü ; Cemal Gursel |