The Military And Civilian Leadership

When I heard about this, I telephoned Gonul. ‘Certain commanders made farewell speeches, some of which were emotional,’ he told me. ‘Of course they emphasized the characteristics of the republic. However, those speeches weren’t aimed against the government or like a military memorandum. On the contrary, all the YAS meetings were held in a respectful atmosphere. There was no incident, speech or stance that would disturb the government.’

With the just-passed seventh European Union harmonization package, Turkey has accomplished a radical reform. Now relations between our civil and military leadership are those of modern, democratic country. The military took this great step towards modernization together with the government leaders and the opposition. If the military had created problems by opposing the civilian leadership, would this reform have gone forward? Ozkok has an important place in this achievement. However, the army accepted this change as well because in our age, the power of nations doesn’t come from money and weapons alone. The existence of the rule of law and democracy along with the army’s status under civilian command has become an element of ‘strategic power.’ In such a structure, nations are growing more stable. I have of late started to respect our army much more.