The misery of Turkish intellectuals

The 7th Package carries very radical articles to minimize "the influence of the Turkish army on civilian politics".

In fact, political thinkers like Fareed Zakaria identify democracies, in the world as "liberal" and "illiberal democracies" and names turkey within the sub-group of illiberal democracies entitled as "democracies under the Army guardianship."

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These recent but radical steps of Turkey have been appluaded by many different sources at the international level.

Some European politicians began at last saying, "Turkey now deserves to be seriously regarded as a potential member by EU."

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Quite understandably, some members of the Army did not like especially those new legal codes that minimize the influence of General secretariat of the National Security Council, and the fact that the Secretariat now may be appointed from the civilian cadres as well.

I can understand their feelings; nobody in the world wants to give up the power she/he holds.

I can also understand the feelings of the retiring generals!

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But I cannot understand the logic of the so-called intellectuals who are openly sorry that Turkey is losing the military guardianship for the protection of the secular Republic.

According to them; the government does not want more democracy for the country but by diminshing the "protective role of the Army", the government is opening the way for her dream i.e. religious rule!

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These so-called intellectuals want to block the way for freedom simply on the ground that somebody may misuse freedoms.

They do not have the faintest idea that, that is why we talk about "supremacy of law" as a necessary but not sufficient condition — a condition that one cannot give up-in the liberal democracies.

All they believe is that sheria can only be controlled, tamed and punished by the Army.

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Thus we live in a country where a professor of the Constitution can say:

– A new coup is unavoidable!

We live in a country where another professor of sociology can say:

– There are two kinds of military coup: useful and harmful ones.

According to this supposedly "leftist intellectual", the military coups against the "leftists" has always been harmful whereas the coups against "rightists" have always been useful!

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The intellectuals, especially those X-leftist ones, are now the neo-fascists of Turkey!