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Turkish Unrest Continues: Government vs. Military Philosophy

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The uneasy relations between the Turkish military and the elected government continued as the Prime Minister stepped down in order to retain power in its ruling coalition. While this has impliciations domestically in Turkey including the rights of individuals to seek religious educations and religious freedoms, there are also wider implications for the region.

Turkey is a member of NATO; a predominately European security alliance. It is also a frontier nation that borders not only the Middle East on one side, but a portion of the southwestern tier of the former Soviet Union. This made Turkey strategically important to NATO plans for containing Soviet advances into the Middle East and protected NATO's southern flank. It also meant that the Turkish military would receive tremendous aid from the Western powers. The military saw, and continues to see, the West as a means of improving their nation's economy and wealth. Secularism is rampant in their military and the leadership has sought to inculcate their forces with a strong notion that religion has no place in the military, let alone the government.

However, this is at odds with the elected government which was democratically elected. Islamic parties won enough seats to become the key to the ruling coalition. This worried the secular elements in the government who do not want Turkey to alter its legal system to match that of the Koran. Therefore, the military stepped in to prevent this from occurring and brings back memories of previous occassions where the Turkish military stepped in when the democratically elected government did something the military didn't like. It is a dangerous precedent when the military can step in each time the government does something that the military doesn't like. Human rights violations, abuses of power and a shifting away from a democratic regime could be in the offing if the Turkish government does not take a stronger stand with the military and creates a structure whereby the military is subservient to the civilian elected government.

Even though many in the West would be alarmed by having an Islamic regime in control of Turkey, if the Western nations believe in democracy and that this is the preferrable form of government, they should embrace and support the elected government rather than continue to support regimes soley because they have pro-Western views.

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