The New Turkey in Arms – Discerning Patterns in Civil-Military Relations

Hakkı Taş (2021) The New Turkey in Arms – Discerning Patterns in Civil-Military Relations, TürkeiEuropaZentrum, University of Hamburg, January 26. Link

Abstract: Amidst sensational moves like the reconversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque, a more profound dimension of Turkey’s transformation is obscured. New Turkey rests on a wide network of diverse military and paramilitary organisations. Especially since the 2016 coup attempt, Erdoğan has sought, on the one hand, to maintain political control by purging the military and counterbalancing it via a network of paramilitary forces. On the other, buttressing his confrontational rhetoric, he has increasingly relied on hard power to mobilise the masses and suppress dissent at home while gaining diplomatic leverage abroad too. All these have ultimately led to the politicisation of the military and the militarisation of politics in Turkey.

_{^{Photo: The cover page of Millet-i Müselleha – the Ottoman translation of Colmar von der Goltz’ Das Volk in Waffen}}