No excuse not to implement military reforms / LALE KEMAL

The latest meeting of a top military body that decides the promotions and retirements of generals and admirals culminated on Aug. 3 with the Turkish government further consolidating its power over the military, once dominant in political life.
The Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) concluded its yearly meeting on Aug. 3 and replaced all four force commanders regardless of whether they had reached retirement age or not. Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel will retain his post for another two years, until he retires in 2015, but the land, navy, air and gendarmerie commanders were all replaced. This year's YAŞ meeting was less contentious than past meetings as the top generals dominating the council agreed to the political authority's demand to retire all four force commanders, including Gendarmerie General Commander Gen. Bekir Kalyoncu, who otherwise would have been appointed as the Land Forces commander. This post would have paved the way for Kalyoncu to replace Özel as chief of General Staff in 2015. Kalyoncu is named in the indictments of the Ergenekon coup plot trial. Additionally, his earlier warning that the peace process initiated by the government to end its three-decade terrorism problem will result in the disintegration of the Turkish nation annoyed the political leadership. Meanwhile, YAŞ itself is controversial due to the fact that it is staffed by generals who have a self-imposed tradition of preventing the political authorities from having a say in the promotions and retirements of generals. Hence, this council's founding law should ultimately be changed as a means to further democratize civilian-military relations. Still, however, the determined stance of the Turkish political leadership, in particular Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as President Abdullah Gül, in asserting its power over which commanders it will work with has marked an important step in further reducing the military's power in politics. In addition, this year's YAŞ meeting also witnessed a purging of the junta mentality that has seen no problem staging coups or issuing memorandums to overthrow governments. To a large extent, the purge was made possible by the near completion of the gradual retirement of generals and admirals suspected or convicted in coup trials. The top commanders' insistence in previous years on not following relevant legislation that bars coup suspects from being promoted also created serious unease and frustration among the officers waiting to be promoted to higher ranks. This is because the positions they would otherwise be promoted to were kept filled for long periods of time by senior officers being tried on charges of having plotted coups. “This year's YAŞ came as a big relief for many officers who have been frustrated with the effects of coup plan trials since 2007 as those associated with the junta mentality are now being purged from within the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces],” said a retired colonel in comments to this columnist. “Respect for the democratic control of the armed forces has seen a rise within the armed forces as officers have seen that coups or coup attempts cannot go unpunished anymore. The officers have been internalizing the facts that they need to concentrate on their military duties and that engaging in politics is not their duty,” added the same source. The Turkish military has staged three military coups since 1960 that have resulted in the unseating of governments and thereby interrupted the democratic process. The junta mentality has also prevented the military from implementing a long-delayed restructuring and reorganization plan for the TSK to bring it in line with the requirements of modern warfare, including the ability to mount an effective response to asymmetric threats. The top generals newly appointed at the YAŞ meeting to head the land, navy and air forces as well as the gendarmerie are generally portrayed as efficient and respectful of the democratic control of the military. This is critically important at a time when turmoil to Turkey's south, i.e., Syria, has already had a spillover effect into this NATO member country. The peace process with Turkish Kurds also requires a harmonious relationship between the civilian and military leadership. In the final analysis, as the junta mentality within the TSK has now largely been purged, neither the government nor the military has been left with any excuses not to focus on further reforms.