Kamil Pasha

18 Responses to “Coup By Court (Almost)”

1. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Jul 31, 2008 at 3:12 pm

   I quote, from the article:

   There have been three coups against elected governments, several operations just short of a coup, and the Constitutional Court has shut down 24 political parties. The usual reason given is to safeguard secularism against elected parties seen as being too Islamic.

   This is what many people say now, but I don’t think it is true. There’s only been one, so-called post-modern coup that stressed secularism in ‘97, and while all the others may have paid lip service to saving the secular republic, both the ‘71 and ‘80 coups have been against the threat from the left. The one in ‘60 is hard to categorize since it’s power structure shifted (Turkes was in it but then he was sent away) but the party and the government it was clearly against was center-right.

   I went and looked at the list of parties that have been shut down after the constituion of ‘61 was enacted, and tried to label them. This is what I came up with (from memory, roughly, don’t quite me on this):

   12 Left (regular far left, not PKK-far left)
   3 Islamist
   6 Kurdish-constituency, possibly leftist
   6 dunno

   It is worth noting that the closure decisions of the last two Islamist parties were taken to the ECHR and in one case (RP) the European court refused to intervene[1] and in the other the application was withdrawn (I think) after RP’s second appeal was denied. The remaining closed party, Necmettin Erbakan’s original party, the MNP, was shut down after the coup-by-memorandum of ‘71 but he was invited back to Turkey and was encouraged to found the MSP later by at least one general involved in the coup. (The general was the airforce chief Muhsin Batur, who became a CHP MP at some point. Sounds odd, doesn’t it?).

   I think the state’s and the various coup regimes’ actions in this regard are important in the development of political Islam in Turkey. Many people (mostly in Turkish) do indeed talk/write about the shift in attitude (eg mandatory religion classes) brought about by the coup of 1980, but I think the state’s odd relationship with political Islam and the manipulation of the underlying social processes goes way back. That story itself might be interesting.

   [1] This, BTW, is one reason why Milli Gorus people under SP are very suspicious of the EU. They — righly — point out that while the EU made a lot of noise about the AKP’s closure case on grounds of vote counts, the RP/FP not only got no EU support when they were shut down but also that the ECHR effectively rubber-stamped the closures. They may well be xenophobic as the article states, but there are reasons other than xenophobia for their anti-EU stance.

2. Jenny White // Aug 1, 2008 at 5:27 am

   Thanks for your valuable comments, Bulent. I appreciate it. Jenny

3. Grace Beyler // Aug 1, 2008 at 11:20 am

   Jenny - I DO love your blog. I feel it is the only place I can get some objective information about current events in Turkey. Thank you for your comprehensive and thoughtful posts.
   I was living in Turkey at the time of the 1971 coup and can confirm that the perceived threat came from the left (Communsits and Maoists). The Islamization of Turkey was simply not an issue then.
   I am absolutely delighted with the Constitutional Court’s decision. Given the givens, it is the best possible outcome for Turkey and shows that it has come of age as a democracy. Erdogan is the most capable leader that Turkey has had in recent memory. Let’s hope that he does not squander his political capital.

4. Jenny White // Aug 1, 2008 at 12:47 pm

   Thanks, Grace. I was living in Ankara between 1975 and 1978, so I remember those days very well. That experience probably colors my expectations with regard to the potential for violence here, even though I know this is a very different country today. Jenny

5. Hans // Aug 1, 2008 at 4:23 pm

   Excellent article.
   Regarding Milli Gurus their activities in Western Europe, I simple don’t understand that whenever a German, Belgium, Dutch or French government is telling Turkey to help them to crack them down, the Turkish government is simply saying that it’s Turkish ‘internal affairs’.

   Another example: more recently, the Dutch government asked the Turkish one, to help them with several Dutch/Turkish citizens (born in the Netherlands, but parents Turkish) who wanted to became a soldier in the Dutch army, not to fullfil their military services in Turkey (you are born in the Netherlands - the Turkish government claim that you are a Turkish citizen - you have to serve in the Turkish army - even when one of the parents is Dutch). The Turkish government is stubborn, only if they pay 6.000 euros, they only have to serve 5 weeks.
   In fact, it doesnt matter who rules Turkey, Turkey is expanding its network in Europe through these rules.
   Kindest
   hans

6. Nihat // Aug 1, 2008 at 10:23 pm

   Most everyone seems to be delighted by the Court decision, but how far will this newfound political/psychological capital last? Most everyone seems to be pointing to various lessons that different parties should draw from the decision, but I read a brief evaluation by Sabih Kanadoglu, who is an off-the-bench yet influential judicial guru of sorts. I must say that his evaluation, which makes sense (technically speaking; I am not a lawyer), is alarming. He basically says that the Court, with a 10-to-1 vote, found AKP to have become the focal point of anti-secular activities, so they would not have to make a similar finding again if and when the question came before them again. I understand this to mean there is only one lesson (or course of action) for AKP to take, which is to back off and change their ways re: controversial constitutional issues. Should they push forward (as they just may come this fall; as they don’t seem to accept the Court’s finding), a repeat case could be opened and the Court could summarily close them down for violation of “the probation regime” (which is another way to describe Kanadoglu’s words, I guess).

   Brace yourselves, everyone! The only time of calm could be the coming couple of months of parliamentary summer vacation. Store energy. Read or re-read Jefferson on democracy…

7. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 2, 2008 at 8:52 am

   Nihat, I agree. I think had the MHP not pounced on the opportunity to force the AKP into amending the constitution, they wouldn’t have attempted it his early in the game. The headscraf problem will probably be alleviated through non-enforcement as there’ll be the ‘right’ kind of administration in place in many universities this fall. We still do not have a decision in the DTP closure case, BTW. Anyway, our ancestors weren’t kidding when they said “Osmanli’da oyun coktur.” As Hans claims and I hinted at, it’d be a mistake think the state here is anti-organized-religion or necessarily anti-AKP.

   As for reading Jefferson on democracy, I’ll warn you, that way lies madness. The less you knoiw, or, rather, the more you let the likes of Dagi, Turkone, Akyol, Sahin and Balci tell you how things are, how they ought to be, and how things are done elsewhere (including that mysterious place Jefferson had a hand in founding) the happier you’ll be. That way, you’ll also understand what secularism truly is, what a free market economy entails and what really went on in Turkey in the past. You might even learn a thing or two about math, science and scientists as a bonus.

8. Nihat // Aug 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   Bulent, yes. However, as a corollary to what you say, one should in general reject wholesale notions or explanations about the state, government, judiciary, etc. If an exception were demanded, I would offer “Byzantine” as the wholesale adjective to attach to most everything.

   There was a pun in my Jefferson reference. I read a columnist giving us the gist of it using a Jefferson quote that goes like “there are two parties: one made of those who fear the people, one made of those who don’t.” To him, this is the crux of our woes re: democracy. I don’t buy that (it’s demagoguery, big time imo). If we’re to stick with Jefferson, he said other things, too, like about separation of powers. I believe he even went so far as to say one exercising in one branch should not be able to make appointments for offices in other branches. Anyway…

   Btw, I take it that there was a similar pun in your second paragraph also. Right?

9. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   Hans, I went and double checked my info on what you say below:

   Another example: more recently, the Dutch government asked the Turkish one, to help them with several Dutch/Turkish citizens (born in the Netherlands, but parents Turkish) who wanted to became a soldier in the Dutch army, not to fullfil their military services in Turkey (you are born in the Netherlands - the Turkish government claim that you are a Turkish citizen - you have to serve in the Turkish army - even when one of the parents is Dutch). The Turkish government is stubborn, only if they pay 6.000 euros, they only have to serve 5 weeks.

   The law here for dual Turkish-foreign citizens is that if there’s mandatory military service required by the second country, then prople can opt to serve there and don’t have to serve here. Or. alternatively, people can give up their Turkish citizenship. So if there’s mandatory military service in the Netherlands, the guy could have just served there w/o needing any special permission and would be exempt here. If he wanted to become a soldier as a job, then I don’t see why it should be treated any differantly than any other job. (I did, incidentally, serve with a Turkish guy who was in the French army as his regular job.)

   As for the “you are born in the Netherlands - the Turkish government claim that you are a Turkish citizen - you have to serve in the Turkish army - even when one of the parents is Dutch” part, I don’t understand what you mean. I highly doubt the Turkish government ‘claiming’ things matters to anyone living abroad with another citizenship. Besides, one has to jump through hoops at the Turkish consulate to get Turkish citizenship for kids born abroad. Are you sure these people don’t want to be Turkish citizens but are somehow made citizens by Turkish government’s claims?

   I think you are off on the duration for the short term+money option too, it is three weeks. The payment varies with age.

   If it is conscription itself you are against, indeed a case can be made against that. Barring that, I just don’t see how the Turkish government is being unreasonable in this case. What is the problem?

10. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 2, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    Nihat I was being (perhaps somewhat unfairly) sarcastic in my second paragraph, so if that’s what you meant yeah.

    Oh BTW, I know you’ll just love this. Here’s one of our glorious cabinet ministers gloating about what they have done to the net.

11. Grace Beyler // Aug 2, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    I would be enormously grateful for any definitve answer to this whole question of who is required to do military service. My son is a UK citizen but has Turkish citizenship through his father, therefore we understood that he would be required to do military service and that this obligation would extend to the age of 38. Thinking that the way to circumvent this would be to remove him from Turkish citizenship, we were told that this would not be possible until our son was 38.
    Every time we try to get to the bottom of this, we get a different answer or the law changes, etc, etc. Said son is afraid to go to Turkey for fear he’ll be thrown into the army - or worse!

12. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 2, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Grace, I cannot give you any definitive answers obviously. I think you can get deferments in one year increments if you can show you are working abroad. Why can’t he get deferments? I think the process was pretty straightforward: you show the consulate you can legally work in whatever foreign country you live in and the paystubs from your work. They process the deferment when they renew your passport. If the paperwork slips, then much more paperwork happens before it is back on track. I think it works the same for dual citizens, but they just show the proof of other citizenship instead of the work permit. I knowledge of all this is dated though, but if anything I expect things to have gotten easier.

13. Nihat // Aug 2, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    Grace, I don’t know what venues you pursued to get to the bottom of it, but if actually doing this service (the three-week one /w fee) is no big problem for your son (but on his own time w/o fear of detention, etc. when visiting TR in the meantime), you shouldn’t hesitate contacting the nearest consulate, or his father’s local conscription office (askerlik subesi) thru the father or a relative. If he wants to keep his Turkish citizenship, I don’t see much to worry about making these contacts, or about serving in the said manner (believe me, in that short time, the conscripts don’t even find time to think; nothing to fear imho). On the other hand, if Turkish citizenship is not something he wants to keep, it should be possible for him to forfeit it. Again I am not a lawyer, and this is something you should contact the consulate to learn more about, but the citizenship law seems to grant, in a quite straight-forward manner, the right to forfeit citizenship if you are a citizen of another country. Below is a link to the said law (in Turkish of course, how up-to-date, I don’t know):

    http://www.hukuki.net/kanun/403.15.frameset.asp

    Check out Articles 20, 21, 22 especially.

    In case the above source is not up-to-date, I’d concur with Bulent, and guess that things should have been even easier now. If I am not mistaken, citizenship and passport procedures have been largeley decoupled from military service questions by recent changes.

    Bulent — Okay, second paragraph is fully understood now. Yeah, those glorious ministers!..

14. Nihat // Aug 4, 2008 at 3:02 am

    Bulent, an interesting article related to your comment #1 above: Gerger’in Gazetecisi (by Yildirim Turker, Radikal).

15. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 4, 2008 at 8:53 am

    Oh yes, I knew about this. Folks at ek$i sozluk covered it at the time, but couldn’t find the link there now.

    Perhaps they’ve been forced to take it down. This is not uncommon. Stuff is taken down either from fear or after phonecalls threatening (civil) lawsuits. This is true even for technical stuff (yes I know of cases).

    Thank you, though. I will counter with a story of a power play involving an almost textbook example of prior restraint imposed by the same bunch:

    I don’t think there’s a principled reasonably powerful ‘liberal’ group here to make loud noises about these things, unfortunately. Outside of some 301 cases involving notables, you don’t hear much. Even when there are noises made, the arguments are of the form that pleads that the speech in question wasn’t really offensive thus lending implicit support to gov’t interference for ‘offensive speech.’ Turker’s peice, while valuable on its own, is no different. The subtext is that the victim is a good guy, saying valuable things that needed saying. This is fine, but if you’ll approach it from a civil libertrarian angle, the subjective assertion that a good guy spoke and got in trouble because of it is the wrong way to argue — that somebody spoke and got into trouble would have been far better.

16. Bulent Murtezaoglu // Aug 4, 2008 at 9:24 am

    Oh, let me add to what I have said:

    This is true even for technical stuff (yes I know of cases).

    This is not unique to Turkey and started happening, for different reasons, in the US too after the Congress passed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998. Amazingly enough, I couldn’t find a good link but this is a reasonable summary of the issues. Dave Touretzky of CMU has a fun page about one particular case where first amendment issues arose. Basically a court and the plaintiff claimed that technical information embodied in a computer program was not protected expression, and folks turned the ‘illegal’ programs into art, t-shirts, poetry and such. Another funny oddity arising from the DMCA is the concapt of illegal number.

    The ‘net as we know it itself and freedom of expression on it is under constant threat everywhere from both governments and private interests acting through legislators. Turkey or the other usual suspects like China aren’t the only offenders in that regard. What’s different is that, at least in the US, there exists a visible (if somewhat weak) opposition to gov’t interference.

17. Nihat // Aug 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    I had also heard about the Antalya ‘power play’ case, but my knowledge of it was only cursory. Interesting.

    What I found striking in Turker’s piece was the change in the prosecutor’s attitude towards the local journalist. First, some examplary analyses protective of speech, but then, when buttons close to heart are pressed, 301 cases brought up and all. The journalists counter analysis re: cemiyet-PKK duality (power strugle) was important, I thought, re: the subtle relation between the state and organized religion you were speaking of.

18. Nihat // Aug 5, 2008 at 2:09 am

    Hah! Where do they place the decimal point in those illegal numbers? What’s the convention? I wonder if pi or e are in danger…