The Turkish Military’s Autonomy, JDP Rule and the EU Reform Process in the 2000s

What is it about?

In the first part, we aim to give background information to DECAF reforms in Turkey. The second part carries the discussion to the Justice and Development Party (JDP) – Turkish General Staff (TGS) relations between 2002-2007. The third part makes an assessment on the civil-military relations in the period since 2007. The last section pays special attention to the significance of the question of a Turkish way to Europeanization especially in the field of civil- military relations.

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Why is it important?

This article tackles with the question of Europeanization in Turkey’s civil-military relations and the extent and content of democratization that the EU as a factor or an anchor serves in the civilian control over the Turkish Armed Forces. We argue that: the EU membership process has necessitated democratization in civil-military relations; this external support was not sufficient for a fully integrated democratic control of the armed forces (DECAF) as there are still problems in the democratization of civil-military relations; since the 2000s, there has been a DECAF reform process continuing; but due to historical deficiencies in Turkish polity like the civilian incapacity to change the priority given to the military’s role in the making of the security culture, the European norms of DECAF is formal.