Two new decrees have been published under the jurisdiction of the State of Emergency in the Resmi Gazete (The Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey). The most interesting change in the new decree is the election of the Chief of Staff. According to this new decree, the prerequisite for one to have been either Commander of the Land, Air or Naval Forces, in order to become Chief of Staff has been abolished. (Source: News Agencies)

Comment:

The AKP (Justice and Development Party) or more specifically President Erdogan keeps taking precautions to prevent future coups from the army. Because this coup attempt has spoiled both Erdogan’s and the government’s chemistry quite a lot. The old version of the clause mentioned above read like this:

“Clause 8: The Chief of Staff; is appointed by the President with the proposition of the Cabinet from the present Generals and Admirals that has served as either Commander of the Land, Air or Naval Forces.”

Whereas in the Decree published today, the first Faction of the 8th Claus of the Law number 1324 has been changed to this.

“The Chief of Staff is appointed by the President with the proposition of the Cabinet from the present Generals and Admirals.”

This was maybe the most important and interesting Decree from all of the decrees that came out under the jurisdiction of the State of Emergency, until now. For the army has been fundamentally changed and is an attempt to neutralise it. It is an endeavour to ‘break the back’ of the army, which has been formed according to the English culture, by dispersion of the centre of power of the leadership. They desire, instead of this, an army that would be completely loyal to America. While in the past, the Commanders of the Forces took their orders directly from the Chief of Staff, now these commanders are connected to the Secretary of Defence and the connexion with the Chief of Staff has been terminated. In other words they have made it so that the power within the army is not concentrated at one point or in one hand. The government wanted to minimise the probability of a second coup or totally prevent it. Also by connecting the gendarmerie to the Ministry of Interior, they wanted to turn the gendarmerie into a civilian structure. At the same time by separating the building of the Ministry of National Defence from the Chief of Staff, just like in America, they will turn it into a Pentagon esque structure. Observing this there will be serious changes in the structure of the Ministry of Defence. This means that the ministry that was in the past a military heavy; will with these changes, be 60% civilian and 40% military.

Against these changes done by the government, some steps taken by the English has shown open and harsh reactions for the fundamental changes done to the army. They are voicing their disagreements by getting their men on TV. Moreover former Chief of Staff Ilker Başbuğ has voiced his concerns, “Even Abdul Hamid II did not close the Military Academies or Schools and act this bold against the coups done to himself.”

America and Erdogan have followed a sly plan against these reactions. Erdogan was quite worried and afraid of this coup attempt against himself. So Erdogan has reassigned the old English leftovers, who were acquitted from the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases, to some positions; both to overcome his worries and fears and because he has no other choice. Also to minimise the reactions they have taken a friendly demeanour to CHP. They are using a very sly and tactical policy. At one hand, he is reforming the army and dispelled any unfavourable politician they desired, at the other, he bribes the English by giving some positions to them. But this is a very risky step. Because the officers that have been returned to duty are the source of the coup. The English, that have not been very effective before the political steps taken by Erdogan, wants to preserve their position in the army however little it is. They are following the famous English policy of “If you can’t take the whole cake you should be content with the half”.

So will America and Erdogan be successful with this sly policy? We will see that more clearly in the coming days. Even if it looks like time has been in favour of America and Erdogan, surely there will be an end to that. Lastly even though steps like this are done to prevent coups, as long as the door to democracy, which is the real source of the coups, is not locked away and the door to the Khilafah Rashidah (Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood is not opened, they will never be successful (in preventing coups).

Yılmaz ÇELİK