The Turkish Military's March toward Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID7776016
AuthorsErsel Aydinli, Ersel Aydınlı (0000-0002-8534-1159), Nihat Ali Özcan (0009-0006-2124-6351), Dogan Akyaz
Year2006
Volume85
Issue1
Pages77
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueForeign Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-7120 • E-ISSN: 2327-7793
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/20031844
OpenAlexW2566892730
LanguageEN
Citations received21

Turkey’s accession to the European Union has long been an issue of great debate. Some \nhave questioned the EU’s willingness to welcome such a large, poor, and culturally \ndistant country as a member; others have wondered whether Turkey can transform itself \nenough to meet the EU’s demands. Yet much of this talk has overlooked the Turkish \narmy, even though it is a key player in the process thanks to its critical role in founding \nmodern Turkey, its continued popularity within Turkish society, and its uniquely \npowerful voice in politics. None of the reforms the EU still requires of the Turkish \ngovernment can be achieved without the military’s backing. Recent changes have already \ndramatically curbed the power of the Turkish military in several of its traditional areas of \ninfluence and reduced its long-standing authority in some civilian institutions. Not all of \nthese adjustments have been greeted with open arms, but the Turkish General Staff (TGS) \nhas largely complied with the EU’s demands even though doing so has forced it to let go \nof power it had felt necessary to build up and carefully guard for decades

Ancient history · Economic history · Political science · Turkish · Cyprus History, Politics, Society · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · History · Philosophy · Turkey's Politics and Society

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