Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
As the protests in Turkey turn from spontaneous rallies into a form of political struggle against the government of the Party of Justice and Development and the established opposition is trying to lead the process, the role of the army in the developments becomes acute.
In spite of scandalous trials initiated by the government against hundreds of Turkish officers who were later sent to prison, the military is still a serious political force in Turkey and is not controlled by the government. In the context of mass protests all over the country, the ruling Islamist elite should be seriously concerned: in the Turkish Republic’s history the army generalship has four times toppled unwanted governments.
However, in the current internal political crisis the army is still in the shade; while the police are dealing with “establishing order” in the country. On the one hand, the cruel behavior of the Turkish police is explained by the aggressiveness of protesters. A significant factor is that the police personnel mainly consists of Islamists who support the PJD, many of them are religious followers of Fethullah Gulen’s movement.
The situation is absolutely different in the traditionally secular army: Erdogan’s attempt to shift the control over the army from the general headquarters to the government, i.e. the Defense Ministry, hasn’t succeeded yet. The majority of officers still supports secularism in the army, i.e. stand against the current authorities.
It is confirmed by certain events happened in recent days. In Istanbul employees of a military hospital handed out safety masks from tear-gas. On Friday night, soldiers of the Turkish army provided injured demonstrators with health care at an Istanbul barrack.
1news.az citing Yeni Şafak Newspaper reported that in the south-east of Turkey soldiers shielded protesters from the police. A group of citizens gathered for a protest in Hatay to support demonstrators in Istanbul. The police was sent to suppress the act, but the army prevented a possible clash.
This is very important. The military showed their presence to Erdogan’s police and demonstrated that in case of violence the leading role can shift to the army.
