Forty-nine military officers, including former Navy commander and Air Force commander, were detained on 23th February 2010.
Seventeen retired generals, four active admirals, twenty-seven commissioned officers and one non-commissioned officer were detained on a charge of planning a military coup against the government party: AKP. Most of the officers were arrested and a new operation is expected in the near future.
The coup plan, which is known as the “hammer coup plan”, dates back to 2003. It was published in a Turkish daily newspaper a month ago. The government party (AKP), which is known as a moderate Islamic party, announced that the arrests are a step forward for democracy. Military general staff and secular sectors of the State, on the other hand, are nervous about the operation and believe a civilian AKP coup is underway. Therefore, it is clear that there is a conflict within the bourgeois state.
One side of the conflict is the AKP, the government party, which has been acting with moderate Islamic ideology and liberal economic policies. It has been governing under the directives of the USA and EU imperialisms. They have the support of imperialism. The other side of the conflict is the military general staff and traditional state bureaucracy, who consider themselves the founders and owners of the state. They used to be friends with imperialism but they have recently lost its support. The arrests have made clear that there is a serious conflict between these two forces over the best way to govern the state but not over the demands of imperialism. In fact, it is the support of imperialism that both sides are competing for: the AKP is trying not to lose it, whereas the military generals and traditional secular bureaucracy, who lost imperialist support when the AKP got 47% of the votes in the 2007 elections, are trying to win it back.
Generals supposed they could weaken the AKP, but they were wrong. Firstly, although the “hammer coup plan” was only conceived in 2003, we know from the press that a similar coup plan on Turkey had already been planned in the USA in 1998. In fact, former USA officers Graham Fuller and Henry Beckley, who were CIA agents for the Middle East on duty in Turkey, announced the “hammer coup plan” in a meeting in 1998. The first army commander, who was arrested during the February operation, said that the coup plan had been announced by these USA officers in a press meeting in 1998. Moreover, we also know from the press that NATO, which the Turkish army is part of, was aware of the hammer coup plan since 2003. Then, why were the arrests made seven years later? It is because after 2003 the AKP became more valuable for imperialism than the generals. The party was not only able to get mass support but also to apply imperialist directives that former governments had failed to apply: privatization of important economic sectors, changes in social security laws and enforcement of new laws to put the country’s natural resources to the service of multinationals. Therefore, imperialism will prevent any threat to the AKP, even if that thread comes from its former general army friends. The purpose of the operation is to keep the generals under control and help them from damaging the AKP and its imperialist policies. For imperialism, today is not the time for a military coup; it is the time for AKP democracy.
The role of the Army
The Turkish republic was founded in 1923 after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. The generals took power shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had feudal production relations. They founded a bourgeois state where the capital and the bourgeoisie was too weak to rule. The founding Turkish army fought against the imperialist invasion. Lenin supported the fight of the founding army because the Bolsheviks believed it had an anti-imperialist dynamics. The generals tried to build a modern and independent capitalist system by taking advantage of the existing conflict between imperialism and the USSR. They got economic support from both the USSR and imperialism. State capitalism took over during in first years of republic. The bourgeoisie grew under the protection of the generals and the bureaucracy.
The Turkish army joined NATO in 1953 and a new era began for the regime. The parliamentary bourgeois democracy did not develop in the republic and the bourgeoisie has needed generals’ help for ruling the state. When the anti-imperialist struggle grew in the 1970s, the generals staged a military coup and suppressed anti-imperialist movements. From 1977 to 1980 the bourgeoisie called the army to stage a military coup when they faced major workers’ demonstrations. The generals staged a coup in 1980. Communism was banned by Junta. The use of the word “revolution” was also banned by Junta. All the workers’ organizations were outlawed and IMF policies were enforced after the coup. The generals and the traditional bureaucracy cast played a big role in ruling the state. However, their role has changed during the AKP government.
The AKP and the generals
The AKP comes from an Islamic tradition. They have the support of the Islamic communities, who were supported by the 1980 military coup. The relationship between communist movement and the masses were cut by the 1980 coup, so the Islamic communities found space among the masses. The Junta supported the Islamic communities and they became more powerful. After the Junta, the parties that were supported by these Islamic communities became government and the Islamic communities also became effective within state institutions. The generals and the traditional bureaucracy, who believe themselves to be the founders and owners of the state, were disturbed because of their changing position in the state. The Islamic communities became powerful in trade institutions, law and education institutions of the state. Their policy on education and law began to disturb the generals and the secular bureaucracy. They enforced laws that allowed generals to be judged in civilian courts so as to limit their ability to dismiss military officers who have links to the Islamic sectors (every year the military general staff dismisses several military officers because of their connections to these sectors). Generals are trying to prevent Islamic communities from ruling the state and trying to keep their privileges.
The AKP is supported by imperialism. The AKP government is satisfying the needs of the bourgeoisie. They seem more powerful than the generals. They are taking over the generals’ privileges. The purpose of the imprisonment operations is to control the generals. The AKP is strengthening the role of the Islamic sectors within the state. The generals are losing their privileges, but although they are presently weaker than the AKP, they still have power. Should the AKP lose its influence among the masses, the generals could become valuable for imperialists again. The AKP is lying to the masses. Poverty and unemployment increased during the seven years of their government. First, they condemned workers to poverty and unemployment. Now their notion of social policy is to distribute food and coal for charity. They expect support from the masses by giving out charity.
Sectors of the bourgeoisie are in conflict today because the working class is unorganized and lacks independent workers’ organizations. The conflict between these sectors of the bourgeoisie is dividing the working class where workers lack class organizations. We are still living the effects and rules of the 1980 military coup. The unions are weak and they are divided into Islamic, secular, nationalists, leftists. However, as reported in the article A new wave of class struggle in Turkey, published in this site, TEKEL workers are teaching us what to do. They organized a resistance movement that we had not seen in a long time. TEKEL resistance showed the workers, who were supporting different bourgeoisie parties, the need to unite to fight for their rights. TEKEL workers have shown that the real problem is poverty and unemployment and the bourgeoisie’s attacks to the workers’ rights, and they have proven that workers can put up a fight. Our priority is to build independent class organizations to spread this message.
Take the Junta of the 1980 coup to trial
We do not believe in the AKP’s democracy. If they were truly democratic they would have taken the members of the Junta of the 1980 coup to trial. Instead, AKP municipalities refused to change the names of the streets named after Junta generals. Moreover, while the AKP claims that they oppose military coups and that they are in favor of judging those who participate in coups, the truth is that they have opposed the trial of the 1980 Junta. In fact, they continue to show great respect for the criminals who participated in the Junta. Therefore, the AKP’s discourses about democracy are pure hypocrisy.
Change the laws that prevent the working class form organizing itself
The AKP brag about democracy but they maintain the laws that continue to inhibit the organization of the working class. These laws were inherited from the 1980 coup and must be changed. Only a well organized working class can force the bourgeois government to change these laws.
