![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/0815-ODEMOCRACY-Turkey_Military_full_380.jpg\" "\\"0815-ODEMOCRACY-Turkey_Military_full_380\\"")
<\/p>\nBy Alexander Christie-Miller, Correspondent \/ August 5, 2011<\/p>\n
Istanbul<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted the resignations of his four most senior military officers on July 29, he savored a victory unprecedented in Turkey\u2019s modern history: Whenever the government and army had squared off before, politicians had been the ones to go.<\/p>\n
Related stories<\/p>\n
* Turkey coup plot: What’s behind the tumultuous identity crisis<\/p>\n
* Turkey coup plot: 12 officers charged as government takes on military<\/p>\n
* Turkish leaders meet to dispel coup plot tensions<\/p>\n
But amid celebration of the military\u2019s defeat as a waymark of democracy, little scrutiny has been given to allegations that fabricated evidence and the framing of suspects played a role in its downfall.<\/p>\n
The military\u2019s chief of general staff, Isik Kosaner, said in his parting statement that it was \u201cimpossible\u201d to continue serving due to his inability to protect the legal rights of some 250 officers detained for a range of alleged antigovernment plots.<\/p>\n
Many of them have been held for more than a year without trial, and publicly available papers relating to the plots reveal significant inconsistencies.<\/p>\n
RELATED: How Turkey’s military upheaval will affect NATO<\/p>\n
The main document detailing an alleged 2003 coup plot code-named \u201cSledgehammer,\u201d included in an indictment leaked by both prosecution and defense, refers to an organization that was not founded until two years later.<\/p>\n
And the timing of many of the arrest warrants and charges has fueled claims that the probes are politically motivated. They are often filed in the lead-up to Supreme Military Council meetings such as this week’s, meetings at which the government and army have clashed over military promotions.<\/p>\n
Separately, scores of journalists, academics, and others are involved in mass trials for involvement in an alleged deep state network. Hundreds of Kurdish politicians and activists have also been detained as part of a sprawling antiterror investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about whether you\u2019re pro-military or antimilitary, it\u2019s about the rule of law,\u201d says Asli Ayd\u00adin\u00adtasbas, a columnist at the daily Mil\u00adliyet newspaper. \u201cDo we want to live in a country where political opponents are eliminated by trials that are unconvincing? I find it very disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But many Turks have scant sympathy for a military that for decades brutalized its own people and overthrew four governments as self-appointed guardian of the secular state forged by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to say that the deficiencies in due process is the main aspect in [the Sledgehammer] case,\u201d says Sahin Alpay, a columnist for Today\u2019s Zaman newspaper. \u201cIt\u2019s helping to put an end to the political role of the armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Confrontation between AKP, military<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s long history of military intervention in civilian rule began in 1960, when the army overthrew Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who was then tried before a kangaroo court and executed.<\/p>\n
After seizing power again in 1971, it staged a third coup in 1980, detaining 650,000 people. Of them, 230,000 were tried, 14,000 stripped of citizenship, 50 executed, and 171 killed in custody.<\/p>\n
via Turkey’s military defanged: Is it good for democracy? – CSMonitor.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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