2006/01/01 by Ersel Aydinli, Ersel Aydınlı, Nihat Ali Özcan +1 · 55 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Ancient history #Cyprus History, Politics, Society #Defense, Military, and Policy Studies #Economic history #History #Philosophy #Political science #Turkey's Politics and Society #Turkish
paper · doi:10.2307/20031844
published in Foreign Affairs 85(1), 77 (Council on Foreign Relations)
openalex publication_date 2006/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
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.