Translated material
Anti-war coup
Türkiye pretended to be marching towards Europe
Major changes are brewing in southern Europe. The Turkish government has announced its intention to implement in the shortest possible time perhaps the most dramatic constitutional changes in all the years of the existence of modern Turkey, capable of changing both the internal political life of the country and its relations with its neighbors.The authorities are inspired by the results of Sunday's referendum: 58.1% of voters were in favor of the government's proposed amendments. They are aimed at reducing the influence of the army in society. The current Turkish constitution was adopted after the 1980 military coup and assigned the role of “leading and directing force” to the army. After amendments to the constitution, it will be possible to initiate criminal cases against the military not only in military courts, but also in civilian ones. The power to initiate proceedings to dissolve political parties will now be transferred to parliament from the appeals court (largely under the control of the military). Even the possibility of bringing to justice the participants in the 1980 coup has not been ruled out. The last amendment, however, was largely of a formal nature, because the 30-year statute of limitations for coup participants expired on the day of the referendum.
However, this did not stop human rights activists from immediately raising the question of bringing to trial the 93-year-old former Turkish President, General Kenan Evren, who is accused of crimes against humanity. After the 1980 coup, 50 people were executed, hundreds of thousands were arrested, many were tortured, hundreds died in captivity, and many disappeared without a trace.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 56, put a lot at stake in the referendum - not only his country's European future, but also his own political future. His visit to the polling station, accompanied by his wife Ermine, wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf was staged as a flashy promotional event (pictured) .
The ruling party declared the results of the referendum a decisive victory, which should lead to Turkish legislation more strictly complying with the requirements of the European Union. This organization, among other things, puts forward to Turkey a demand to limit the power of the military, which in the modern history of the country carried out coups d'etat three times (in 1960, 1971 and 1980), and in 1997 forced the resignation of the government led by the Welfare Party - the predecessor of the current ruling Justice and Development Party.
The EU's claims to Turkey are not limited to demands to limit the power of the military. Among other demands that Turkey is not ready to accept, there are, for example, the following: to recognize the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, to recognize the state unity and sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the entire territory of the island, and much more. Therefore, the question of whether Europe will want to meet Turkey halfway remains open even after the current referendum. The British newspaper The Independent calls the referendum result "an important indicator of Turkey's progress in the transition from a tightly centralized limited democracy... to a democracy of a more recognizable European type," but notes that "Europe will not lower its democratic and human rights standards to accommodate Turkey's wishes join the union."
In Turkey itself, both before, during, and after the referendum, opinions were voiced that this party held a referendum not on Turkey’s European future, but on its political future as an Islamist party. “The Justice and Development Party prepared these changes only for itself and did not take into account other proposals. Erdogan has an Islamic background and wants to establish his own Islamic regime in the country,” a Turkish listener named Ali wrote on the BBC website. And former Turkish Ambassador to the United States Faruk Logoğlu noted: “Now the ruling party will listen to the opposition even less than before, and the opposition will use even harsher rhetoric in an attempt to undermine the government’s power.”
In an interview with Vremya Novostei, Nikolai Kireev, chief researcher at the Turkey sector of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that after the referendum, “Türkiye will remain a secular state.” “But it is premature to talk about how events will develop. It was the military that was the guarantor of the secular nature of the Turkish state, including with regard to the most painful problem - the Kurdish one,” says our interlocutor. He also spoke cautiously on the question of the extent to which the referendum will affect relations between Turkey and Russia: “In Russia there are circles that adhere to both pan-Turkist and pan-Islamic sentiments. The main thing here is that the Turks solve their problems and leave us alone.”
Pavel Shlykov, senior lecturer at the Department of History of the Near and Middle East, ISAA Moscow State University, in a conversation with VN, expressed the following opinion: “The political influence in society of the army and the bodies under its control is decreasing. The military finds itself subject to the jurisdiction of civilian courts. Article 15 of the constitution, which provided immunity to participants in the military coup, is being repealed, which means that the possibility of a repeat coup is excluded.” As for the influence of the referendum on the prospects for Turkey’s accession to the European Union, the expert spoke cautiously: “Political factors are much more important here - the fact that Turkey borders on problematic regions (Syria, Iraq, Iran), as well as economic ones: Turkey’s admission to The EU means an increase in the flow of immigrants.”
Regarding Russian-Turkish relations, the expert believes that the referendum itself has neither a positive nor a negative impact. A great danger, in his opinion, is the fact that our foreign economic relations are not balanced: while Turkey diversifies its exports to Russia, Russian exports continue to rely on the fuel and energy sector.