A Study Of The Role Of The Military In The Ruling Period Of The Justice And Development Party In Turkey

As a modernized and democratic country in the Middle East,Turkey had a historical tradition of military intervention in politics.Since the 1960 s,the military has staged four military coups,which have a profound impact on Turkey’s democratic politics.After the Justice and Development Party（AKP）came to power in 2002,although the military’s political status has declined,its political role still cannot be ignored.This paper takes the role of the military during the ruling of the AKP as the research object,through the analysis of military participation in political life,social and cultural life and intervention in foreign affairs,illustrating the important influence of military on national political reform,ideological and cultural development and foreign affairs.This paper is divided into three parts: introduction,body text and conclusion.The first part is the introduction.It mainly introduces the origin of the topic of this paper,the research status of the domestic and foreign academic circles on the issues related to the Turkish military,as well as the research characteristics and innovation of this paper.The second part is the body text,which is divided into four chapters.The first chapter mainly reviews the changes of the political status of the Turkish military during1923-2002.The Turkish military has a tradition of intervening in politics dating back to the late Ottoman Empire.After the establishment of the Turkish Republic,the military presented itself as the defenders of Ataturk doctrine,the military launched a military coup in 1960,a "memorandum" coup in 1971,a military coup in 1980 and a "postmodern coup" in 1997,aimed at overthrowing or forcing the civilian government to step down.During this period,the military consolidated their political position in the form of launching coups.The second chapter mainly discusses the military participation in political life and its influence during the ruling period of AKP.From 2002 to 2007,the military and the AKP government fought for political power,with the government weakening the military’s political position through accession reforms and trials of coup plots,and the military staging "E-memorandum coups" against parliamentary and presidential elections.Since 2007,the military and the AKP government have continued to struggle over political power,which the AKP government has reduced the power of the military through investigations and trials of the Sledgehammer coup and amend the constitution.After a failed coup in 2016,the AKP government further weakened the influence of the military and strengthened its authoritarian political rule through "Purge" operations.The third chapter is the narration of the intervention of social and cultural life and its influence during the ruling period of the AKP.During this period,the military and the AKP government fought over the Kurdish issue,the education issue and the headscarf issue.On the issue of Kurdish,the military is in favor of expanding the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority,but firmly opposes the separatist forces of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party（PKK）,and has even carried out cross-border military operations against PKK terrorists.On the issue of education,the military has insisted on defending secularist education and opposed the AKP government’s proposal that Imam-Hatip school graduates should have the same access to university as other secondary school graduates,as well as the government’s efforts to democratize education.On the issue of headscarves,the military adamantly opposed the AKP efforts to lift the headscarf ban,but was limited in its degraded status and failed to block the publication of the amendment lifting the ban.The participation of military in social and cultural life has an important impact on national sovereignty,secularism and governing idea.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the military intervention in diplomatic affairs and its influence during the ruling period of the AKP.The military’s role in foreign affairs shifts flexibly with the government’s fickle foreign policy.They can either play the role of peacemakers or play a key role in fighting Kurdish separatists and maintaining Turkey’s national and international security.The third part is the conclusion,which discusses the role of military from multiple dimensions.Before the AKP came to power,the military played a prominent role in Turkish politics,which was the result of both historical and realistic factors.During the AKP come to power,the status of the military gradually declined with the game of power.Although the political status of the Turkish military has been weakened and naked military coups are difficult to happen,as the defender of secularism,it will still play an important role in the political,social and cultural level and is also an important factor affecting the process of Turkish political modernization.