Turkey is now opening up discussion once again on a document called the National Security Policy Document, a resolution that acts as a guideline for the military in situations of domestic conflict.
These words from Erdoğan have opened Turkey’s controversial understanding of “domestic threat” up for discussion. The prime minister was referring to the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan, a plot devised in 2003 inside the military to result in a coup d’état by creating chaos through such acts as placing bombs at the Fatih Mosque during Friday prayer. Other similar documents planning unspeakable atrocities have come to light as part of an investigation into a coup-plotting group known as Ergenekon.
Turkey’s perception of foreign threats has changed drastically since 2003, primarily due to the end of the Cold War. Syria, formerly considered the biggest international threat to national security, is now one of Turkey’s closest allies. The two countries have even removed visa requirements for each other’s citizens.
Greece has also lost its standing as a potential danger, although that country still views Turkey as a potential threat. Iran, which was higher up on Turkey’s list of countries that pose a risk, has also lost that distinction. These changes have inevitably brought along changes in Turkey’s understanding of domestic threats, too.
On the Web site of Turkey’s National Security Council (MGK), the military’s National Security Policy Document, also referred to as the “Red Book,” is defined as the following: “A roadmap that includes the fundamentals of the policy to be pursued to ensure the existence of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation until their welfare.”
A domestic threat is defined as “A perception of danger that includes activities carried out by illegal organizations and violent acts that are being masterminded within the country’s borders overtly or covertly with an attempt to destroy the state’s constitutional order, the country’s integrity and the nation’s welfare.”
The National Security Policy Document was prepared for the first time after Turkey became a NATO member with US support, against the threat of communism. Until the coup d’état of Sept. 12, 1980, communists and all of the left were seen as the biggest threat to Turkey. After the coup, separatism was included on the list of domestic threats. With the rise of the Welfare Party (RP) in 1995 religious reactionaryism and separatism became the main domestic threats. The latest version of the National Security Policy Document was approved on Oct. 24, 2005 by the MGK and then by the Cabinet, on March 20, 2006.
The Red Book is not discussed in Parliament because it is treated as a top secret state document.
Kurds, Islamists and minorities
The military has for a long time been updating its list of priority threats every four or five years. The terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurds lose their importance as major threats only when religious conservative parties come to power.
When the RP came to power in 1995, Islamists were on the top of the list. In 1996, when the Susurluk scandal took place, the military updated its list to have “ultranationalists” in the first spot. Gendarmerie provincial commands prepare their reports solely based on the perception of domestic threats specified in this document. Everyone in their regions, from students to academics to storeowners, is categorized in lists accordingly.
When the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were forming a coalition in the late 2000s, the military added nationalists on its list of threats. However, when Devlet Bahçeli took over the MHP, with the military being pleased by his management, in 2005 nationalists were taken off the threat list.
This is illegal and unconstitutional according to Bekir Bozdağ, deputy head of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary group. Bozdağ says his party is against the very phrase “domestic threat.” “The state cannot view its own citizens as a threat under the rule of law because the understanding of the rule of law does not permit this. There can be citizens who commit crimes, but there are penal regulations for that. The law is at work to do what needs to be done about them. The state ensures that the law functions in a healthy manner.”
Bülent Orakoğlu, a former chief of the intelligence unit of the National Police Department, says the AK Party tried to intervene in the rewriting of the Red Book in 2005, greatly irritating the military. Orakoğlu says, “The government failed to introduce a major change to the perception of domestic threats, but it was able to integrate some of the reforms and foreign policy initiatives it has taken into the document.” Religious reactionaryism, separatism and extreme left movements remain as the top three threats inside the country.
Possibility of change
Recent criticism from army generals still shows that the military sees political Islam as a major domestic threat. Democratic intellectuals, journalists, writers and anti-militarist groups, on the other hand, believe that those who prepare the Red Book are the biggest domestic threat Turkey faces. Indeed, the recently exposed Sledgehammer plan sought to bomb mosques at busy prayer times and kill as many as possible in various terrorist acts to create chaos in the country.
In 2006, the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) applied to the Council of State calling for an annulment of the National Security Policy Document. However, the Council of State rejected the appeal, saying the document was only a “resolution” and not a law.
Although the MGK, thanks to EU harmonization laws, is now led by a civilian, it still remains difficult to rewrite the Red Book, as its content is prepared by the military’s own jurists.
Niyazi Kahveci, a sociologist from Ahi Evran University, told Sunday’s Zaman that it is extremely abnormal for a state to see its own people as a threat and also a sign of a lack of self-confidence. Kahveci says: “Those who fail to wage a struggle against real enemies outside always terrorize the people inside. It tries to suppress its feeling of inadequacy by oppressing its own citizens left to its protection. This is known as an ‘incestuous political relationship.’ The state’s lack of confidence is caused by its failure, or impotence. For example, for years the state has fought religious reactionaryism and separatism as threats but has failed to stop them from being threats. Another sign of its failure is its inability to stop the separatist terrorism that has been going on for 30 years.”
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