AN IDEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE MILITARY COUPS IN TURKEY

Abstract

Ideology is a system of ideas used to guide people. With this feature, it can be said that ideology serves to the legitimization of the authority. Right at this point, with the influence of positivism, laicism/secularism and nationalism had been the ideologies that had important impacts on the last period of the Ottoman Empire and in the establishment of the Republic. Policies/strategies, practices and reforms that were in line with this ideological perspective were implemented in the first period of the Republic. In addition to these, laicism, secularism and nationalism were also the ideological approaches to the design of the society in the coup processes. For this reason, it is possible to speculate that coups have historical, sociological and political reasons as well as ideological reasons. Several strategies/policies were activated over the ideological approach in the coup processes. As a matter of fact, coup plotters may need an ideological approach to receive social support and to mobilize the society. Coup plotters can try to gain political and social legitimacy by presenting the arguments and justifications appropriate to this ideological approach to the society. In this respect, it can be argued that ideology has significant effects on the background of coups.

It is possible to argue that coup plotters, who tried to build their strategies on the ideological approaches they were influenced by, developed appropriate practices in the coup processes. For example, the closure and classification of Religious Vocational High Schools (i.e. Imam-Hatip High Schools), and the efforts to harmonize the curriculum of these schools with secularism, the suppression and restriction of the headscarf especially in public spheres and educational areas, the suppression and restriction of political parties addressing conservative/religious masses with coups or with the Constitution, the appointment of military-based staff as the superior authorities to the Directorate of Religious Affairs in these processes to control religious affairs are some of these. In this respect, the suppression was experienced for religious/conservative segments in coup processes with the policies and practices of the laicist/secularist religious policies. For this reason, ideological approaches or influences may be found behind coups.

The present study targets to deal with these ideologies from a sociological perspective.