{"id":44719,"date":"2026-04-26T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/44719\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T12:56:12","slug":"armys-notorious-2007-memo-resonates-little-in-new-turkiye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/44719\/","title":{"rendered":"Army\u2019s notorious 2007 memo resonates little in new T\u00fcrkiye"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\u00fcrkiye on Monday will mark 19 years since a memorandum by the office of the chief of general staff shook the country accustomed to military coups. Today, it is a distant memory, though still a dark episode in Turkish democracy.<\/p>\n

The \u201cE-memorandum\u201d of April 27, 2007, was a stark reminder that the army still had a perceived influence on Turkish politics as it did for decades after the 1960 coup. Yet, the memorandum published on the office\u2019s website quickly backfired for those hoping to return to the old days of military tutelage. The government\u2019s strong reaction effectively killed the message of the memorandum penned personally by then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Ya\u015far B\u00fcy\u00fckan\u0131t. It would take another four years before the army removed the memorandum from its website, but the deal was already blown due to the military\u2019s lack of influence over politicians.<\/p>\n

The memorandum\u2019s primary target was the presidential elections, where Abdullah G\u00fcl was nominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). For the military, then harboring a mindset against what they called \u201creactionary\u201d forces, the nomination countered \u201cvalues of the republic,\u201d something B\u00fcy\u00fckan\u0131t openly said at an April 12 press briefing. G\u00fcl\u2019s nomination also faced protests by self-styled defenders of the republic who took to the streets for \u201crepublic rallies.\u201d Elsewhere, the opposition claimed that the ruling party was ineligible to field a candidate for the elections, insisting that 367 lawmakers should vote on holding the election, and the AK Party cannot call for it since it only had 354 seats in Parliament. The debate grew over time, but then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan was determined to nominate G\u00fcl. G\u00fcl received 357 votes in the first round of elections on April 27, 2007, out of 361 votes cast that day at Parliament. The main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) challenged the result and took the matter to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n

Within hours of the vote, the office of the chief of general staff released the infamous e-memorandum on its website. The memorandum had all the traces of a declaration by generals in the 1997 coup<\/a>, claiming the secular nature of the republic was being eroded. It threatened to execute the Turkish Armed Forces\u2019 \u201cmission to carry out duties to preserve the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone was anticipating that the AK Party would bow down to the threat, as this was the case in 1997. One day later, then-government spokesperson Cemil \u00c7i\u00e7ek announced their response to the e-memorandum. \u201cSuch statements against the government by the office, an institution under the Prime Ministry, cannot be accepted in a democratic state operating under law,\u201d he said. Nevertheless, the fight was still on. The Constitutional Court, on May 1, cancelled the first round of the election, siding with the CHP. The AK Party proposed another election, along with constitutional amendments to prevent a repeat of the cancellation.<\/p>\n

On July 22, 2007, early elections were held, and the AK Party secured victory. The party then proposed a presidential election through popular vote, and the public overwhelmingly approved the proposal on July 22, immediately after the legislative elections.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 20, 2007, another presidential election was held, with G\u00fcl nominated again. G\u00fcl secured 341 votes in the first round, but this dropped to 337 votes in the second round on Aug. 24. In the third round, G\u00fcl garnered 339 votes and was elected into office as the 11th president of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye. The CHP finally relented and accepted G\u00fcl\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Ya\u015far B\u00fcy\u00fckan\u0131t told a parliamentary committee investigating coups that the memorandum was simply \u201ca text reflecting sensitivity on secularism.\u201d In the same year, authorities launched an investigation against B\u00fcy\u00fckan\u0131t over the memorandum. As the investigation continued, B\u00fcy\u00fckan\u0131t passed away in 2019.<\/p>\n

The incident and related developments were thought to be the beginning and end of a renewed threat of military tutelage in the country, where the army took the reins in multiple instances on T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s bumpy road to democracy. In 2016, however, the coup threat emerged again, this time in the form of military infiltrators of the G\u00fclenist Terror Group (FET\u00d6). T\u00fcrkiye pushed back this attempt<\/a> too, at the cost of more than 250 people killed by putschists while resisting the coup. Since then, the army shed its image of de facto power above democratic institutions, while the public resistance and overwhelming support to the government cemented the role of Erdo\u011fan, now president, as the real commander-in-chief of the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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