The Army and the Radical Left in Turkey: Military Coups, Socialist Revolution and Kemalism

278 Pages·2011·1.34 MB·English

by  Ozgur Mutlu Ulus

Özgür Mutlu Ulus is Assistant Professor in the History of Revolutions
Department, Acibadem University. She holds a PhD in Turkish Studies from
Leiden University.
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ii
The Army A nd T he
rAdicAl l efT in
Turkey
Military Coups, Socialist Revolution
and Kemalism
Özgür Mutlu Ulus
Published in 2011 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
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Distributed in the United States and Canada
Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © 2011 Özgür Mutlu Ulus
The right of Özgür Mutlu Ulus to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Library of Modern Middle East Studies 97
ISBN 978 1 84885 484 0
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press (India)
Camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1 Research goals and questions 1
2 Outline 4
3 Sources and earlier literature 8
2 THE TURkISH MILITARY IN POLITICS:
A SHORT SURvEY 10
1 The Turkish army and the founding of the republic 10
2 The 27 May intervention 12
3 12 March 1971: intervention through an ultimatum 16
3 BETWEEN kEMALISM AND THIRD WORLD
DEvELOPMENTALISM: DOğAN AvCIOğLU
AND Yön 20
1 Introduction 20
2 Politics after the 1960 intervention: vigorous forces as the
revolutionary vanguard 21
3 Socialism as a development model 26
4 Yön pushing for reforms 29
5 Organizing opposition: the founding of the SkD 31
6 Organizing an anti-imperialist common front 34
7 Elections and disillusionment: direction of Yön settled 37
8 Co-operation with an ‘old-guard’ for NDR 39
vi THE ARMY AND THE RADICAL LEFT IN TURkEY
4 REvOLUTION THROUgH THE NARROW DOOR 43
1 Introduction 43
2 The Order of Turkey: the manifesto of the ‘Nationalist
Revolutionaries’ 44
3 The media of the junta: Devrim 51
4 Between theory and practice: 9 March or 12 March? 59
5 THE WORkERS’ PARTY OF TURkEY:
THE LONg ROAD TO SOCIALISM 64
1 Introduction 64
2 Socialist revolution discourse: TİP as the vanguard 65
3 TİP against ‘short-cuts’ to socialism 67
4 Rifts in the party: NDR or SR? 71
5 A feudal or an Asiatic state? New discussions on the role of
the army 75
6 Disappointment in elections and disappearance of trust 85
7 Towards the 12 March military intervention and after 89
8 A brief conclusion 90
6 THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REvOLUTIONARIES
AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ARMY 92
1 Introduction 92
2 No short-cut to socialism: socialism through NDR 94
3 NDR opposition in the TİP 100
4 The revolutionary vanguard problem: the role of the kemalists,
bureaucracy and the army in NDR 101
5 Establishing a national front 104
6 NDR and student militancy: the 1968 generation 107
7 NDR factions and their discourse on the army 114
7 THE vOICE OF THE TkP FROM ABROAD 132
1 Introduction 132
2 A concise review of the ideology of the TkP up to the 1960s 133
3 The TkP in the 1960s as an ‘external bureau’ 139
4 The TkP in the mid-1960s: the revolutionary leadership problem 147
5 Workers’ revolt and the ambivalent position of the army 151
6 The military intervention and reaction of the TkP 154
7 Conclusion 156
CONTENTS vii
8 THE kIvILCIMLI MOvEMENT IN SEARCH OF
THE TURkISH PAST FOR A REvOLUTIONARY
WARRIOR CULTURE 158
1 Introduction 158
2 The kıvılcımlı movement in the 1960s 160
3 kıvılcımlı’s political thinking about the army 164
4 kıvılcımlı’s approach to the military interventions of 1960
and 1971 174
5 Conclusion 176
9 CONCLUSION 179
1 Introduction 179
2 The armed forces as the guardian of the republic 181
3 Revolution through a coup or by means of a united national front 182
4 The anti-imperialist alliance: a problematic relationship 185
5 The revised Soviet theory and its impact on the Turkish left 187
6 Divergence in the Turkish left: SR strategy and the revolutionary
leadership problem 191
7 Final remarks: the army, the state and capitalist relations 194
notes 198
Bibliography 249
Index 261
ACkNOWLEDgEMENTS
This work began as a PhD dissertation submitted to Leiden University in the
Netherlands in 2007, supervised by Professor Erik-Jan Zürcher, a renowned
historian of Turkey. I worked with him for about seven years and am very
indebted to him for a wonderful learning experience. I feel lucky to have
watched him do his research work and to have learnt much about teaching.
I am very thankful for his support and guidance and the way he managed to
offer me a relaxed and friendly working environment.
There are a great number of people without whose support I could simply
not have finished this work. The most direct contribution came from the staff
of libraries and research centres; I am especially indebted to everyone working
in the IISH in Amsterdam and TÜSTAv in Istanbul. In particular I would
like to thank Zülfikar Özdoğan, the head of the Turkish collection, who not
only helped me through the rich Turkish collection and brought to my atten-
tion some of the rare or ‘forgotten’ material but kindly agreed to participate
in an interview to complement the written material. I thank as well Mehmet
Emin Yıldırım, who has very carefully and with dedication read the work and
offered valuable questions and insights. Even though he does not share most
of my opinions, he was always ready to offer his kind help.
The interviews I undertook in the process of organizing this work were
perhaps the most exhilarating aspect of the study. It has been a privilege and
an honour for me to have had an opportunity to talk with Mihri Belli, Sevim
Belli, Ertuğrul kürkçü, Ruhi koç, Nihat Sargın, Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, Suat
Şükrü kundakçı, Mustafa Yalçiner, Bozkurt Nuhoğlu and Zülfikar Özdoğan.
I am very grateful to Fahri Aral, who organized most of these interviews and
kindly offered his support and comments.
Last, but definitely not least, I thank all my friends and relatives in Leiden,
Boston (USA) and in Turkey and above all my parents, my sister Sıla and my
husband Mete karadağ for their encouragement, trust and support, always
being there when I need them most.
ABBREvIATIONS
General
AP Justice Party
CENTO Central Treaty Organization
CHP Republican People’s Party
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Dev-genç Federation of the Revolutionary Youth (of Turkey)
DİSk Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions
DP Democratic Party
FkF Idea Clubs Federation
IPSD Society for Struggle against Unemployment and Cost of
Living
ITU Istanbul Technical University
kominform Communist Information Bureau
komintern Communist (Third) International
MBk (CNU) Committee of National Unity
Mgk National Security Council
MHP Nationalist Action Party
MIT National Intelligence Agency
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NDR National Democratic Revolution
ODTU Middle Eastern Technical University
OYAk Armed Forces Mutual Assistance Fund
PDA Proletarian Revolutionary Enlightenment
SR Socialist revolution
THkO People’s Liberation Army of Turkey
THkP-C People’s Liberation Party-Front of Turkey
TİP Workers’ Party of Turkey
TkP Communist Party of Turkey