The role of coups in shaping the state of democracy in Turkey

This thesis topic is about the dynamics behind the major military coup d’états in the history of Türkiye and analyze the before and after of the coups in order to conduct a formulation of how the democracy is affected by it along the way. Why Türkiye’s military was so active can be a research topic itself with over some oversimplification that could be explained as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's effect on Türkiye is not only a regime change but many more. With his political party CHP, he established the roadmap for Turkish future politicians to follow. His teachings and reforms were so ahead of their time therefore they were very valuable. The modernization of Türkiye's military, led by Kemal Atatürk and his successors, established TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) as the ultimate protector of the new republic's system. Atatürk had a formative effect on the organization and might be considered the fail-safe switch of democracy. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s ideas were embraced by the Turkish military. This was always the core reason of the Militaries involvement in politics, in one form or another. Either a direct coup d’état or a more subtle way to control the government. In the countries which has embraced the democracy fully, the opposition is expected to monitor and interfere with political activities of the governing party in order to keep the democracy working as a check and balance system. Also, along the way even separation of powers could be monitored. If the ruling fail to govern fairly these basic principles ensure that the opposition has the necessary means to hold the ruling party accountable, represent the interests of the minority groups, and serve almost as an alternative government. Additionally, the opposition can also use its powers through the legislative process, they can propose bills, conduct investigations, and participating in debates and discussions to influence the decisions of the ruling party. This small paragraph almost dictionary like definition regarding opposition fails to explain anything related to Türkiye’s situation that’s why my intellectual curiosity converged around this topic deeply. Because This paragraph assumes that both side of the equation have the same principles in the mind and the similar destination for country to arrive. Along the journey of Turkish democracy always had battles for the regime in the regime. Even though Turkish people have been establishing states for over a thousand years and have been practicing politics in some form and yet Türkiye’s experience with democracy is still turbulent. After thousands of years of living being relatively successful with the Han or Sultans Türkiye’s experience with democracy can be described as an emotional rollercoaster. Even today democracy is still a system that is open for discussion for a certain group of people in Türkiye.