Erdogan's ties with Turkish army gets alarmingly personal
The extraordinary personalization of Turkey’s civilian-military relations is deinstitutionalizing the Turkish military structure and causing internal power struggles within the army ranks.
Fraternization between Turkish generals and politicians and an excessive public popularity of military leaders traditionally have been frowned upon and seen as eroding the institutional identity of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
But this trend seems to have changed following the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016. Civilians seem to have acquired the upper hand in civilian-military relations; still, it is too early to claim this has become institutionalized because the new system is still too fragile, depending as it does on interpersonal relations.
The latest example of this fragility was seen in Ankara’s recent efforts to determine policy toward the Libya crisis.
At the end of December, sources in Ankara confirmed, a policy formulation meeting was held at the Presidential Palace.
