| abstract
| - Turks have long and not without justice been reputed to be a Proud Warrior Race. The present day nation of Turkey was descended from the Ottoman Empire which was founded by border raiders in Asia Minor. These formed themselves into a conquering Empire which was able to subjugate large parts of the Balkans. At one of its key moments the Ottomans were, in 1453, able to take Constantinople which was the last trace of The Roman Empire. After this they grew to become one of the greatest powers in the world. The Ottomans were checked by the improvements in military technique and increase in economic production by European powers. They were driven back in a series of wars by Austria and Russia. Subjugated powers began revolting in the nineteenth century, and the Ottoman Empire itself became a Vestigial Empire. So Vestigal in fact that one of the main reasons it survived was that other powers were afraid Russia would conquer it first and upset the Balance of Power. During World War I the Ottoman Empire fought on the German side. It gave a fairly good account of itself, but in the end lost most of its empire, and upon surrendering, significant chunks of its Anatolian heartland were given--directly or indirectly--to Greece, Italy, and France. However in a curious twist of fate it managed to resurrect itself. The Turkish General Kemal Ataturk, who had distinguished himself at Gallipoli, put himself at the head of a nationalist movement which prevented the total collapse of Turkish independence (ironically, despite being a militant secularist, the mass of peasants who followed him showed up because he managed to convince an assembly of muftis to declare a jihad). Turkey reformed itself from a Vestigial Empire into a nation state under Ataturk who was, for the Turks, sort of a semi-benign cross between a Glorious Leader and a Cincinnatus. During World War II it stayed neutral and was able to do so both because of its formidable if old fashioned army, and because of the geopolitical skills of its leaders. During The Cold War the Turks took the anti-communist side and Turkish troops fought with distinction in The Korean War (amusingly, the Greeks showed up, too; there are no reports on what they thought of one another). Turkey joined NATO in 1952 as part of the first enlargement, at the same time as Greece. Turkey now has the second-largest army in NATO after the Yanks With Tanks. Interestingly the Turkish army does not have a tradition of neutrality in internal politics. In fact the Turks often believe that an occasional temporary military takeover clears the air, and keeps their state stable and orderly. Sort of the ghost of Ataturk. It is probably not ideal. Thanks (among other things) to wanting to make nice with the European Union (on the off-chance that Turkey would be let in), the recent discovery and thwarting of a coup plot, and a smart chief of staff, this trend seems to be on the downtick of late, however: the military clearly dislikes the way the current government does things, but thus far it hasn't really tried to do very much about it. Indeed, when a few junior officers were found planning a coup, the senior staff quickly put the kibosh on it, and once the civilian government got wind of the plot, the officers were brought to trial.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)