One is tempted to look on the latest dramatic developments in Turkey and maintain that there is a serious democratization process underway. But this is Turkey and one has to leave room for doubt in order to get a correct fix on what is going on.

Neither should one take too seriously bleary-eyed Europeans who derive some kind of surreptitious pleasure from seeing the troubles of the Turkish military and the Kemalist camp. While they too believe that a process of democratization is underway, one has to take their often superficial views on Turkey with a serious pinch of salt.

The reason is that Europeans often dig into their bag of clichés concerning Turkey, and produce “overused” views even if these are out of touch with the Turkish reality.

One question that such Europeans have to answer is clearly embedded in the latest “Eurobarometer” poll on Turkey.

That poll shows that the Turkish military is still considered the most reliable institution in Turkey by 77 percent of Turks, while only 52 percent consider the government trustworthy. The same poll also indicates that 68 percent of Turks trust the judiciary, which thus is in second place in terms of the most trusted institutions in the country.

This poll was most probably conducted prior to the latest division that surfaced in the judiciary so it will be interesting to note what the next poll says on this. All of this returns us to a point that we have brought up time and again.

Turkey is too complex a country to be deciphered by means of clichés and preconceived notions. It is because of this that it is not certain whether Turkey is currently undergoing a historic process of democratization, or if it is in the throes of some kind of dissolution, given that the country, including the judiciary now, is seriously divided.

The latest “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) Operation investigation is of course a valid one in essence. It is also a fact that the military has been unable to deny the existence of documents that caused this legal investigation to be initiated.

The military claims that those documents do not amount to a coup plan, but represent a certain scenario for a military contingency. But what serious contingency plan would incorporate items such as the bombing of mosques or the downing of one of Turkey’s own jets over the Aegean, the apparent aim in both cases being to discredit the government and justify a military takeover?

Such documents would be investigated in any country that claims to be a democracy based on the rule of law. However the way prosecutors have been acting in this case points to the fact that there is more than just a simple judicial procedure underway.

Read more here.

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