Military Resignations: Crisis or New Beginning?

The unprecedented move by Turkey’s chief of the General Staff and three of the four force commanders to resign their posts led to concerns about the future of Turkish democracy given Turkey’s record of coups and military meddling in politics. But the mood in Turkey was mainly sanguine. Most of the public saw the event for what it was: another step in the retreat of the Turkish military to the proper institutional role and functions that befit a democratic country. What we are witnessing is the restructuring of the Turkish military according to the needs and realities of a more modern, economically globalizing, and urban Turkey.