Abstract
The history of Pakistan and Turkey has been marked by several common features with respect to the military’s predominant role in politics. The Armed Forces in both the states many a time intervened in the politics either directly by toppling down the elected civilian governments or indirectly by forcing the elected popular governments to step down. In the history of the two countries, military has been playing a crucial role in the political arena, and it has been considered by majority of the society as the savior in uncertain situations like civil wars, political chaos and natural crisis in the country. In this paper, the author attempts to examine comparatively the causes of the military tutelage and dominancy in the politics in Turkey and Pakistan in a historical perspective. And in the second part, the author attempts to compare and contrast the similarities in the nature of the military’s involvement in politics in both the states. In the last part of this paper, the author also discusses some common dissimilar features between the armed forces of the two countries with respect to their political role and suggests some measures to be taken to reduce the pre-dominant role of the military in the political arena.
Highlights
The second half of twentieth century witnessed a rise in military coups in several states
Pakistan and Turkey were amongst the states that passed through this experience a couple of times in this period
In the history of the two countries, military has been playing a crucial role in the political arena and it has been considered the final solution in the time of uncertain situations like civil wars, political chaos, and natural crisis by an overwhelming majority of the society
Summary
The second half of twentieth century witnessed a rise in military coups in several states. The Turkish Armed Forces gained an upper hand in the politics by its historical role in the state-building process, its role as the founder and guardian of the republic, the guardian of the Kemalist principles of secularism, modernization and westernization, a barrier to the Islamic reactionaries and Kurdish separatism. It has been regarded as the sole actor of modernization and westernization. After Musharraf’s resignation in 2008, the direct military rule ended up with the democratically elected civil government This does not suggest that the military’s role has vanished from the politics of the country but it yet possess a predominant role in the politics of Pakistan. There are numerous reasons of military interventions in politics of Pakistan discussed in the following paragraphs
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