Political violence, the ‘War on Terror’ and the Turkish military

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This paper looks at the impact of the ‘War on Terror’ on political violence in Turkey. It begins by tracing the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the management and support of Turkey's militarised government since Ankara joined the Alliance in 1952. Here, it is suggested that a triangular concert of agents from the Turkish state's intelligence and special-forces organisations, operatives from Washington, and right-wing activists and paramilitaries have been an important feature of regime formation and maintenance. By the mid-1990s, these covert structures came under increasing social pressure, leading to a period of considerable reform. However, the War on Terror and the West's subsequent turn towards a greater emphasis on security has, it is argued, begun to undo, enervate or obstruct the implementation of many of these reforms. The result, it is concluded, is that elements of the Turkish state unhappy with recent policies have been emboldened and, since the collapse of the Partiya Karkareni Kurdistan's (PKK) unilateral ceasefire in 2004, have started to exert a growing influence.