Until recently, both the MGK and the MGSB were military in nature and guaranteed the influence of the military apparatus over national politics and the elected government. However, a few years ago, the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government altered the status of the MGK from being a military-dominated institution to an advisory council on security matters. This happened by changing the balance of the members -- Cabinet ministers and top military brass -- in favor of the former. The change was made as part of EU accession reforms.The MGSB (the Red Book) was formerly shaped by the military-dominated council. Only a few ministers and concerned officials had access and could read it. The rest were given orders to carry out policy recommendations based on threat perceptions ingrained in the document. Hence, neither the people whose security was supposedly guaranteed by the MGSB nor most of the politicians, officials and security personnel saw or knew what they were about to or were implementing.
Older versions of the MGSB carried a more serious consequence: Most of the threats outlined were internal or national in character. They were simply called “internal enemies.”
When most of the threats emanate from within and enemies are part of the national population, there is undoubtedly a serious handicap in guaranteeing the security of the country -- and the nation, for that matter. As regards security measures taken against these groups of citizens, many communities found themselves on the receiving end of the wrath of the security apparatus (commonly referred to as the “state”) and suffered systematically. A few of them are the leftists, the Alevis, pious Sunni Muslims (deemed to be obscurantist and potentially fundamentalist) and the Kurds. In later years, as the bureaucratic power block swayed away from the West, labeling democracy and human rights as divisive and disruptive for the regime they established, liberals were added to this list of internationalists and foreign agents! With a list like this, who needs external enemies?
Turkey has suffered heavily from security measures based on the perception of “internal enemies.” The agenda of this week’s MGK meeting will be to alter this fratricidal perception and to reprioritize security liabilities. The council’s declared agenda reveals that the top priority would be unemployment and poverty. Thank God! For the first time a political-military institution is setting the national agenda right and recognizing the true lynchpin of the system.
Reports are also surfacing about a parallel process of reform on the security issue being in the making. A group of experts are studying the documents and activities of the Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces’ working groups on parliamentary accountability of the security sector with the basic aim of reforming the security system and apparatus.
Their main concern is legislative oversight of the security sector that is crucial to ensure that security policies and expenditures are undertaken with full transparency, accountability and concern for other national priorities and popular attitudes.
· The secrecy clause will be limited to external threats and armed or terrorist groups within. Intelligence agencies will not refrain from sharing information as they do in order to safeguard their institutional autonomy.
· Coordination and an effective partnership will be developed between the ministries of defense and justice as well as the police department, which will in turn cooperate with civic institutions that specialize in conflict resolution, prevention, youth correction and rehabilitation, etc.
· Training will be provided at all levels of security and penal and correctional institutions will guarantee the internalization of basic principles of rights of the people and statutory limitations of government personnel in dealing with crimes and criminals.
These are necessary steps in the right direction.
