Publication

he current saga of events can be traced back to the last-minute nomination of Abdullah Gül as the AKP’s candidate for the Presidency in April. On the evening of the first round of votes held in the Turkish Grand Assembly on the election of the President, the military issued a statement on its official website, highlighting the threat to secularism and hinting at a possible intervention if deemed necessary. While this was interpreted by most commentators as yet another military memorandum issued to intervene in civilian politics, the statement needs to be viewed in a wider framework in order to have a better understanding of what it implies for Turkish politics as well as for Turkey’s relations with Europe.