The Global Intelligence Files,
files released so far...
2755
The Global Intelligence Files

### Index pages

List of Releases

### by Date of Document

unspecified
2001
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

### by Date of Release

2001-03-13
2010-03-10
2011-03-05
2011-03-15
2012-01-29
2012-02-27
2012-02-28
2012-02-29
2012-03-01
2012-03-02
2012-03-03
2012-03-04
2012-03-05
2012-03-06
2012-03-07
2012-03-08
2012-03-09
2012-03-10
2012-03-11
2012-03-12
2012-03-13
2012-03-14
2012-03-15
2012-03-16
2012-03-17
2012-03-19
2012-03-20
2012-03-23
2012-03-25
2012-03-26
2012-03-27
2012-04-01
2012-04-02
2012-04-24
2012-04-26
2012-04-30
2012-05-10
2012-06-18
2012-06-20
2012-07-01
2012-07-24
2012-07-28
2012-07-29
2012-07-30
2012-07-31
2012-08-01
2012-08-02
2012-08-05
2012-08-06
2012-08-07
2012-08-08
2012-08-09
2012-08-10
2012-08-11
2012-08-12
2012-08-13
2012-08-14
2012-08-15
2012-08-16
2012-08-17
2012-08-18
2012-08-19
2012-08-20
2012-08-21
2012-08-22
2012-08-23
2012-08-24
2012-08-25
2012-08-26
2012-08-27
2012-08-29
2012-08-30
2012-08-31
2012-09-01
2012-09-02
2012-09-03
2012-09-04
2012-09-05
2012-09-06
2012-09-07
2012-09-09
2012-09-10
2012-09-11
2012-09-12
2012-09-13
2012-09-14
2012-09-16
2012-09-17
2012-09-18
2012-09-19

### Our Partners

ABC Color - Paraguay
Al Akhbar - Lebanon
Al Masry Al Youm - Egypt
Asia Sentinel - Hong Kong
Bivol - Bulgaria
Carta Capital - Brazil
CIPER - Chile
Dawn Media - Pakistan
L'Espresso - Italy
La Repubblica - Italy
La Jornada - Mexico
La Nacion - Costa Rica
Malaysia Today - Malaysia
McClatchy - United States
Nawaat - Tunisia
NDR/ARD - Germany
Owni - France
Pagina 12 - Argentina
Philip Dorling - Fairfax media contributor - Australia
Plaza Publica - Guatemala
Publica - Brazil
Publico.es - Spain
Rolling Stone - United States
Russian Reporter - Russia
Ta Nea - Greece
Taraf - Turkey
The Hindu - India
The Yes Men - Bhopal Activists
Sunday Star-Times - New Zealand

### Community resources

Supporters Support Wikileaks Follow us on Twitter Twitter this Follow us on Facebook

courage is contagious

# The Global Intelligence Files

On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.

## DISPATCH DISCUSSION - Aug 2 - TURKEY - Civilian Supremacy Over Military in the Foreign Policy Arena

Released on 2012-03-06 18:00 GMT

Email-ID | 5135517
Date | 2011-08-01 23:42:14
From | bokhari@stratfor.com
To | analysts@stratfor.com
List-Name | analysts@stratfor.com

Thesis: Turkey's ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) has succeeded in
asserting civilian supremacy over the country's erstwhile powerful
milityary (TSK). The AKP will now like to utilize the TSK for its
assertive foreign policy agenda. But it will take many years (if not a
couple of decades) to materialize given the lengthy and complex task of
reformatting the institution which was designed as the guardian of the
secularist nature of the Turkish republic to one that can serve as a major
instrument of an internationally resurgent Turkey.
Three Bullet Points:
- The reality of the AKP triumph over the TSK
- AKP's intended role for the TSK
- Why it is unlikely that AKP's intended vision for the TSK will take time
to materialize
On 8/1/11 3:52 PM, Kamran Bokhari wrote:
Yes. Let me send the thesis and bullet points.
On 8/1/11 3:52 PM, Brian Genchur wrote:
Hi Kamran,
Are you able to turn this into a Dispatch for recording tomorrow
morning at 9:20amCT?
Please let us know. We'll need your thesis and bullet points
submitted to the Analyst list as soon as possible.
Thank you!
Brian
Begin forwarded message:
From: Reva Bhalla <bhalla@stratfor.com>
Subject: Re: TURnKEY - What happened today or is happening in the YSK
meeting?
Date: August 1, 2011 1:42:06 PM CDT
To: Analyst List <analysts@stratfor.com>
Cc: multimedia@stratfor.com
Reply-To: Multimedia List <multimedia@stratfor.com>
what is really interesting about this to me is the sentiment you can
see from the AKP looking forward where they understand now that they
have made the military their subordinates. It'll take some time for
them to feel sure of that, but that confidence is becoming more
apparent. At the same time, Turkey is being pushed to deal with issues
in its periphery. As I mentioned in an earlier insight email, the AKP
is so embarrassed that the Iranian navy is doing all this shit while
their military has been out of the game for decades and has spent more
time plotting coups than anything else. We should expect to see a
major transformation take place in which the AKP will have to make the
decision to revamp the military. And that means the US-Turkey
relationship becomes that much more important and that countries like
Russia, Iran, etc. have something to get more nervous about
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jacob Shapiro" <jacob.shapiro@stratfor.com>
To: analysts@stratfor.com
Cc: multimedia@stratfor.com
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2011 1:25:10 PM
Subject: Re: TURnKEY - What happened today or is happening in the YSK
meeting?
this might make a good dispatch for tomorrow
On 8/1/11 1:12 PM, Kamran Bokhari wrote:
The reason why Turkey is not there yet is because it takes a long
time to restructure an army towards assertive foreign policy
purposes. And in Ankara's case, it is at the beginning of the
process of taming the lion. Riding the beast will take even longer
than a state which didn't have a civil-military relationship heavily
in favor of the men in uniform for so long. The first step entails
getting a batch of commanders who are beholden to the AKP for their
positions. This has to be followed by ingraining a culture within
the officers and soldiery that moves away from seeing itself as a
praetorian force that is the sole guardian of the republic's
Kemalist ideals to one that is the defender of the constitution
(which btw will need to be tweaked and will take its own time). This
culture change really sets in when the those who learn in it in the
academy (where the curriculum will need to be revised) come to
maturity. We are talking a generational shift. Till then there will
always be officers and commanders who have been cultivated in the
old culture and they will begrudgingly accept civilian dominance.
There will also be a need to come up with a new military doctrine
and the physical training and preparation for a military force that
will be projecting power overseas. [Here it is useful to point out
that while Iran lacks the military capability it is way ahead of
Turkey in terms of culture, doctrine, and motivation]. Finally,
there is the issue of Turkey's role as a NATO member and how that
would begin to conflict with an assertive foreign policy.
On 8/1/11 1:57 PM, Emre Dogru wrote:
I agree with this, George. AKP got half of the votes. Point. If
the army had another choice, no commander would have resigned.
They would have forced the government to resign like in 1960,
1971, 1980 and 1997. They resigned because we are in 2011. Army
tried to prevent Gul from being elected as president in 2007, it
didn't work, and that was the beginning of the end (Ergenekon and
Sledgehammer are just AKP's tools, and yes, they are not fake
plots).
In a region where some countries, such as Egypt, are becoming
similar to what Turkey had been in 1980s and 1990s, Turkey cannot
remain the same. As I said before, we need to move on from the
internal Turkish army dynamics and civil-military balance to a
more geopolitical based perspective. We need to think about how
subordination of the Turkish army to the civilian government will
affect Turkey's foreign policy, it's strategy to extend its
influence beyond its borders. How will the Turkish army be
reconstructed so that it can be effectively used as a foreign
policy tool.
Last time George was in Turkey, he said two things. First, Turkey
is not "there" yet (but it acts as if it is in 2030) and it needs
to build institutions. Second, "it must get its hand dirty" when
needed. I believe we need to see the dramatic change within the
military and the balance between government and the military
within this perspective.
George Friedman wrote:
The nature of the republic changed with the sledgehammer
arrests. This just makes it official
With the massive majority of the akp, it is inconceivable that
turkey wouldn't change and its a fantasy to imagine that it will
ever go back.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kamran Bokhari <bokhari@stratfor.com>
Sender: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:43 -0500 (CDT)
To: <analysts@stratfor.com>
ReplyTo: Analyst List <analysts@stratfor.com>
Subject: Re: TURKEY - What happened today or is happening in the
YSK meeting?
If this is true, then what we have is a massive change in the
nature of the Turkish republic.
On 8/1/11 11:57 AM, George Friedman wrote:
I think that sledgehammer was real and the revelations at the
trial put the generals in an impossible position. The option
of resistance isn't there in a country where the akp holds a
large majority and where the danger of discrediting the
military is real. Erdogan used this reality to move turkey
back to the status of a normal state in which the military is
subordinate to the government. The military can't organize a
coup and the consequences of a coup would devastate turkey,
and leave a majority of the population hostile. This is not
1980 where the us and nato supported the coup. It would mean
isolation.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kamran Bokhari <bokhari@stratfor.com>
Sender: analysts-bounces@stratfor.com
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 10:44:20 -0500 (CDT)
To: Michael Wilson<michael.wilson@stratfor.com>
ReplyTo: Analyst List <analysts@stratfor.com>
Cc: Analyst List<analysts@stratfor.com>
Subject: Re: TURKEY - What happened today or is happening in
the YSK meeting?
I have been wondering about the intentions of the 3-stars who
are next in line. Do they simply accept that their institution
is not in a position to do much at this time and move on? Some
of them would like to get promoted and assume the top jobs. Or
will there be some sort of backlash from these guys? Surely,
what has happened has created debate within the corps
commander ranks as to what should be the stance of the
institution. There is also the concern that any stance must be
unified such that the integrity of the institution is
preserved. There is also of course the need to make sure that
the AKP doesn't use any disagreements within the TSK hierarchy
to its advantage and further enhance its upper hand.
The appointment of Ozel as landforces commander and acting TSK
chief reminds me of what happened in Pakistan during the
second term of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in
1998-99. Sharif forced army chief Gen Jahangir Karamat to
resign and we there was the highly rare instance of an army
chief folding under pressure from a civilian govt. Sharif
replaced Karamat with Musharraf and GHQ as an institution
accepted the change. But then when after the Kargil war in 99
Sharif fired Musharraf and replaced him with the then ISI
chief Gen. Ziauddin Butt, the institution struck back and we
had the coup that brought Musharraf to power.
Obviously, a coup is unlikely in present day Turkey. But I am
also having a hard time believing that the TSK will simply
accept what has happened and move on.
On 8/1/11 11:28 AM, Michael Wilson wrote:
They are meeting again on Tuesday
Turkish high military council meets amid tensions
Aug 1, 2011, 15:04 GMT
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1654323.php/Turkish-high-military-council-meets-amid-tensions
Ankara - The first day of Turkey's High Military Council
meeting ended quietly Monday, with the government and
generals trying to convey their relations were back on track
after the shock resignation of the country's top four
commanders.
Signs of tension between Turkey's secular military and
Islamic- oriented government were manifest at the meeting
chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the
General Staff's headquarters.
One of the seven generals who attended, Nusret Tasdeler, the
commander of the Aegean Army, is facing a warrant for arrest
on charges of waging an Internet campaign against the
Justice and Development Party government.
Journalists allowed into the chamber to take pictures at the
start of the four-day meeting noted that five of the 14
seats were empty - evidence of the disorder created by
Friday's resignation of the chief of general staff and the
heads of the army, navy and air force.
Orderlies had removed the superfluous chairs, but they did
not remove the microphones embedded into the oval table.
The council has the job of choosing commanders and senior
officers to replace those scheduled to retire at the end of
the month.
Disagreement over the selection provoked the resignations,
with the chief of general staff, General Isik Kosaner,
saying he had stepped down because he could not shield his
fellow officers from prosecution and being denied promotion
over coup plot allegations.
Erdogan moved quickly, replacing Kosaner with General Necdet
Ozel, the head of the paramilitary gendarmerie. Ozel was
appointed head of the army and acting chief of general staff
on Friday night.
Regarded as a general with whom the government can get
along, Ozel is certain to be appointed chief of general
staff when the council concludes its business Thursday,
political observers in Ankara agree.
Ozel led the military delegation to the council meeting,
which was attended by the defence minister, and held a
private meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan on Monday
afternoon.
When the council's first session ended at noontime, the
prime minister led the generals on a traditional visit to
the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern
Turkish republic, where he laid a wreath.
Turkish prime ministers visit the mausoleum regularly to
reaffirm their allegiance to the secular values of the
founder of the republic.
The council will reconvene on Tuesday.
On 8/1/11 10:15 AM, Kamran Bokhari wrote:
What is the latest with the move to appoint replacements
to the 4 top generals that threw in the towel?
--
Michael Wilson
Director of Watch Officer Group, STRATFOR
Office: (512) 744 4300 ex. 4112
michael.wilson@stratfor.com
--
Emre Dogru
STRATFOR
Cell: +90.532.465.7514
Fixed: +1.512.279.9468
emre.dogru@stratfor.com
www.stratfor.com
--
Jacob Shapiro
STRATFOR
Director, Operations Center
cell: 404.234.9739
office: 512.279.9489
e-mail: jacob.shapiro@stratfor.com
Brian Genchur
Director, Multimedia | STRATFOR
brian.genchur@stratfor.com
(512) 279-9463
www.stratfor.com