Özgür Mutlu Ulus is Assistant Professor in the History of Revolutions Department, Acibadem University. She holds a PhD in Turkish Studies from Leiden University. P1: PHB Trim: 138mm × 216mm Top: 1in Gutter: 1in IBBK019-01 IBBK019-Serieslist-Demis ISBN: 978 1 84885 243 3 April 23, 2010 19:10 LIBRARY OF MODERN MIDDLE EAST STUDIES Series ISBN: 978 1 84885 243 3 See www.ibtauris.com/LMMES for a full list of titles 92. Orientalism and Conspiracy: 98. Power and Policy in Syria: Politics and Conspiracy Theory in the Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations Islamic World and Democracy in the Modern Middle Arndt Graf, Schirin Fathi and East Ludwig Paul (Eds) Radwan Ziadeh 978 1 84885 414 7 978 1 84885 434 5 93. Honour Killings: International 99. The Copts of Egypt: The Challenges Human Rights and Crimes Against of Modernisation and Identity Women in Turkey Vivian Ibrahim Leylaˆ Pervizat 978 1 84885 499 4 978 1 84885 421 5 100. The Kurds of Iraq: 94. Gender and Identity in North Ethnonationalism and National Africa: Postcolonialism and Feminism Identity in Iraqi Kurdistan in Maghrebi Women’s Literature Mahir Aziz Abdelkader Cheref 978 1 84885 546 5 978 1 84885 449 9 101. The Politics and Practices of 95. KurdsofModernTurkey: Cultural Heritage in the Middle East: Migration, Neoliberalism and Positioning the Material Past in Exclusion in Turkish Society Contemporary Societies Cenk Sarac¸o˘glu Irene Maffi and Rami Daher (Eds) 978 1 84885 468 0 978 1 84885 535 9 96. Occidentalisms in the Arab 102. The Politics and Poetics of Ameen World: Ideology and Images of the Rihani: The Humanist Ideology of an West in the Egyptian Media Arab-American Intellectual and Robbert Woltering Activist 978 1 84885 476 5 Nijmeh Hajjar 978 1 84885 266 2 97. The Army and the Radical Left in Turkey: Military Coups, Socialist 103. The Transformation of Turkey: Revolution and Kemalism Redefining State and Society from the Ozg¨ ur¨ Mutlu Ulus Ottoman Empire to the Modern Era 978 1 84885 484 0 Fatma Muge¨ Goc¨ ¸ek 978 1 84885 611 0 ii THE ARMY AND THE RaDICAL LEFT IN TURKEY Military Coups, Socialist Revolution and Kemalism Özgür Mutlu Ulus Published in 2011 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2011 Özgür Mutlu Ulus The right of Özgür Mutlu Ulus to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Modern Middle East Studies 97 ISBN 978 1 84885 484 0 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press (India) Camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations ix 1 Introduction 1 1 Research goals and questions 1 2 Outline 4 3 Sources and earlier literature 8 2 The TurKish Military in Politics: A Short SurVey 10 1 The Turkish army and the founding of the republic 10 2 The 27 May intervention 12 3 12 March 1971: intervention through an ultimatum 16 3 Between Kemalism and Third World DEVelopmentalism: DOğan AVcioğlu and YÖN 20 1 Introduction 20 2 Politics after the 1960 intervention: vigorous forces as the â revolutionary vanguard 21 3 Socialism as a development model 26 4 Yön pushing for reforms 29 5 Organizing opposition: the founding of the SKD 31 6 Organizing an anti-imperialist common front 34 7 Elections and disillusionment: direction of Yön settled 37 8 Co-operation with an ‘old-guard’ for NDR 39 vi The Army and the Radical Left in TurKey 4 REVolution throuGH the Narrow Door 43 1 Introduction 43 2 The Order of Turkey: the manifesto of the ‘Nationalist â Revolutionaries’ 44 3 The media of the junta:Devrim 51 4 Between theory and practice: 9 March or 12 March? 59 5 The WorKers’ Party of TurKey: The LonG Road to Socialism 64 1 Introduction 64 2 Socialist revolution discourse: TİP as the vanguard 65 3 TİP against ‘short-cuts’ to socialism 67 4 Rifts in the party: NDR or SR? 71 5 A feudal or an Asiatic state? New discussions on the role of â the army 75 6 Disappointment in elections and disappearance of trust 85 7 Towards the 12 March military intervention and after 89 8 A brief conclusion 90 6 The National Democratic REVolutionaries and Their Attitudes towards the Army 92 1 Introduction 92 2 No short-cut to socialism: socialism through NDR 94 3 NDR opposition in the TİP 100 4 The revolutionary vanguard problem: the role of the Kemalists, â bureaucracy and the army in NDR 101 5 Establishing a national front 104 6 NDR and student militancy: the 1968 generation 107 7 NDR factions and their discourse on the army 114 7 The Voice of the TKP from Abroad 132 1 Introduction 132 2 A concise review of the ideology of the TKP up to the 1960s 133 3 The TKP in the 1960s as an ‘external bureau’ 139 4 The KT P in the mid-1960s: the revolutionary leadership problem 147 5 Workers’ revolt and the ambivalent position of the army 151 6 The military intervention and reaction of the TKP 154 7 Conclusion 156 contents vii 8 The KiVilcimli MOVement in Search of the TurKish Past for A REVolutionary Warrior Culture 158 1 Introduction 158 2 The Kıvılcımlı movement in the 1960s 160 3 Kıvılcımlı’s political thinking about the army 164 4 Kıvılcımlı’s approach to the military interventions of 1960 â and 1971 174 5 Conclusion 176 9 Conclusion 179 1 Introduction 179 2 The armed forces as the guardian of the republic 181 3 Revolution through a coup or by means of a united national front 182 4 The anti-imperialist alliance: a problematic relationship 185 5 The revised Soviet theory and its impact on the Turkish left 187 6 Divergence in the Turkish left: SR strategy and the revolutionary â leadership problem 191 7 Final remarks: the army, the state and capitalist relations 194 Notes 198 Bibliography 249 Index 261 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work began as a PhD dissertation submitted to Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2007, supervised by Professor Erik-Jan Zürcher, a renowned historian of Turkey. I worked with him for about seven years and am very indebted to him for a wonderful learning experience. I feel lucky to have watched him do his research work and to have learnt much about teaching. I am very thankful for his support and guidance and the way he managed to offer me a relaxed and friendly working environment. There are a great number of people without whose support I could simply not have finished this work. The most direct contribution came from the staff of libraries and research centres; I am especially indebted to everyone working in the IISH in Amsterdam and TÜSTAV in Istanbul. In particular I would like to thank Zülfikar Özdoğan, the head of the Turkish collection, who not only helped me through the rich Turkish collection and brought to my atten- tion some of the rare or ‘forgotten’ material but kindly agreed to participate in an interview to complement the written material. I thank as well Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, who has very carefully and with dedication read the work and offered valuable questions and insights. Even though he does not share most of my opinions, he was always ready to offer his kind help. The interviews I undertook in the process of organizing this work were perhaps the most exhilarating aspect of the study. It has been a privilege and an honour for me to have had an opportunity to talk with Mihri Belli, Sevim Belli, Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Ruhi Koç, Nihat Sargın, Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, Suat Şükrü Kundakçı, Mustafa Yalçiner, Bozkurt Nuhoğlu and Zülfikar Özdoğan. I am very grateful to Fahri Aral, who organized most of these interviews and kindly offered his support and comments. Last, but definitely not least, I thank all my friends and relatives in Leiden, Boston (USA) and in Turkey and above all my parents, my sister Sıla and my husband Mete Karadağ for their encouragement, trust and support, always being there when I need them most. ABBREVIATIONS General AP Justice Party CENTO Central Treaty Organization CHP Republican People’s Party CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union Dev-Genç Federation of the Revolutionary Youth (of Turkey) DİSK Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions DP Democratic Party FKF Idea Clubs Federation IPSD Society for Struggle against Unemployment and Cost of Living ITU Istanbul Technical University Kominform Communist Information Bureau Komintern Communist (Third) International MBK (CNU) Committee of National Unity MGK National Security Council MHP Nationalist Action Party MIT National Intelligence Agency NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDR National Democratic Revolution ODTU Middle Eastern Technical University OYAK Armed Forces Mutual Assistance Fund PDA Proletarian Revolutionary Enlightenment SR Socialist revolution THKO People’s Liberation Army of Turkey THKP-C People’s Liberation Party-Front of Turkey TİP Workers’ Party of Turkey TKP Communist Party of Turkey x The Army and the Radical Left in TurKey TKP/ML Communist Party of Turkey/ Marxist-Leninist TKP’nin Sesi Voice (Radio) of the Communist Party of Turkey TÖB-DER Confederation of Teachers’ Unions of Turkey TUDEH Communist Party of Iran Türk-İş Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions Bibliographical IISH International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam TÜSTAV Türkiye Sosyal Tarih Araştırma Vakfı 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Research goals and questions To a child even the most ordinary, sterile life can seem like always being tuned in to the Discovery Channel.