Coup panel asks for oversight on army

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

DAILY NEWS PHOTO - Selahattin Sönmez

A sub-commission of the Parliament’s Coups and Military Memorandums Commission has asked for a strong oversight system regarding the military’s activities, while criticizing previous attempts to topple the elected government.

The draft report by the sub-commission, which deals with the Feb. 28 1997 army-led campaign that eventually led to the resignation of the government at the time and with the April 27, 2007 e-memorandum, is 643 pages.

It criticizes the structure of the National Security Council (MGK), which gathers the country’s top military and civilian leaders, and proposes a review of the National Security Policy Document (MGSB).

The curriculum in military schools that may promote military interventions should also be reviewed, it reads, urging “strong oversight” of the military.

Although admitting that significant legal and constitutional amendments have been made since 2002 in order to strengthen the civilian authority’s oversight of the military and to limit the military’s autonomous activity zone, the commission proposes certain changes for a more democratic military-civilian relationship. Members of the commission from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are expected to sign the draft with their reservations since they are not satisfied with the conclusions of the draft.