Whining and reporting

[bronnyelsp]

The base of my neck, between my shoulder blades, aches. Achy achy achy aches. From all the moving, obviously. I wish it would just get better already. Also I can't sort out my thoughts on the constitutional position of the National Security Council in Turkey nor find any particular information on the position of state security and military

Comments

[mawombat]

who is the current Secretary General of the NSC?

And can you give us reading recommendations for the militaristic culture?
It's also interesting to look at the parallels between Turkish and Israeli militarism; and the differences.

If every Turk is born a soldier, but only the men are required to do military service, but women are allowed in if they want, does that mean Turkish women are only Turkish if they choose to be?

[bronnyelsp]

Read [male] into the phrase "Every [male] Turk is born a soldier"!

The book I was reading over the weekend is The Myth of the Military-Nation by Ayse-Gul Altinay and I highly recommend it. It's a feminist sociological reading of Turkey's military culture and it's fascinating.

The current Secretary General of the NSC, whom I FINALLY found after searching Zaman online by the name of the his predecessor, is Tahsin Burcuoglu, the former ambassador to Greece. His predecessor, Mehmet Yigit Alpogan, also a former ambassador, was the first civilian Secretary General after the reforms of 2003 (previously they were all generals). This is not to say that the armed forces have by any means relinquished their control either over the MGK (NSC) or the government in general -- merely that it will continue by pre-existing informal channels -- for this I recommend Gareth Jenkins, Context and Circumstances: The Turkish Military and Politics, which I read on Friday at LSE library (it's very short

[rizardofoz]

It's interesting. I sometimes get asked the question about the US military in class if I have served my time in the military in the US, to which I say no... but then continue to explain that in the US it isn't mandatory. I don't even bother with the concept of 'selective service' because it's difficult enough for them to understand that it isn't something that American men must do when they turn 18 or older...

[bronnyelsp]

It's interesting and, I suspect, important times there. No small part of me wishes I was on the scene to see first-hand how people are reacting.