Indirect Praetorianism: the Case of Turkey's Military

Abstract

Based on a case analysis of the Turkish military interfering on 27 April 2007 in the presidential elections, the article seeks to analyse the mechanisms of indirect interventions and contribute a new perspective to the analysis of praetorianism. The study found that the military intervention that took the shape of an e-memorandum of 27 April 2007 was a form of veto coup that is often used by the guardian-type military. In this paper, the subjects of direct non-violent intervention, their methods, as well as negative consequences for the military environment have been identified. The presented analysis of modern forms of praetorianism focuses on such forms of indirect actions of the military in which it is difficult to identify the interests of the military or see an increase in its political influence.