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Critical Junctures, Catalysts, And Democratic Consolidation In Turkey, Ramazan Kilinc

Political Science Faculty Publications

IN FEBRUARY 1997, THE TURKISH MILITARY INTERVENED in politics to protect secularism from the "rising Islamist threat." This inter- vention resulted in the toppling of the coalition government led by the Islamic-oriented Welfare Party (RP, Refah Partisi ). Many civil and political restrictions followed this intervention, including the closure of the RP by the Constitutional Court. Two years later, the Chief of Staff, Hüseyin Kivnkoģlu, stated that "the 28 February process," by which he meant the military-sanctioned political configuration, would continue for one thou- sand years if necessary.1 However, by 2012, only 15 years after the inter- vention, the military's …