Civilian Support and Military Unity in the Outcome of Turkish and Greek Interventions

This article attempts to explain the divergent domestic roles of the Greek and
Turkish militaries after the early 1980s by focusing on the last overt military
interventions. The 1967 intervention in Greece and the 1980 coup in Turkey
differed from each other in terms of the amount and nature of political
autonomy that each military maintained immediately following each country's
transition to democracy. Indeed, in each country, the transition process had a
significant impact on civil-military relations in the succeeding years. The Greek
junta faced civilian and military resistance, and, therefore, the colonels were
pressured to completely withdraw from politics. The Turkish coup, on the other
hand, was carried out by a cohesive military and was at least implicitly
endorsed by a number of influential civilians. This allowed the military to
withdraw voluntarily, guide the transition, and maintain political autonomy
after 1983.