Turkey's security sector after July 15: democratizing security or securitizing the state?

Official URL: http://turkishpolicy.com/files/articlepdf/turkeys-security-sector-after-july-15-democratizing-security-or-securitizing-the-state_en_4134.pdf

Turkey's security sector is at a critical juncture due to hasty reforms and mass purges after the failed coup attempt on 15 July 2016. This article aims to elucidate the impact of reforms and purges on the organizational structures and institutional identities of the actors within the Turkish security sector - the Turkish Armed Forces, National Intelligence Agency, the Gendarmerie Command, the National Police, private security companies, and village guards - under the state of emergency in effect since 20 July 2016. The absence of a coordinator/agent to synchronize the reform process, problems related to the capacity of and increasingly visible politicization within the Turkish security sector, and the democracy deficit in Turkey are discussed as inherent symptoms of the present security crisis and subsequent terror attacks on Turkish soil. These can most effectively be remedied through a holistic approach to transformation: a gradual institutional change of Turkey's security sector.