Without a strong army, the Turkish republic would not exist. At the end of the First World War, the victorious allies were planning to carve up the territory among themselves, with Russia taking the east and Istanbul, and the French and the Italians taking the south, leaving only a rump Turkish state.
These plans were scotched by an officer named Mustafa Kemal who, in 1919, patched together an army and drove the colonial powers away. He is known to history as Ataturk, the founder of the republic.
The role of the Turkish army is unique in the region, and not just because of the prestige it gained in 1919-22. It has been the backbone of the state, as a unifying force for the various ethnic communities and the protector of Ataturk’s legacy of militant secularism.
Against this backdrop, the purge of the top ranks of the army undertaken by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan after last month’s failed coup is not merely a corrective to root out the conspirators, it threatens one of the pillars of the state.
In a decree on July 27, almost half of the country’s generals and admirals were discharged. Not all of them are accused of being followers of the exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the government blames for inspiring the mutiny.
Some may be suspected of other forms of disloyalty, or for displaying a lack of zeal in combating the coup plotters. Still, a root and branch reorganisation is under way, including closing the military colleges in which future officers were trained as a caste apart from society.
Not surprisingly, the army is demoralised at a time when it is fighting an insurrection by the militant wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party in southeastern Turkey, a bombing campaign by ISIL and a potentially catastrophic setback for the Turkish-backed rebels in Syria if Aleppo falls to the Russian-backed government forces. All this has caused anxiety to Turkey’s allies in the West, where the Nato alliance has long relied on Turkey’s 500,000-strong armed forces as reserve capacity.
Mr Erdogan’s Islamising policy and his growing suspicion of the United States have cast doubt on Turkey as an ally, but these fissures are almost certain to grow as the army is remade.
The mass dismissal of senior officers has been compared to Stalin’s purge of Soviet armed forces in 1937-38, when 35,000 officers were arrested on trumped-up charges – severely weakening the military before the Nazi invasion in 1941.
To pursue the Soviet analogy, Mr Gulen, the exiled preacher who has lived in rural Pennsylvania since 1999, should be Leon Trotsky, Stalin’s former comrade whom he had assassinated with an ice pick in Mexico. But Mr Gulen is an unlikely Trotsky: he appears to the world as an Islamist thinker who exhorts his followers to devote themselves to education and public service rather than politics, and certainly not armed revolution.
There is one similarity. When Mr Erdogan came to power in 2002, he had few friends in the state bureaucracy, and so relied on the Gulenists to organise mass show trials of army officers to ensure that the military could never force him out of power. The fantastical evidence of military conspiracies at the so-called “Sledgehammer” trials in 2012 has been shown to be fake. But the removal of some of the top brass allowed for some Gulen followers to rise in the ranks.
Inevitably the two arms of the movement fell out, with the Gulenists exposing the corruption and cronyism under Mr Erdogan until he declared his former allies terrorists in May this year.
Evidence released by the authorities from interrogations of some of the accused coup plotters suggests that the Gulenists in the military operated under the deepest cover, not knowing the names of their colleagues. This may explain why the coup failed to mobilise forces with enough speed to neutralise Mr Erdogan.
Or there could be another explanation which is more worrying for Mr Erdogan: powerful currents in the military – such as officers who believed Mr Erdogan’s wilful policy in Syria had opened the way for the Kurds to regroup all along Turkey’s south frontier – were expected to be part of the Gulenist mutiny, but failed to join it.
There are still many unanswered questions. What is clear is that Mr Erdogan intends to place all the security forces firmly under civilian control with responsibility shared between the president, the minister of defence and the minister of interior. This will surely serve to weaken the army’s political role in the state, but may also make it less effective in the security sphere.
These changes are so big that Mr Erdogan has offered an olive branch to the opposition parties – previously under severe pressure – in the hope that he can create a sense of national unity behind the military reforms.
What remains to be seen is how the new military will look. The hunt for the Gulenists will continue. But the real issue is whether the army will become more Islamic, and thus aligned to Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, which would require rooting out the secular tradition inherited from Mustafa Kemal.
At the same time, the geopolitical orientation is likely to change. For decades the army has worked closely with the US military, but Mr Erdogan is openly critical of American policy in Syria. Turkish commentators suggest the army may become less western and more “Eurasian” in its orientation.
Given the failure of US policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, maybe this should be no surprise. Mr Erdogan is flying to St Petersburg on Tuesday to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin. This is a chance to open a new era in relations after Turkey shot down a Russian strike aircraft in November last year. The visit may reveal more of Mr Erdogan’s intentions.
Alan Philps is a commentator on global affairs
On Twitter: @aphilps
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
The five pillars of Islam
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
'HIJRAH: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE PROPHET'
Edited by: Idries Trevathan
Pages: 240
Publisher: Hirmer Publishers
Available: Now
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)
MacBook Air
$1,199
Mac Mini
$799
The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
J Street Polling Results
97% of Jewish-Americans are concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism
76% of US Jewish voters believe Donald Trump and his allies in the Republican Party are responsible for a rise in anti-Semitism
74% of American Jews agreed that “Trump and the Maga movement are a threat to Jews in America"
SPEC SHEET: APPLE M3 MACBOOK AIR (13")
Processor: Apple M3, 8-core CPU, up to 10-core CPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Display: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 x 1664, 224ppi, 500 nits, True Tone, wide colour
Memory: 8/16/24GB
Storage: 256/512GB / 1/2TB
I/O: Thunderbolt 3/USB-4 (2), 3.5mm audio, Touch ID
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery: 52.6Wh lithium-polymer, up to 18 hours, MagSafe charging
Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD
Video: Support for Apple ProRes, HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10
Audio: 4-speaker system, wide stereo, support for Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio and dynamic head tracking (with AirPods)
Colours: Midnight, silver, space grey, starlight
In the box: MacBook Air, 30W/35W dual-port/70w power adapter, USB-C-to-MagSafe cable, 2 Apple stickers
Price: From Dh4,599
Company profile
Name: WallyGPT
Started: 2014
Founders: Saeid and Sami Hejazi
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Investment raised: $7.1 million
Number of staff: 20
Investment stage: Pre-seed round
Ramy: Season 3, Episode 1
Creators: Ari Katcher, Ryan Welch, Ramy Youssef
Stars: Ramy Youssef, Amr Waked, Mohammed Amer
Rating: 4/5
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
Profile of VoucherSkout
Date of launch: November 2016
Founder: David Tobias
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers
Sector: Technology
Size: 18 employees
Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake
Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars”
The five pillars of Islam
EMIRATES'S REVISED A350 DEPLOYMENT SCHEDULE
Edinburgh: November 4 (unchanged)
Bahrain: November 15 (from September 15); second daily service from January 1
Kuwait: November 15 (from September 16)
Mumbai: January 1 (from October 27)
Ahmedabad: January 1 (from October 27)
Colombo: January 2 (from January 1)
Muscat: March 1 (from December 1)
Lyon: March 1 (from December 1)
Bologna: March 1 (from December 1)
Source: Emirates
The Specs
Engine 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp (542bhp in GTS model)
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000 (Dh549,000 for GTS)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5
Company Profile
Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000
MADAME WEB
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tahar Rahim, Sydney Sweeney
Rating: 3.5/5
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
The Beekeeper
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Minnie Driver, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Results
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group 1 (PA) US$75,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Ziyadd, Richard Mullen (jockey), Jean de Roualle (trainer).
7.05pm: Al Rashidiya Group 2 (TB) $250,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Barney Roy, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm: Meydan Cup Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,810m
Winner: Secret Advisor, Tadhg O’Shea, Charlie Appleby.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Plata O Plomo, Carlos Lopez, Susanne Berneklint.
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
9.25pm: Al Shindagha Sprint Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Gladiator King, Mickael Barzalona, Satish Seemar.
Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
UAE v Ireland
1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets
2nd ODI, January 12
3rd ODI, January 14
4th ODI, January 16