Chapter 12: Education, the Military, and Politics in Turkey: Transitions in Turkish Education After the Coup d’Etat of 1980

This study of Turkey is presented as a vehicle to lend more precision to the phrase military rule or military government and to analyze the particular role of the Turkish military in that nation’s educational development after the coup d’état of 1980. The Turkish educational system has been exposed to many structural changes at every level since the coup d’état of 1980. The military government and the military-supported civil governments established after 1980 did not change the discourse on education. The most important changes took place in religious education and higher education; however, the implementation of 8 years’ compulsory education throughout the country caused many debates. The military recommended that decision, and the civil government was pushed to implement this recommendation unwillingly.