Çekiç ile Tornavida Arasındaki Fark: Amerikan Askerî Yardımları Sonrası TSK’daki Dönüşümün Toplumsal Etkileri
Cemil SağlamOrdu, modernleşme hareketinin merkezinde bulunması dolayısıyla Osmanlı ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde askerî olduğu kadar toplumsal öneme de sahip olmuştur. Bu makale TSK’nın Türk modernleşmesindeki bu rolünün Amerikan Askerî Yardımları sonrasındaki durumunu açıklamayı amaçlamaktadır. 1947’de başlayan Amerikan askerî yardımlarıyla birlikte artan teknik kabiliyetleri sayesinde TSK, toplumun büyük bir kesimini eğitip modern bir vatandaş haline getirecek imkân ve kabiliyete kavuşarak toplumsal etkisini daha da arttırmıştır. Böylelikle ordu, ülke savunmasının yanında halk eğitimindeki en önemli kurumlardan biri haline gelmiştir. Askere gidip orada modern araç ve düşünceyle tanışan gençler terhis olduklarında bu yeni kültürün birer taşıyıcısı olarak edindikleri modern teknik bilgi ve terbiyeyle sivil yaşama dönmüşlerdir. Doküman analizine dayalı bu çalışmada ordudaki değişimin toplumsal etkisi çoğunlukla 50’li ve 60’lı yıllarda yapılan köy monografileri, 60’lı yıllarda hazırlanan Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı raporları ve yer yer Türkiye’ye Amerikan Askerî Yardım Kurulu (Jammat) arşivi kullanılarak ortaya çıkarılmaya çalışılmıştır. Buradan hareketle çalışmada Amerikan Askerî Yardımları sonrasında TSK’nın 1950’ler itibariyle Türkiye’nin kırsal kesimindeki kalkınma hamlelerine katkı verdiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
The Difference Between a Hammer and a Screwdriver: The Social Effects of the Transformation of TAF After the American Military Aid
Cemil SağlamThe army has had social as well as military importance in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Türkiye due to its position at the center of the modernization movement. This article aims to explain the role of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in Turkish modernization after receiving American military aid. TAF is found to have further bolstered its social effects by gaining the opportunity and ability to train a large part of society and transform them into modern citizens by virtue of the technical capabilities that increased through the American military aid received after 1947. By joining the army and encountering modern tools and ideas there, young people have become the bearers of this new culture by conveying modern technical knowledge and training into civilian life after being discharged. Based on documental research, this study mostly uses the village monographs that were made in the 1950s and 1960s and state planning organization reports, as well as occasionally drawing from the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT) archives. The study has concluded that after receiving American military aid, TAF began contributing more to developmental movements in the rural areas of Türkiye in the 1950s.
This article aims to reveal the changes in the role of the Turkish armed forces (TAF) in the modernization of Türkiye post-World War II. While American military aid has previously been researched mostly as the subject of international relations and history, this study will examine it from a sociological perspective.
As a modernizing force, the military has had significant influence during both the Ottoman era and throughout the Republic of Türkiye. TAF was one of the most important state institutions in Türkiye as it taught and educated people how to be good citizens before World War II. With the implementation of compulsory military service since the beginning of the 20th century, the young villagers, the main source of soldiers for the army, were able to get a chance to see what lay beyond the mountains of their villages. However, the military lacked the technical capabilities to provide education for the masses. Despite the deficiencies, the army attempted to train young recruits, many of whom at the very least became literate by the end of their service.
Prior to the 1950s, nearly 75% of the population of Türkiye lived in underdeveloped rural areas. People hardly went outside of their villages, and agricultural production was not based on the market economy. Illiteracy was high among rural people, and medical conditions were poor in villages. Military service was practically the only reason for young males to leave their village and enabled young people to discover new places and meet new people from all around Türkiye. Most importantly, military service made these people realize they are a part of the nation.
In those years, TAF also lacked the capacity to defend the country against the Soviets. The army’s power was constrained by inadequate transportation, out-of-date equipment leftover from the era of World War I and the War of Independence, and its outdated military education. As a result, TAF began training young males both militarily and ideologically so as to strengthen the young Republic. However, these trainings mostly played no vital role in developing the technical skills that might be needed in agriculture in that period. This picture changed significantly after World War II.
During the Cold War, the US began to implement an encirclement policy toward the USSR. Thus, Türkiye’s strategic significance was obvious to the US. Türkiye could be an optimal choice for a US base due to its closeness to the Soviet mainland. In addition, equipping Turkish soldiers was far cheaper than equipping American soldiers at that time. Based on these considerations, the US started providing military and economic aid to Türkiye in an effort to strengthen its military force and open its economy to the market. The US planned to use these developments so that Türkiye could acquire the strength needed to hold the Soviets at bay until US reinforcements arrived. Therefore, the US established the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT) in 1947 for carrying out the military aid. In the beginning, US authorities thought that the military aid would be enough to modernize the Turkish army but later realized that weapon and equipment transfer alone would not be useful. Therefore, JAMMAT applied a large-scale military education program in order to train soldiers on how to use high-tech weaponry.
Through JAMMAT’s efforts, the number of motorized vehicles rapidly increased during this time, whereas the number of mounted animals in the armed forces declined. Thus, the young recruits of those years found an organization that was very different from what their fathers and grandfathers had told them about before. Soldiers who lived in barracks at that time had no idea what a motor looked like. A wooden stick plough had been the most sophisticated piece of machinery they’d seen before enlisting. They hardly even knew the difference between a hammer and a screwdriver. During their conscription, young soldiers witnessed the power of the machinery and experienced devices such as telephone that bring distant locations closer. Thus, these novelties significantly affected the young soldiers’ mindsets.
While the military aid transformed the armed forces and its soldiers, economic assistance also changed civilian and economic life. The mechanization of agricultural production led to radical changes in rural areas. The article will consider the works from the Public Road Administration Group, a JAMMAT unit, in this regard. Due to how this organization’s constructions had linked the cities and countryside, villagers consequently started to visit cities more frequently. This boosted interactions between cities and villages and also caused changes in production and job patterns. Because the tractor had replaced the ox, the demands in production fields also changed. For instance, driving became one of the most essential and wanted skills in agricultural production at that time. Soldiers who had learned how to drive in the army could become more useful both to the military and in civilian life. With driving skills, these conscripts would become the operators, drivers, and transporters whom agricultural production needed in that period. In short, JAMMAT’s activities not only improved Türkiye’s military capability but also its infrastructure and population quality.
In this way, young villagers began to meet the new requirements of the agriculture-based economy with the good training they obtained in the army. While TAF taught its soldiers essential skills, it also maintained its education of citizens on reasonable ideological grounds. After conscription service, young villagers returned to society as mobile personalities who were equipped with the skills needed to deal with the new demands that may arise around them. With the skills that they acquired in the army, their importance also gradually rose. Thus, they began to play a vital role and were able to be elected as chiefs in their villages.
As can be seen, Turkish villages witnessed big changes in the 1950s. Too many people lost their jobs in agricultural production as the new types of machinery poured into the fields, and many of them moved to the big cities. As a result, many problems occurred, the results of which are still affecting Turkish society. However, these problems are the subject of another study. This article has focused on the role of the military within the progress of Turkish modernization. By applying the document research method, this study has used the monographs on villages that were made in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as the reports from the State Planning Organization and from the JAMMAT archive. As a result, the study has found that upon receiving US military aid, TAF was able to train its soldiers more efficiently and impart on them important skills that would be useful for their civilian life, in addition to the ideological education TAF had been providing for a long time.
