GROWING UP:

TURKISH MILITARY STEPS BACK: Sign of a maturing democracy (The Boston Globe, August 3, 2011)

WHEN PROMOTERS of democracy depend on the steady hand of the military, the balance is always uneasy. This approach may have reached its limits in Turkey, where the military's longstanding role as the guardian of secular democracy has now been decisively rejected.

After decades in which the armed forces were the ultimate arbiter of politics, Turkey's popularly elected civilian leadership has now taken control. The military has, so far, accepted its demotion. Though the Islamic flavor of Turkey's government makes some Westerners nervous, the extension of civilian control should be seen as a healthy sign.

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