The History of Military Schools in Turkey

The attempted coup d’état on July 15, 2016 was a decisive event in the history of modern Turkish military institution. After that attempt, the Turkish state started a number of procedures. Prominent among them is the reconstruction of educational institutions such as closing the schools under the Gülen movement inside and outside the country because it was accused of being liable for the attempt. The Turkish state is also trying to merge military and war schools in civil education and place them under the surveillance of the ministry of national education.

Several systems of education had been established in the Ottoman State like Andiron offices built by Murad the third in his palace in Edirne for the sake of qualifying officials, the religious schools and the schools that followed the European style like the Ottoman Dar El Ma‘aref. Yet, Turkish military schools had a special history in the Ottoman State where they were considered the first step to westernize the state in the pre-Tanzimat period. They entirely changed into the European system after the Tanzimat decree. The army was considered the first target of the modernization process in an attempt to face the collapse of the Ottoman State.

Military schools were described as ‘Secularism Centers’ because of their conflict with religious schools. While military schools were teaching secular and military subjects, religious schools were teaching only religious ones. Religious schools were under the control of Awqaf department while military schools were directly under the administration of the state, which led to closing the schools that were not appropriately run by Awqaf department. After passing the law of regulating religious education on March 3, 1924, religious schools have been under the ministry of national education.

After the attempted coup d’état on July 15, there occurred the conundrum of instilling a specific ideology into the military schools students. Further, suggestions appeared calling for the necessity for civilizing military curricula in an attempt to fill the gap between the civil community and the army. Opinions varied and there have been supporters and opponents. This study discusses these opinions and shows the military schools from a historical viewpoint in order to find out their roots and the changes and modernization that came over them.