Should The Red Booklet Be Released?

BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS
SABAH- Yesterday’s National Security Council (NSC) meeting discussed the National Security Policy Document, which is also known as the ‘Red Booklet’ or the ‘Secret Constitution.’ However, the members of the council failed to agree on the text, saying that they had lacked sufficient time to read the text through. Detailed debates on it were thus delayed until August.
Jointly prepared by the government, intelligence units, the military and the NSC, the red booklet is a strategic road map outlining domestic and foreign security threats against Turkey. The text includes interesting points about the country’s security matters.
At only 25 pages long, this year’s booklet is shorter than previous ones. Greece is no longer considered a foreign threat. However, it underlines that if our Aegean neighbor attempts to expand its territorial waters to 12 miles, this would be a ‘casus belli.’ In addition, although the text devotes attention to the nuclear activities of Iran and ongoing political instability in Iraq, the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq would no longer be considered a ‘casus belli.’
As for internal threats, separatists and radical Islamist threats are two of the major problems identified, as usual. As we know, the military and government have differing views on these issues. While the military is more sensitive about ethnic nationalism, the government doesn’t believe that radical Islamist groups carry as much sway today as in the past. Under these circumstances, it’s quite difficult to bring these views together under a single roof, harmonizing the civilian and military sensitivities to each other to develop an applicable security strategy on Turkey’s path towards EU membership.
Here is a long-debated question: Should this document remain like a secret code? Or should it be released? Some argue that if the booklet is made public, it will both boost our democracy and promote nationalist feelings in society. However, others believe that the booklet cannot be released because it covers very sensitive issues which should be remain confidential. The latter argument may be right, because the red booklet is not a theoretical construction but a concrete plan of action. Turks of course have the right to know what their country’s security priorities are. Therefore, I believe that the NSC should develop a new document solely with the aim of informing the public about security issues. Why not?