ANKARA — The exposure of the plan hatched by senior military officials — called "Operation Sledgehammer" — to destabilize Turkey's government, and the subsequent arrest of high-ranking officers, demonstrates the growing strength of Turkey's democracy. Moreover, prosecutors' efforts to uncover the truth are not a campaign to discredit the Turkish Army, as some allege; nor has the exposure of "Sledgehammer" led to an emerging showdown between "secularists" and "Islamists."
Turkish society and politics are too complicated to be reduced to such simplistic formulas.
Nevertheless, this is a very serious moment for Turkey, because it may mark the country's transit from decades of military tutelage of its civilian politicians — and thus complete its transition to full-fledged democracy.