From Illegality to Legitimization: Training for Violence in Turkish Army Barracks

This paper studies the pre-combat training for violence in Turkish barracks. It puts the following hypothesis to the test: the violence soldiers commit and experience within the institution later helps them to endure armed conflict. The first part of this paper shows that, in a war situation, Turkish army conscripts are made to face violence within the military institution, which symbolizes death by violence. The second part shows that, in the context of war, the real confrontation with death requires an institutional reconfiguration in the face of violence. In the context of war, the feeling of fear gradually disappears and those undergoing training become accustomed to and distanced from the atrocities of war. In parallel, the internal violence—whether horizontal or vertical—decreases and is redirected at a common enemy.