"most Turks still see the army as the only trustworthy barrier against political mismanagement," Ignorance or Fear??????
The Iraqis had similar feelings for Saddam and his "Bathing party"....., before his demise!
The Turkish army is also in the process of aquiring nuclear capability from the Chinise and the Pakistanis.
The US is aware of what is going on!
The Turkish military has nuke capability now. Why do you think the turks gave the actuators to Pakistan for? Pakistan has provided nuke and know how to Iran, North Korea, Libya, et al.