It used to be unthinkable in Turkey. It is still unimaginable now in Thailand. But this secular Muslim country has shown it can clip the wings of the military to end coup d'etat threats. Can Thailand do the same?
Last week, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its report that blames just about every party concerned _ be they the Abhisit government, the military, the protest leaders, and the inflammatory media _ as being culpable for the 2010 violence.
One of its recommendations is for the military to respect civilian rule and stop interrupting parliamentary politics through coup d'etats once and for all. But it doesn't specify how.
A few days after the TRC report, the Turkish government showed us the way. In a landmark verdict against the coup plotters, the court jailed hundreds of army officers including top generals for trying to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about 10 years ago. The prison sentences range from six to 20 years.
The coup plot, named "Operation Sledgehammer", involved outrageous plans to create political instability in order to legitimise army intervention. They included bomb attacks on historic mosques in Istanbul, an escalation of border conflicts with Greece, and the killing of leaders of the Christian minority.
The defendants claimed the operation was just a war game in a military exercise. But the court did not believe them. So the sledgehammer fell on the army officers involved.
Looking on from the other side of the globe, we really don't know the ins and outs of the political games being played in Turkey. Some critics may well be correct in saying that the Turkish government is using the courts to consolidate its power since there are also other ongoing court cases against political dissent. But is it wrong to curtail military meddling in politics? To a country which has gone through 18 military coups in the past 80 years, the Sledgehammer verdict should be music to our ears.
What can we learn from the anti-coup verdict in Turkey?
Although each country's local context is different and it's difficult to make generalisations, there are certain interesting parallels between the Thai and Turkish militaries.
To start with, both see themselves as the guardians of state ideology.
In Turkey, the military's mission is to safeguard a secular state. Mixing religion with politics is seen as a threat to Turkey's belief in secularism which is a prerequisite for modernity. The rise of Islamic influences in the administration of Prime Minister Erdogan is therefore seen as a serious threat to Turkey's secular ideology which dates back to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey.
The Turkish military is also linked to a vast and intricate network of secular-minded elites dubbed the "deep state" which keep governments in line by intervening in policies behind the scenes.
Sound familiar?
Here in Thailand, the military's mission is to safeguard the revered monarchy as a sacred institution in accordance with the nation-religion-monarchy national ideology, as well as to protect the country from political disorder and corrupt politicians.
While corruption is also rife within the military, the political status quo is maintained by the pro-establishment network of political and business elites as well as middle-class professionals who see the military as a necessary evil to deter corrupt politicians from excess.
In Turkey where the rights of the religiously devout have long been suppressed, the changing social landscapes caused by urbanisation and expansion of the new middle class have given rise to a need for more religious expression, which explained the landslide election victory of Mr Erdogan's AK Party.
In Thailand, rapid urbanisation and the emergence of a new middle class in once rural areas also explains the rise of Thaksin Shinawatra who dared shake up the system. But his abuse of power and perceived support for anti-monarchy rhetoric led to the 2006 coup which has deeply divided the country to this day.
What we've learned from Turkey is that times have changed. The unthinkable is now a reality. Turkey has accomplished this by sending a clear message to the military and coup aspirants: Don't even dare!
Thailand needs to hear the same thing.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.