Turkey made its first significant efforts to democratize civil-military relations in line with Western standards in the early 2000s, as part of the European Union harmonization reforms. Although legal and institutional arrangements for the democratic control of the military have progressed compared to the past, the country has still experienced military memoranda and coup attempts, indicating that civil-military relations have not been fully secured over the last two decades. This study examines the causes of this issue through a survey conducted with 160 retired officers from the Turkish Armed Forces. The findings suggest that the failure to achieve comprehensive democratization stems from neglecting the normative aspects of the transformation process and not viewing the armed forces as a social institution and.