"BALYOZ" KARARLARINA TEPKİ- REACTING TO THE "SLEDGEHAMMER" VERDICTS

TÜRKÇE (For English text please scroll down.)

"Balyoz" davasının sonuçlarına halkımızdan tepki geldi. Ama bunun yanında, az sayıda beraatler bir savcının gözüne fazla gözükmüş, "onları da cezalandıralım" diyor!

 Cezaların babalık, kocalık ve hatta emeklilik hakkının reddi gibi aksesuarlarla süslenmiş olması da bu sürece ayrı bir sevimlilik katıyor.

Şimdi Ergenekon davaları devam ediyor. Bakalım daha ne eğlenceler hazırlıyorlar bize demokratik hukuk devletimiz!

 Basından Balyoz kararlarını protesto görüntüleri, Ankara, İzmir ve İstanbul

Göstericiler artık askerlerimizi daha bir yürekten savunuyorlar. Çağlayan mitinginin iyimser havasında söylenen "ne takunya ne postal" sözleri o kadar popüler değil. Hatta 27 Mayıs hatırası "Ordu Millet Elele" sloganı bile naftalinlerden çıkartılmış. Bakın İşçi Partisi ile yakın ilişkili Aydınlık gazetesi ne diyor:

Aydınlık, 23 Eylül 2012

Güzel de atı alan Üsküdar'ı geçti. Aslında bu mahkemeler çok daha hafif cezalar, çok daha fazla beraat verseydi hükümet- ve arkasındaki "cemaat"- yine de iyi bir gol atmış olacaktı. "Darbe" ve "darbecilik" söylemini kamuoyu altşuuruna o kadar etkili bir şekilde yerleştirdiler, kendi "darbe" tanımları üzerine o kadar o kadar iyi bir konsensus yarattılar ki TSK'nın "Cumhuriyeti Kollama ve Koruma" görevini tamamen suç kapsamına sokmayı başardılar. Dikkat ederseniz savunmalar hep "hayır, biz hiç darbe filan düşünmüyorduk", "benim haberim yoktu", "o benim imzam değil", "benim emrim dışında yapıldı" şeklinde yapıldı. (Sakın yanlış anlamayın, sahte delil üretilmediğini söylemiyorum!) Ortalıkta uçuşan polemiklerin net sonucu şudur: siyasi süreçle ilgili olarak askerden gelebilecek herhangi bir hamle, hareket, tavır, söz, ima tabu haline gelmiştir. Bunun böyle olmasının zeminini AKP ve "cemaat"'ten önce aydınlar (ki aydın demek bizde genelde solcu demekti) hazırlamıştı.

"Darbeci" sıfatını artk bir küfür haline getirmeyi başardılar. Bu sorgulanmaz hâle geldi. Siyah pantolon altında beyaz çorap giymek gibi, balık yemeğiyle kırmızı şarap içmek gibi.

Peki, Genelkurmay başkanı Necdet Özel'e niçin kızıyorsunuz o zaman? Tam istediğinizi yapmıyor mu? Yoksa kendinize "darbeci" dedirtmeden darbe mi getirmek istiyorsunuz? İstemediğiniz hükümeti göndersin, siz beş sene sonra, ortalık yatıştığında, onu da "darbeciler yargılansın" diye kurtlara atın, hem de temiz bir vicdanla!

Belki de eveleyip gevelemek, polemiklerde boğulmak yerine kullandığınız kelimelere ve cümlelere dikkat etmek en iyisi. Vaktiyle "inkilap" ve "ihtilâl" kelimelerini "devrim" kelimesinde birleştirerek bir solcu ihtilâli ("devrimi") daha kabul edilir hâle getirme stratejisi vardı. En azından böyle gözüküyordu.

O hâlde AKP ve "yandaş basın"'ın kurduğu kelime tuzağını tersine çevirin, "darbe" ile "askeri müdahele"'yi ayırın.

Bakın 28 Şubat'a bile "darbe" dediler ve o süreçte rol alanlara da "darbeci" yaftası yapıştırtdılar, yargılıyorlar

Darbe kelimesini bir rejimi değiştirmek için yapılan bir  hareket sayarsanız, bir rejimi korumak, ciddi bir tehlikeden kurtarmak için son çare olarak yapılacak bir harekete meselâ askeri müdahele derseniz (bir hastalığa "müdahele"edileceği gibi)

O zaman dabeciler AKP ve arkasındaki "cemaat" olur, asker de darbe yapmamış, yapılmış olan darbeye müdahele etmiş olur.

ENGLISH

The footnote links do not work; you will have to scroll down to to the footnotes for expanded information. Opening the blogsite on two seperate windows and keeping one on the footnotes will make it easier to go back and forth. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'm no expert!.
Other links should work.

There was public reaction to the Balyoz ("Sledgehammer") verdicts. But on the other side of the coin, an attorney for the persecution was unhappy with the 34 acquittals. He feels they got off too lightly.

Another cute embellishment of the verdicts was that the condemned officers lose their conjugal rights as husbands, paternity rights as fathers, and retirement benefits. 

So much for the "Sledgehammer", now on with the Ergenekon trials. Life is so much fun in this democratic state under rule of law.

Photos from the press, demonstrations against the "Sledgehammer" verdicts in Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul. The banner carried by the Istanbul group (below) reads "Army, People, Hand in Hand"

The demonstrators are now defending our soldiers more openly. The slogan "no clogs, no boots" from the optimistic Çağlayan demonstration is now pretty much forgotten.[1] Even the slogan “Army and People Hand in Hand”, relic of May 27th, 1960,[2] has been taken out of mothballs and put into circulation. Just take a look at this headline below, which appeared in Aydınlık, a left-leaning newspaper affiliated with the Labor Party.

 Aydınlık, Sept. 23rd, 2012: 

 "A People without an Army is Nothing"

Great, but is it too little too late? When it gets down to it, even if the courts had been more lenient, even if they had passed out a great deal more acquittals, the AKP and the “community”[3] behind it would have carried the day. They have so indelibly burned in the stereotypes of “coup” and “putschist” into the public subconscious, created such a concensus based on their own definition of what constitutes a “coup”, that it has become a crime for the Armed Forces to carry out its duty of “protecting and watching over” the Republic. Notice that the accused of the "Sledgehammer" trials often sought to defend themselves with expressions like “no, we weren’t plotting a coup”, “I don’t know anything about it”, “that’s not my signature”, “such and such was done contrary to my orders” etc. (Please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying the evidence was not forged because I do believe that this was often the case.) The net result of all the battle of words flying back and forth has been that any action, movement, attitude, phrase, suggestion coming from the military is now taboo! And the groundwork for all of this was laid out by the intellectuals (and “intellectual” usually means “left wing” in our country) well before the AKP and the “community” entered the scene.

“Putschist” is now a swear word! Supporting a “coup” is unacceptable bad taste, like white socks under black trousers, or red wine with fish. It’s just not done!

Fine then, why this rage against Chief of Staff Necdet Özel? Isn’t his passivity just what you wanted? Or do you want a “coup”, without seeming to support it? Do you want him to unseat a government that you dislike so that, when the waters calm down five years hence, you can throw him to the wolves, shouting “try the putschists”?[4] And still have a clear conscience about it?

Maybe you should give up on all the wordplay and say exactly what you intend to say, paying attention to the words you pick, and what they mean.

In the heyday of the leftist movement, the words ihtilâl (“revolution”) and inkilâp (“reform”) were united in one word, devrim[5]. Many suspected, and with reason, that this was a linguistic trick to make the expected leftist revolution more palatable.

The AKP and its press has been using a similar trick of nomenclature to guide our thinking and actions. Just undo it, and split the word "coup" into two, corresponding to two meanings.

Notice that the AKP and its supporting press has even managed to label the 28th of February process a “coup” and the officers involved are now standing trial for it.[6]

If a “coup d’état” is a drastic action to change a regime, a last-resort act to protect it can, and indeed ought to be, called an intervention. Like a medical intervention.

Under the revised definition, the AKP and the “community” behind it will certainly appear as the “putschists”, the ones to have planned and carried out their “coup d’état”. And the public will be within its rights to expect and hope for an “intervention” to remedy the state of affairs.

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[1] The Çağlayan rally of April 29th, 2007 was the biggest of the monster demonstrations against the rise to power of a fundamentalist government. The AKP was already in power, with Erdoğan as Prime Minister. The AKP was using its parliamentary majority to bring a fundamentalist from their own ranks to the Presidency; making the takeover of the top offices of the Republic complete. The demonstrations were held to keep this from  happening. The government had its way and like-minded Abdullah Gül became president. 

 There are several videos of the Çağlayan meeting, on U-Tube, here is one:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9lw3rUF_Ae

 “Clogs” (“takunya”) is a derogatory allusion to the simple footwear associated with a sloppy fundamentalist image; “boots” alludes to military boots. Feeling overconfident in their own crowd, the demonstrators were declaring they did not want a military intervention.

Many organizers of the rallies have later found themselves entangled in the Ergenekon trials.

[2] In the days leading up to the coup of May 27th, 1960, the protesting youth the armed forces, with the support of the opposition CHP, joined forces to bring down the right-wing government of Adnan Menderes’ Democratic Party. Unlike the interventions of 1970 and 1980, it had more the character of a “coup d’état”. The arrmy enjoyed open public support and the slogan “Army and People Hand in Hand” was a popular chant.

[3] “Community”- “cemaat”, the  followers of Fethullah Gülen, spiritual leader of his own sect, based on the teachings of Muslim mystic Said Nursi. Fethullah Gülen is resident in a ranch in Pennsylvania.

[4] Like General Evren, now being tried at 95 years of age for the intervention of Sept. 12, 1980.

[5] Within the framework of “purifying” the language from words of Arabic and Persian origin.

[6] See footnote 6 of my post “War Drums of a Non-Militarist Government”, Sept. 18th.

TÜRKÜM, DOĞRUYUM- THE OATH

TÜRKÇE (For English text please scroll down.)

Yeni okul yılı başladı, hükümetin “pedagojik” reformlarının uygulanacağı ilk yıl. Laik cumhuriyetin tasfiyesi ve Şeriat’ın hakim olacağı teokratik yapının kurulması yolundaki en haince adım. Hedef bundan böyle çocuklarımızın genç zihinleridir ve artık bütün geleceğimiz esir alınıyor.

Gelen değişikliklerin ilk ve en belirgin habercisi hepimizin okul yılları anılarının bir parçası olan “and içme” uygulamasının kaldırılması oldu.

Derslere girmeden önce “and içilmesi” onyıllardır uygulanmış ve gelenekselleşmişti. Laik cumhuriyetin bütün değişmezlerine karşı tavır alan AKP itirazlara kulak asmadan bu geleneği de torpilledi.

 Bayrampaşa Şair Baki İlkokulu'nda veliler andımızı söylüyorlar!

 Aydınlık, 19 Eylül 2012

Neydi o “and”?

Türküm,

Doğruyum,

Çalışkanım.

Yasam:

Küçüklerimi korumak,

Büyüklerimi saymak,

Yurdumu, milletimi özümden çok sevmektir.

Ülküm yükselmek, ileri gitmektir.

Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun.

Burada söylenenlerinden hangisi batıyor AKP’ye?

Acaba Kürt, Laz, Ermeni, Gürcü, Arap, Yunan, Arnavut, Çingene kökenliler kendilerini dışlanmış hissederler diye bir endişeden mi mütevellittir bu hassasiyet?

Aklıma dünya ülkeleri içinde çeşitliliği en başarıyla sindirmiş olan İsviçre konfederasyonu geliyor. 23 neredeyse otonom kanton, dört resmi dilden oluşuyor ama kimse “İsviçreliyim” demekten gocunmuyor. (Aslında isim ilk üç kurucu kantondan birinden gelir). Aklıma gelmişken söyleyeyim, onlar da birlikteliklerini bir “and içme” olayına dayandırırlar, kendilerine “and yoldaşları” (“Eidgenosse”) derler. (Federasyolarının resmi isminin Almancası “Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft”.)

Türk hükümetinin takındığı bu anti-Türk tutumunu etnik bazlı şoven bir milliyetçiliğe karşı alınan tavır zannetmeyesiniz, yerine neyi getirmeyi, nasıl bir hırs ve adeta telaşla getirmeye çalıştıklarına bakın yeter: özden çok şekle bakan bir dinci eğitimin hızla yayılması, gittikçe daha küçük yaşta çocukların Kuran kurslarına yazdırılıp kafalarının anlamadıkları dilde uzun metinlerle doldurulması, cep telefonu ve dizüstü bilgisayar vaadiyle çocukarın ve gençlerin camilere çekilmesi...

 "Camiye gelin, cep telefonu, dizüstü bilgisayar, vs. kazanın"

Bugünkü çocuklar nasıl yetişir, ülkemizin geleceği ne olur bilmem, ama ben o andı içmiş olan nesillerden birinden geliyorum.

Andından dönmek de Türk’e yakışmaz.

Nihayet Türküz, doğruyuz!

ENGLISH
The footnote links do not work; you will have to scroll down to to the footnotes for expanded information. However, this article has only one footnote, so that shouldn't present a problem.

The new school year has started in Turkey, the first after the government’s “pedagogical” reforms which are very clearly the most insidious step in the plan to phase out the secular Republic and reintroduce a theocratic structure governed by the Sharia. The young minds are targeted and our future is in jeopardy.

First obvious sign of the changes to come is the directive by the Ministry of Education that henceforth students would not start the day with the “oath”.

The “oath” before classes has been the staple of primary school education for decades. Along with other “unchangeables” of the secular Republic, this tradition too has been targeted by the AKP and, objections nonwithstanding, officially discontinued.

 Parents at Şair Baki elementary school at Bayrampaşa, İstanbul, protesting the discontinuation of the "oath" by taking the oath themselves.

The oath went like this:

I am Turkish,

I am truthful,

I am hardworking,

My code is:

To protect my youngers,

To respect my elders,

To love my country and my people more than myself.

My quest is to rise and to progress.

May my existence be a prize to existence of Turkishness.

The last phrase may sound awkward in translation. I can try to open it up in this way: may the People and the Honor of the Turkish nation benefit from the fact that I belong to it, may my acts and achievements add to its well being, its honor, its glory, (and going even further) may I contribute to the continuation of its “existence”. [1]

What did the government find so objectionable in this “oath”, that it had to be discontinued? The insistence on “Turkishness” perhaps? Would our citizens of Kurdish, Laz, Armenian, Georgian, Arab, Greek, Albanian, Gypsy origin feel left out? Living as citizens in “Turkey” and speaking “Turkish”, do they object to be considered part of of the nation?

Switzerland is the most totally federal of all nations, with 23 practically autonomous cantons and four official languages. I haven’t heard of any of their citizens objecting to being called “Swiss”, which really derives from the name of one of the three founding cantons. And now, come to think of it, the Swiss consider themselves bound by an oath, don’t they? (“Eidgenossen”, “Comrades of the Oath”, the official German name of the state is the “Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft”.)

If anyone pretends all this anti-Turkish sentiment on the part of the Turkish government is purely a move against ethnocentric chauvanistic nationalism, it is enough to look at just what they are trying to replace it with, and with such a sense of urgency and such zealous ardor. An upsurge of religous teaching that is more form than substance, “Koranic classes” with ever lower ages of admission, mosque attendance for children and young adults encouraged with prizes. 

 Poster urging mosque attendance to 10 to 17 year olds, promising prizes like cellular phones and laptop computers.

Whatever the future for the youth of our nation, I am from one of the several generations that did take the oath. So for me, at least, it holds true. 

And breaking an oath does not become a Turk, does it? After all, we are truthful!

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[1] The insistence on “existence” (“varlık”) may have its roots in the Turkish war of Independence, 1919-1922, at which time the very existence of the Turkish nation was felt under threat. The opening couplet of our national anthem, by the poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy, echo that feeling: “Fear not, the red banner floating in this sunrise  will not fade until the last hearth burning in my homeland is extinguished...”

"BALYOZ" HÜKÜMLERİ- "SLEDGEHAMMER" VERDICTS

TÜRKÇE (For English text please scroll down.)

Bugün 22 Eylül 2012. “Balyoz” davası dün neticeye bağlandı.  Yüzlerce subay hüküm giydi

Son yılların tutuklama ve mahkeme furyasında kaç subayımızın başını yediler merak edip duruyordum, çetelesini tutmak kolay değil.  Neyse ki bugünün Sözcü’sünde Emin Çölaşan merakımı giderdi. Kendisi de Balyoz sanığı olarak Hasdal’da mahpus yatan Albay İkrami Özturan’ın henüz yayınlanmamış Balyoz Davası... Elveda isimli kitabından aktardığına göre “Balyoz, Ergenekon, İnternet Andıcı, Poyrazköy, Kafes, Amirallere Süikast, Gölcük Aramaları, Casusuluk, Şantaj, Fuhuş, Hipnoz, 12 Eylül, 28 Şubat, Erzincan, Zirve Yayınevi gibi çeşitli davalarda Ağustos 2012 sonu itibariyle tutuklu olan askerlerin sayısı 1015.”

Balyoz davasında 365 sanık var. Bunlar içinde general ve amirallerin sayısı 95. Diğer rütbelerdeki subaylar 233, astsubaylar 35, artı iki de sivil.

Gelelim bağımsız yargının kararlarına:

Aydınlık’tan aldığım sayılara göre üç sanık, eski birinci ordu komutanı Org. Çetin Doğan, eski hava kuvvetleri komutanı Org. İbrahim Fırtına, eski deniz kuvvetleri komutanı Özden Örnek için “ağırlaştırılmış müebbet hapis cezası” verilmiş. Darbeyi gerçekleştirmedikleri için 20 yıla indirilmiş. 79 sanık 18’er  yıla, 218’i 16 yıla mahkum edilmiş. (Ancak “iyi hali” görülen 22 sanığın hükmü 13 yıl 4 aya indirilmiş.) 34 tane de beraat var.

Hüküm giyen generallerin 20’si muazzaf, 68’i emekliymiş. 18’er yıl alan iki de emekli albay var.

(Not: Bunlar ertesi gün gazetenin naklettikleri sayılardır. Almanya'dan Demokratisches Türkeiforum şöyle naklediyor: 3 sanığa, Aydınlık'ta nakledildiği gibi, 20 yıl, 78 sanığa 18 yıl- ki bunlardan biri 15'e indirilmiş, 214 sanığa 16 yıl- ki bunlardan 22'si 13 yıl 4 aya indirilmiş, bir sanığa da 6 yıl, 36 beraat. Kaynak: Urteil im Balyoz verfahren  http://www.tuerkeiforum.net/Meldungen_im_September_2012  )

Bugünkü Aydınlık “Kemal’in Askerlerini Selamlıyoruz” şeklinde başlık atmış.

 Aydınlık, 22 Eylül 2012

İşçi Partisi’yle yakın ilişkisi olan sol eğilimli Aydınlık gazetesinin askerlerimize ve TSK’nın savunduğu ideallere bu kadar canıgönülden sahip çıkmasında hafif kara mizah yok mu? Solcularımız vaktiyle Marx’ı, Lenin’i, Mao’yu yüceltip kendi Atatürk’ümüzü pek de o kadar iplemezken şimdi “Kemal’in Askerlerini” selamlıyor, hatta düzenledikleri yürüyüşlerde “Mustafa Kemal’in Askerleriyiz” diye slogan atıyorlar. Oysa kendi “devrimlerine” bir engel teşkil ettiği müddetçe askerleri içte ve dışta kötülemekten geri durmuyordu solcular. Batıda Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri’nin olumsuz imajını yaratıp besleyenlerin başında solcu yazarlar, gazeteciler, filmciler, şarkıcılar, söz yazarları, şairler vardı, şimdi faydasını AKP görüyor. Sol kanat asker düşmanlığını o kadar israrla devam ettirdi ki çark etmekte çok geciktiler . Bekledikleri sol devrim gerçekleşmeyip irtica darbesi, hem de kendi açtıkları yoldan, gelip karşılarına çıkınca ordumuzun “Cumhuriyetin bekçiliği” görevinin önemini anlayıverdiler. Daha düne kadar Evren ve Şahinkaya’nın 12 Eylül müdahelesinden dolayı yargılanmalarını pek bir istiyorlardı. Şimdi Genelkurmay Başkanı Özel siyasete karışmıyor diye kızıyorlar. İnsanları memnun etmek mümkün değil!

Bu yazının yanında bir yazı daha yayınlıyorum, aslında onu önce hazırlamıştım ama bugünkü gazeteleri görünce kendimi tutamadım. Öbür yazım Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’nın emriyle kaldırılan andiçme geleneğiyle ilgili. AKP’nin amaçları belli, ülkeyi sürükledikleri istikamet artık şüpheye mahal bırakmıyor, her cenahtan demokratik aydınlar elbirliğiyle TSK’yı siyasi hayattan attılar. Peki, karanlığa doğru bu  kayışımızı kim durduracak? Bunu içten soruyorum, şimdiki zavallı, hain nesli bırakın çocuklarımızı kim kurtaracak? Kılıçdaroğlu’nun CHP’si ve Bahçeli’nin MHP’si adeta AK.’ye karşı olan oyları toplayıp etkisizleştirmek için çalışıyor. İşçi Partisi bugün hükümete karşı olan vatansever tepkiyi belki de şimdilik, günü gelince tekrar kendi ajandasını gerçekleştirmek için kullanıyor olabilir. Atatürk’ün” İstiklal ve Cumhuriyeti” emanet ettiği gençlik cop ve hapisle mükafatlandırılıyor. Yargı zaten Alis Harikalar Diyarında masalındaki mahkeme sahnesi gibi: “önce ceza, sonra karar”! Kim kaldı öyleyse?

Düşman dayamış bağrına vatanın hançerini

Yok imiş kurtaracak bahtı kara maderini

Demiş vaktiyle Namık Kemal

 

ENGLISH
The footnote links do not work; you will have to scroll down to to the footnotes for expanded information. There are only three footnotes to this article, so it shouldn't be too much of a bother. 
Other links should work.

Today is September 22nd, 2012. The “Balyoz” (“Sledgehammer”)  trials have come to a close yesterday. Literally hundreds of officers have been convicted.

How many military men have been harrassed in the various trials and arrests? I had lost count, but Emin Çölaşan in today’s Sözcü quotes from a yet unpublished book Balyoz Davası- Elveda  (“Farewel... the Sledgehammer Case”) by Col. İkrami Özturan, himself a Balyoz suspect under arrest. 

According to this source:

In August 2012, the number of military personnel placed under arrest under various excuses, including the Balyoz and the infamous Ergenekon cases, reached 1015. It’s good to have a number at last![1]

The Balyoz (“Sledgehammer”) conspiracy trials had 365 suspects, of which 95 are generals and admirals, 233 officers of other ranks, 35 non-commisioned officers and 2 civilians.

According to Aydınlık, 3 suspects have been convicted to life imprisonment for “plotting a coup”, commuted to 20 years because they never carried it out[2]. 79 suspects have been sentenced to 18 years, 218 to 16 years. (22 were commuted to 13 years 4 months for good behaviour.) There were 34 acquittals.

Of the convicted general and admirals, 20 were in active service, 68 were retired. Two retired colonels also received 18 years.

(These are numbers reported on the following day in Aydınlık. According to Demokratisches Türkeiforum, the numbers are as follows: 3 received 20 years, as reported in Aydınlık, 78 received 18, of which one was commuted to 15, 214 received 16, of which 22 were commuted to 13 years and 4 months, and one to six years. Acquittals: 36.  My source: Urteil im Balyoz verfahren  http://www.tuerkeiforum.net/Meldungen_im_September_2012  )

Today’s Aydınlık salutes the convicted officers as “Kemal (Ataturk’s) Soldiers".

Aydınlık, September 22nd 2012

There is a bit of tragic humor  in the fact that the left leaning Aydınlık, with its strong links to the Turkish Labor Party (İP), is now the staunchest and most outspoken supporter of the Armed Forces and what they represent. Once honouring Marx, Lenin and Mao well over our republic’s founder, Kemal Atatürk, now the leftist intelligentsia salute “Kemal’s soldiers” on their headlines and shout “We are Mustafa Kemal’s Soldiers” in the protest marches they organize. 

The left wing was not reluctant to bad-mouth the military so long as it stood as an obstacle to its own revolution. Left-wing authors, filmmakers, singers, songwriters, authors were instrumental in the implanting a negative image of the Turkish Armed Forces in the west, and the AKP has been reaping the benefits with great success. The left wing was for a long time so steeped in its anti-military stance that it took the longest time to backtrack, and now that the leftists realize that it is not a left wing revolution that has gained the upper hand, but a fundamentalist one, they have belatedly started to appreciate the role and value of the Armed Forces as the “Guardians of the Republic”. Until yesterday, they were very supportive of Generals Evren and Şahinkaya being tried for the military intervention of September 12th, 1980.[3] Now the very same group of people are condemning the present chief of staff for General Özel for not acting! There’s no pleasing some!

Together with this post, I am posting my feelings regarding the discontinuation of the “oath”, so long a tradition for primary school children. The intentions of the AKP being by now clear, the direction in which they are driving the nation leaving no more room for  doubt, the Armed Forces effectively silenced- as the democratic-minded intelligentsia across the political spectrum has for so long wished, I would really like to know who will stop this accelerating slide to doom! I ask empathically, forget our pathetic treacherous generation, who will save our children? Kılıçdaroğlu’s CHP and Bahçeli’s MHP, who act as if they are there only to absorb and neutralize the opposition votes? The Labor Party, who may well be channeling patriotic outrage against the government only until it feels right to bring up its own agenda again? The youth, to whom Atatürk entrusted our “freedom and republic”, but find themselves clobbered and imprisoned for their troubles? The judiciary, with their Alice-in-Wonderland trials? (“Sentence first, verdict afterwards!”)

“...The enemy presses his dagger against the motherland’s chest

There is no one to save the ill-fated mother...”

as the poet Namık Kemal once said!

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[1] These numbers do not include civilians, be they intellectuals, academicians, journalists, students, officials from other parties etc.

[2] Full-General Çetin Doğan, former commander of the 1st Army, Full-General İbrahim Fırtına, former commander of the Air Force, and Fleet Admiral Özden Örnek, former commander of the Navy.

[3] I don’t favour the usual appelation ”coup”, which, like so many other things, play into the hands of the AKP There was de facto civil war and the intervention was made to return the country to its previous state- the status-quo- not to alter it. A new constitution, later maligned as “the constitution of the coup”, was approved with %91.37 of the electorate voting “yes” (1982). Democratic elections were held again three years after the intervention, in 1983- though with only three approved parties. Parties of all persuations resurfaced before long, General Evren stepped down in 1989, after seven years as head of state, the normal term for presidency. Though a right-wing government had been forced to step down at the time of the intervention, the left has been the most vengeful against the “September 12th coup”. It may not be unfair to suppose that the reason for the antipathy is that it blocked the way to a left-wing revolution. It certainly never occured to them that a fundamentalist Islamic party would rise and, thanks to the groundwork laid by the left wing, easily discredit the Armed Forces and change the “Constitution of the Coup” in favour of their own. The referendum  for the AKP’s own constitution was pointedly held on September 12th, 2010, the anniversary of the maligned “coup”! It passed with %57.88 in favor, considerably less than the constitution of 1982.