Among those who have been arrested are retired generals, major generals, brigadier generals, colonels, majors, lieutenants and second lieutenants. What’s more, the guns and ammunition that have emerged from the places dug up according to information provided by diagrams all belong to the TSK.
There are four different subjects which concern the TSK in this Ergenekon case. First of all, there is the existence of former heads of the military’s General Staff, military branch commanders and generals who have been accused of plotting a coup. Second, there are retired and current military officers who have been accused of getting mixed up in murders and acts of terror in order to lay the groundwork for a coup. Third, there are the so-called “headquarter houses,” in which civilians -- including Workers’ Party (İP) leader Doğu Perinçek -- and active duty officers are alleged to have been active. The fourth factor that concerns the TSK is this: There are now allegations that terror groups such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Hizbullah and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/ Front (DHKP-C) were all formed and used by illegal structures within the TSK. In short, all four of the above factors show us just how sensitive and crucial the junction at which we have arrived is.
Of course, this current situation does not concern only the TSK. To wit, the TSK is one of the state’s most basic, most fundamental and strongest institutions. And for the people of Turkey, this reality has an even deeper meaning, too. With martyrdom being one the greatest ranks you can achieve in our belief system, our military is also sometimes referred to as the “Prophet’s Home,” while our soldiers are called “Mehmetçiks” (little Mehmets), and the institution as a whole referred to as “the apple of the nation’s eye.” In short, the military holds a very deep meaning for Turkey.
No nation of people on earth can exist without a state of some sort. And no state with any sort of historical, value-laden or geographical mission can exist without a military. Likewise, there is no set of armed forces on earth that can stay on its feet and survive without being improved and renewed according to the best technological or scientific levels available to it during the era in which it exists. In other words, no reasonable citizen would want to see his or her nation’s military broken down or damaged. No one wants to see this enormous institution held under suspicion or to see people try to break its ties with society, leaving it without backers or supporters. But at the same time, we observe before us an un-ignorable reality, a reality which cannot be dismissed, a reality that calls for a solution which must be immediate. A reality that sits there like an iceberg. And the TSK must now rescue itself from the picture that has been painted; it must save itself from this deficiency.
Going back to the events of last week, we can say that the military’s General Staff headquarters moved at this point with foresight, slowly and cautiously. In fact, the TSK was quite provoked to issue a sharply worded official communiqué in the wake of the detentions that were labeled the “10th wave” of Ergenekon arrests. People have asked publicly, “What more is the military waiting for?” adding, “Have they too given up on backing the republic?” The fact that Gen. İlker Başbuğ of the General Staff met with President Abdullah Gül at the Çankaya presidential palace after a six-hour meeting at military headquarters did nothing to assuage the angry reaction from some circles. Deniz Baykal of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) talked openly of “those who sit in their corners and just wait.”
The fact that retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök is still the target of criticism from some circles, despite the fact that he left his position as head of the TSK three years ago, has been connected by some to the fact that he did not get into a fierce fight with the government and use tactics like those of the infamous Feb. 28, 1997 period, which preceded his tenure. And now, the same reasoning seems to be driving some of the criticism targeting Gen. Başbuğ.
The TSK appears resolute to protect its standing on a legitimate foundation. This implies a determined stance by the TSK, a stance that supports the expulsion of illegal units from within the ranks of the military and embraces only solutions that are democratic, all the while protecting the institution as a whole from undue damage. As an expression of a giant change in the mentality of the TSK, let’s recall the words spoken by retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök to reporter Murat Yetkin of the Radikal newspaper: “My style was different. I worked according to the belief that it would be best if all of the dynamics of the nation went into action and if the job to be done was done by those who should actually be doing it. I always believed in the merits of democracy and that the road to democracy was a difficult one, but a safe one.”
We need to read these words from Özkök over and over again. When this sort of mentality takes over the commanding offices of our armed forces, our military, while rescuing itself from the smaller organizations contained within its own ranks, will become stronger while our democracy also grows stronger, and thus Turkey, too, will grow stronger.
Note: My name comes up in statements from Tuncay Güney. I responded to these statements in my columns before.
