YAŞ and dear diary

There is also the Cage Operation Action Plan, which is disgraceful enough to plan the killing of innocent children visiting a museum, the assassination of minority leaders and the incitement of ethnic and sectarian violence between Kurds and Turks, and Sunnis and Alevis. Of course, we know all this because it was leaked to the public by conscientious military officers. What about all that remains unknown? What about the plans we don’t know about? I’m sure there are many more aspects to these despicable plans that are in effect or ready to be put into effect.

What decisions do you think were made at the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting that coincided with this period in which gangs, criminal organization, pro-coup formations and juntas protected by pro-coup generals were being exposed within the army? If you think decisions were made to penalize the furious military officers who devised these low plans, which aimed to stifle democracy, human rights, freedom and the state of law, you are wrong. Unfortunately, there’s a lot you haven’t learned about our military. Let me tell you what happened at the meeting right away and satisfy your curiosity. While no military officer was suspended from the army for involvement in a junta, gang or coup, two officers were discharged from the TSK at the YAŞ meeting. Don’t even ask if these military officers were expelled because they were “reactionary” because you guessed right. Did you think there could be any other crimes in our glorious army other than reactionaryism, praying, fasting and other religious sensitivities? How naïve can you be?

Joking aside, take a look at what YAŞ has busied itself with instead of discussing those responsible for anti-democratic action plans, juntas and coup formations within the TSK that basically turned the General Staff into a fully equipped criminal center. Instead of discussing the weapons found in İstanbul’s Poyrazköy neighborhood, the action plan to fight reactionaryism and the Cage action plan, it discussed criticism of the TSK in relation to these incidents.

While the statement issued afterwards made no mention of the pro-coup criminal gangs within in the TSK, it did underline that council members were briefed on the asymmetrical psychological operations being employed against the TSK. What else was expected, anyway? As you may recall, the term “asymmetric warfare” was brought to the agenda at a press conference organized by Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ on June 26.

During that press conference, Başbuğ reacted strongly to reports on the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism and said that the “asymmetrical psychological warfare against the TSK via the media must end.” What I don’t understand is why he bothered to convene YAŞ when he could have just repeated that concise warning himself.

But look at what happened a day after the “reactionaryism-hunting” YAŞ meeting took place. A “first” took place: Former 2003-2004 Naval Forces commander Özden Örnek, former Land Forces commander Gen. Aytaç Yalman and former Air Forces commander H. İbrahim Fırtına were questioned for exactly nine hours on charges of planning a coup. Of course the force commanders, who were questioned as “suspects,” did not accept Örnek’s coup diary entries, which pointed the finger at them.

The commanders have been released for now. But it was announced that the investigation would continue on a deeper scale because prosecutors had additional information on these retired force commanders, whose names were mentioned in coup plans named “Sarıkız” (Blonde Girl), “Ayışığı” (Moonlight), “Yakamoz) (Sea Sparkle) and “Eldiven” (Glove). These plans were mentioned in coup diaries published in the now closed Nokta magazine. You see, a simple diary and a civilian judiciary can very well succeed at what the great YAŞ can not. We now have a better understanding of why the “70 Million Steps Against Coups” coalition praised the diary. Let’s recall what the coalition said:

“Dear diary, one day we read you and our entire lives changed. How could we have known that one diary could be so useful? We don’t know if you are aware of it or not but nothing has been the same ever since you came out. If a diary like you had come out 50 years ago, [Adnan] Menderes would not have been hung. The law would not have been killed on Yassıada. If a diary like you had come out 40 years ago, Deniz Gezmiş would not have been hung. An arms length of torture would not have happened in Ziverbey and Mamak. If a diary like you had come out 30 years ago, 17-year-old Erdal Eren would not have been hung. The century’s biggest humanitarian shame would not have occurred in the dungeons of Diyarbakır. If a diary like you had come out 20 or 15 years ago, Susurluk would not have happened. There would be no Fadime Şahins and Aczimendis.

“Nothing has been the same since the day you showed your face in the Nokta magazine. Nothing is, nothing can be, kept secret any more. You gave us the end of the string, and everything started to unravel. Assassination plans were found in people’s drawers. Weapons caches gushed from under the ground. First the Moonlight, Blond Girl and Glove plans came out. Then memorandums, freshly signed plans for chaos and cage operations made our blood run cold. We could not stop the bomb explosion in Şemdinli, but thanks to you, we were able to defuse bombs that were placed in a submarine at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum intending to kill 350 children. We were not able to save Hrant Dink, priest Andrea Santoro and the missionaries in Malatya, but we were able to ruin the Cage trap set up on the Büyükada steamboat before it was too late.

“Today we know that there isn’t a junta in the General Staff but that the headquarters itself is a junta. We are impatiently waiting for the day when Dursun Çiçek, whose fresh signature was found on plans and memorandums seeking to foment chaos, Hasan Iğsız, who is enjoying himself in Selimiye, and İlker Başbuğ, who is responsible for everything, are removed from their positions and tried.

“Dear diary,