In this context, the gendarmerie and MİT jointly set up a plot to create false evidence about some religious communities and devise false crimes against them based on false witnesses. According to the plan, ammunition and bombs would be planted in the houses where followers of some religious communities lived, and these weapons would later be found during the police search. Thus, these religious communities would be categorized as an “armed terrorist organization.” These claims imply that the “Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism” whose authenticity has long been disputed, was actually implemented in Erzincan. The implementation of this weapon-planting conspiracy was really started, but when it was exposed, the weapons designated to be planted into the houses of those in religious communities were thrown into the Çatalarmut Dam. But the police found them. Moreover, it was also discovered that proposals or pressure was placed on some people so that they should testify that these weapons and ammunition belong to the police department in Erzincan. The kinds of people detained in the investigation are proof that the claims are very serious. The Erzincan gendarmerie intelligence branch director, two military officers (one major), one noncommissioned officer, the Erzincan MİT branch director and two MİT officers are under arrest. The basic claim is that the conspiracy had been prepared by Third Army Commander Gen. Berk, the Erzincan chief public prosecutor and the gendarmerie provincial regiment commander.However, there is an issue concerning this serious investigation. Berk refuses to testify to the prosecutor. According to news stories, the general does not want prosecutor Osman Şanal to go to this office and question him.
Conspiracy preparations for coup
We need to recall the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism undersigned by Col. Dursun Çiçek. This plan had suggested that weapons should be planted in the homes of religious community members to be discovered during a police search so that these religious organizations and their members would be accused of being terrorist organizations as was allegedly to be attempted in the case of Erzincan. On the one hand is the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which allegedly was prepared at the General Staff and the authenticity of which has been established, and on the other hand is the claim that this plan was put into practice by an army commander in Erzincan. The plan and its implementation are there for us to see.
A power is justified if it has an enemy. The Turkish army is preparing conspiracies in order to fabricate false enemies. Soldiers tell us that there are enemies among us. We look around but cannot see any. Then, those who have keen eyes to see those enemies rush to devise some action on behalf of those enemies in order to make them visible to us. They plan murders and conspiracies and execute them. For what? To convince us that there are enemies among us. It is a different matter whether you believe in these “enemies of the military” that tell us that these enemy and enmity fabrications serve solely as a justification for the guardianship of our army as it is the sole institution that can deal with these enemies and also for the privileges they entertain. Yet, there is a more fundamental question: Are there people who are capable of seeing and recognizing the enemies and describing them to us and more importantly, if they really exist, dealing with them? I am talking about the Turkish army.
The army that does not trust in its own nation and the counter guerrilla
Soldiers tend to boast about the level of trust the Turkish nation has in the army. If this is true, why don’t soldiers have any trust in their nation in response? Why do they think that the people make wrong decisions during elections and that secularism and the republic should be protected against them and that their errors can only be rectified through military coups? Why do they claim that this nation is not mature enough and should be kept under guardianship at all times? Can an army trusted by an untrusted nation really be trusted? There is only one way to explain this inconsistency: The military needs abundant enemies among us and a people that can err at any time so that they can comfortably rule the country. If there are no enemies among us and if the nation can make correct decisions on its own, then do we need the unbearable weight of the military? Then wouldn’t we have more serious work to attend to instead of heeding dictating soldiers?
In this context, we need to remember that the judge who has been working diligently inside the “cosmic” room of the Special Forces Command has followed in the footsteps of a wrong translation. “Sahra Nizamnamesi,” which is the manual of the Special Forces Command, is a translation of the US Field Manual 31-15. There are errors in this translation. The methods that are suggested for military operations conducted outside the country in the original text were wrongly translated so as to be applied inside the country, i.e., against “the enemies inside us.” If claims are true, those who were assassinated in the special warfare operations are the victims of this wrong translation.
The Taraf newspaper published a very important news story on June 2, 2008. According to the story, the Tactical Mobilization Group Command, which is being searched these days, would gradually double its regional units and its area of activity would be expanded so as to include everything. In domestic applications part of the new guerrilla warfare approach, it is said that this command is authorized to “reveal and implement necessary measures against any physical, economic, psychological, political and other forms of occupation and/or attempted occupations.” Words do not kill anybody, but if you give weapons to those who produce these bold phrases, then none of us is secure. It is for this reason that we must focus on this matter. What does “economic occupation” mean? Or “political occupation”? For instance can we tell a military officer who has attended a staff course that Turkey’s credit rating cannot go up and therefore it obtains its loans with an interest rate 1.5 points higher than Greece just because of the risk factor caused by soldiers who are trying to devise conspiracies for creating false enemies? What does a military officer know about the economy that allows him to take measures against “economic occupation”? What is this thing they call “political occupation”? Suppose that they discover that there is political occupation -- whatever it is. What measures will they take? A coup? Isn’t it obvious that this is nothing but a sign of a primitive mindset that tries to control or achieve political power through illegal methods and of their activities to justify their ulterior motives under the disguise of “countermeasures”? There is nothing but a pack of junta members who still use their old habits they inherit from the Committee of Union and Progress. Is there any difference between Yakup Cemil, who decided to kill Enver Pasha after a series of murders, and those who plotted to assassinate the chief of general staff or force commanders or who sent bullets to a judge or prosecutors? These clandestine methods mean ruling the country by killing who you don’t like.
The Special Forces Command is a paramilitary organization that functions to create “enemies inside us.” In the past, these enemies could easily be creased by media organizations that would run headlines such as “Young military officers uncomfortable” or “411 hands raised to chaos.” Now, these gang members were left alone in the world that they watch from behind the barrel. There are no longer columnists who would cover up their errors or businessmen who would lend support to their plans. Or they can no longer make much noise.
Every step taken by the plotters of conspiracies for an eventual military takeover ends up in smoke. It is exposed. What we see now is an army that has lost its ability to overthrow the government.
