When Bülent Ecevit became prime minister in 1974, he found out that the Special Warfare Department was financed by the US. He immediately requested a briefing, which was given by Yamak, who was then the commander of that department. On that day, Ecevit learned that this department employed some “patriotic volunteers” secretly and for life. The military was disturbed by Ecevit’s concerns about the department. Yamak sent a message to Ecevit in his memoirs: “If at that time, someone had told Ecevit the number of the deputies, both from his own party and from other parties in Parliament, who did not know each other and were employed by the organization [Special Warfare Department], what would happen?” Yamak was appointed secretary-general of the Presidency two months after he retired, when Turgut Özal was elected president in November 1989. He resigned from this office on April 17, 1993, when Özal died.
Yamak was one of the most cosmic guys in Turkey. In his memoirs, he explained how they recruited young people. These are what I call cosmic guys.
Without these cosmic guys, the military tutelage couldn’t have been maintained, as they were everywhere, in politics, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, business, show business, among actors and actresses, the media, bar associations, trade unions, etc. Moreover, they represented the elites of the republic. Although they had roots among the ordinary people, these cosmic guys would soon turn into pro-status quo officers who would scorn and disparage their very origins.
They were not small in numbers. These days, frequent references are made to “religious communities,” and they were the true community. In one of previous articles, I called them “the agas of the republic,” or in short, “agas.” Their community’s relations with politics, commerce and administration were actually their domain of activity since the beginning. They did not want to share this domain with others. Because of this, they declared democratization moves and revival movements to be dangerous. Since they assumed that state institutions belonged only to them, they perceived and declared it a threat when those who were not from them came to power. This is the real reason why juntas incessantly prepare to overthrow the government. When they say, “They will come and capture it,” they actually mean, “They will remove us from our position.” Because of this, they start to oppose European Union membership even though it was originally their project. They oppose it because it will bring democratization, secularism that respects religious beliefs, freedom of religion and conscience and will put an end to their hegemony. They oppose it because they originally misconceived Westernization as being assimilated by the West or being attached to it without any interaction. They never thought that it would be possible to come together over universal human values and integrate with the world while maintaining our own identity at the same time.
These cosmic guys never gave a thought to the prestige and dignity of the institutions they represented. The members of the Constitutional Court who congratulated the subversive generals actually showed that the judiciary was submissive to power. This was also what the members of the judiciary who were briefed by the General Staff after being brought to military headquarters in officially allocated buses during the Feb. 28, 1997 process did. Those journalists who allowed the generals to decide what the headlines would be during the Feb. 28 process -- undermining the reputation and dignity of our profession -- were the cosmic guys in the media.
The common characteristic of the cosmic guys is that they rely on power, not on the nation. The cosmic guys did not like the positions they acquired, but wanted to have greater power. That power would concentrate in shadowy places, cosmic communities. And the big power was outside. For this reason, they never belonged to the positions they acquired. They opted instead to intermingle with the holders of the secret power of shadowy spots.
Cosmic guys! Your reign is coming to an end. The game is over for you, and the curtain is falling.
