Indeed, the Hantepe military zone in Çukurca, Hakkari province, home to the 3rd Tactical Division, became the target of a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attack on the night of July 19. The Heron surveillance center at Batman notified the division of an impending ambush. “The division commanders replied, ‘Everything is under control’ and [later] watched the ambush live. … No military support was extended to the ambushed unit. There was no helicopter or plane coming to the rescue even though weather conditions were favorable. The PKK militants left after they accomplished what they came for with relative ease.” (Taraf, Aug. 2).This is a recurring story. Units ready for battle are attacked despite timely intelligence warnings; aid does not come in time or does not come at all. Readiness of the command structure seems quite wanting or there is a deliberate choice to let PKK attacks take place. Combined with my personal encounters with soldiers who have served in the Southeast, one is tempted to think of a sinister plot. These ex-soldiers have repeatedly complained about the fact that their superiors have ordered them not to shoot or finish off PKK militants at times when it was possible to annihilate them. They sensed that there were “high politics” involved, but did not know for sure.
How could any person with a modicum of love for his fellow human beings or bearing a shred of conscience believe that an institution is more interested in being at the center of politics rather than heeding its professional responsibilities? That is why many people could not read any sense into these anomalies. The Hantepe ambush is just another one of such informed terrorist attacks that ended in the loss of life. Their deaths added more fuel to ethnic nationalism and hatred. But, and more importantly, the mission to annihilate the “enemy within” would ensure the armed forces remain a potent political force to protect the country as well as the regime.
Both protecting the territorial integrity of the country and the republic are stipulated in Article 35 of Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) Internal Service Code and cited as justification in latter-day coup threats. The political parties are now flirting with the possibility of either changing or abrogating it altogether. This could be a positive step forward in reducing the military tutelage over the regime.
Militarism has not only defiled the collective mind by creating “internal enemies” that meant declaring a part of the citizenry a threat to the nation and the country, it also retarded democratic development and killed the potential of reconciling differences that are the essence of being a harmonious and stable nation.
It is quite obvious that the ruling elite have fallen victim to the security problem that is of their creation by pitting social groups against each other in order to preserve their privileged place in the system. But the price of such self-aggrandizement has been very heavy on the rest of society. The referendum on the partial amendment of the Constitution will be the litmus test of whether we want to cling on to a bloody and repressive past shaped by “Big Brother” or seek a different path of our choice.
