The Star daily has been publishing the non-publicized decisions of the council. Speculation over the name of the future commander of the land forces resembles speculation over the transfers of football players. The only missing analogy is that of the wives of the football players and those of the promotion-seeking generals.It would be interesting to participate in one of those meetings. Well, I cannot be a soldier and I don’t want to be a politician. I can join -- or at least have a look at one of those meetings -- as a tea-boy. The only thing I wonder about is whether the prime minister is really “fighting back” against the generals to not approve the promotion of a legally “wanted” general. Is he the angry man we are used to seeing in press conferences or does he turn into a tame and friendly “first among equals” -- first, but unarmed? The situation of the top generals is even more paradoxical and more worth watching.
My readers know very well that the General Staff is unaccredited in this column and that I don’t mention the names of the top generals in my sentences. I will use A-B instead.
Let’s assume Gen. A is the commander of the 1st Army and is supposed to be promoted to the post of the commander of the land forces. The next step for that particular general would be the office of the chief of General Staff. But because of his age he will retire during his office as commander of the land forces. This will be the highest possible rank he will ever see -- unless something bad happens to the chief of General Staff!
If he dies prematurely, Gen. A will become the next chief of General Staff. Let’s assume that this Gen. A is accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the government and a coup plan that included bombing and killing countless people. This suggests that Gen. A should be someone who is ready to kill whoever blocks his way to absolute power. The scenario becomes rather interesting here.
So who is Gen. B? Let’s assume that Gen. B will become the commander of the 1st Army at this YAŞ meeting, putting him three steps away from the post of the chief of General Staff. If nothing bad happens to the next chief of General Staff, Gen. A will retire and Gen. B will be the commander of the land forces first and the chief of General Staff later.
Then the tea-boy says: “Why don’t you promote Gen. B directly to the post of the commander of the land forces and ask Gen. A to go home a bit early so that all, Gen. A, Gen. B and the next chief of General Staff, can sleep in peace? For me, nothing changes. I will still serve the same tea. But, for the country, a lot will change.”
Wouldn’t this be a fine Hollywood movie? The movie would end with this line: Any resemblance to reality, other than the tea-boy, is intentional.
I like the next chief of General Staff. I like the fact that I forget his name sometimes. I like the fact that I don’t recognize his voice -- yet. I hope he will never speak to the cameras. I hope he will never organize press conferences. I hope he will appoint a real civilian professional as a spokesman for the army. I hope he is not willing to write letters and post them on the website of the General Staff. I hope he does not think of journalists as students and himself as the master teacher. I hope he does not cite Western theoreticians he has never read. I have a lot of hope in the next chief of General Staff.
That is why the tea-boy in the scenario wants Gen. A neutralized, so that the chief of General Staff won’t become paranoid about his life.
