For days, we would discuss his death, but the perpetrators would never be found. Colonels would either commit suicide or be killed in clashes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). For some reason, some military officers fighting the PKK at critical positions would tend to commit suicide.
The mafia used to hold the final word in public tenders, but this would not attract the attention of the prosecutors. Businessmen used to be murdered, but the prosecutors would not find any evidence to send the perpetrators to jail. And the prosecutors were particularly unable to deal with the widespread crime of purse-snatching; these incidents did not attract the attention of the police or the prosecutors.
People were burned to death in Madımak or randomly killed in Gazi, but the perpetrators would not be identified. The police would never find the culprits; the prosecutors would fail to find any evidence.
I recommend all to re-read the papers of the 1990s. Everybody needs to read these papers in order to keep the past unforgotten. What kind of country was this? How did those who relied on this kind of psychological warfare keep this country in a state of emergency? The answers are found on these pages.
Turkey has never learned who killed Muammer Aksoy, Uğur Mumcu, Tarık Dursun and Çetin Emeç. Back then, we were told that Colonel Kazım Çillioğlu committed suicide, but not one prosecutor initiated an investigation into his death. We did not do anything to find out the truth about the murder of such valuable patriots as General Bahtiyar Aydın and Colonel Rıdvan Özden.
Turkey has, till recently, been ruled by psychological warfare. Prosecutor Doğan Öz realized this and decided to take action to offset this, but he paid the price with his life. No prosecutor has ever dared to do the same after Öz. The truths revealed by the prosecutors now show that thousands of incidents, crimes and grave mistakes were covered up by the prosecutors and the security forces.
Without the courage of brave prosecutors in recent times who risked their lives, these atrocious scenarios would still be carried out. The most visible difference between the chaotic Turkey of the 1990s and the Turkey of today is that the judiciary does not cover up the crimes and mistakes anymore. If the elements of psychological warfare do not rule Turkey these days and the country is not taken to the edge of a coup, there is only one reason for this. It is because the prosecutors now take action to identify the truth. Thanks to the courageous attempts by the police to identify the unresolved murders, Turkey has become a governable country. This is due to the determination of the judiciary and the police to seek justice.
It should be noted that in advanced democracies, there are no boards of mobilization. In advanced democracies, patriotic officers are not executed to look as if they committed suicide. In advanced democracies, those who wear a uniform do not threaten citizens. In such countries, everybody is aware of their responsibilities and they do not attempt to use their power inappropriately. Advanced democracies are not under constant threat of psychological warfare. If we are set to take Turkey to the level of an advanced democracy, we need to make these games stop. The way to do it is reliance on an independent and impartial judiciary that is able to take courageous action against the criminals.
