All arms and weapons and war machinery, including tanks, cannons, warplanes and boats listed in military inventories, took part in the shows, performed on land, in the air and at sea. But the TSK also spent large sums -- of course, using the taxes we pay -- to hang posters featuring a very impressive photo with the phrase "a strong army, a strong Turkey" plastered across it throughout the country.What was the purpose of such a big fuss? With an impressive show of power, what message was the TSK trying to express? Was it that our country was under threat from a foreign army and so the TSK felt the need to perform such a big display of force, or was it to assure friends and intimidate enemies, as they customarily say, with much self-sacrifice? Really, who is threatening Turkey? Greece? Or Russia, with which we recently signed a strategic energy agreement? I don't know, but can it be Iran or Syria, which we think have friendly relations with us? At a time when heartwarming developments are seen with respect to the normalization of relations, Armenia cannot be so stupid as to threaten Turkey, can it? Or does this show of power target the northern Iraq of Massoud Barzani? If the intention was to intimidate Barzani, who has recently been playing nice with Turkey, for his potential blunders in the future, wasn't such an immense show of power a bit too much for this?
Jokes aside, of course, I know the real purpose of this year's Victory Day festivities. The TSK is trying to rectify its image, which was shattered by the fact that all defendants in the Ergenekon case are connected to it in one way or another; and because retired top generals are being tried on charges of attempting to overthrow the democratically elected government and Parliament in connection with the Ergenekon investigation; and many unresolved inexplicable murders are associated with its members; and there are strong indications about the ties of its members with rightist, leftist, pro-Islamic or separatist terrorist organizations; and it scorns and humiliates its own people with its discriminatory practices just because of they are Kurds or devout people and it feels no need to conceal this approach; and it has an insatiable appetite for interfering with all sorts of political issues although it is not perfect when it comes to military affairs (take, for instance, the attacks on the Dağlıca and Aktütün military outposts); and it does not pay any importance to human life, as seen in the ruthlessness of a lieutenant who gave an activated hand grenade to a solider in order to punish him and who ended up causing the death of four soldiers. But is this the correct method to do this? It is hard to say "yes" to this question. Let me tell you why.
The military leadership does not want to understand that what actually undermines the TSK's image is the army's own mistakes and frequent appearances on every occasion that is not related to its area of activity. Thus they still think that by making a great appearance in the streets on the occasion of Victory Day, they can restore their distorted image in the eyes of the public. They still have the false conception that this wrong effort at making up will at once correct the structural problems in the army and treat the wounds the outmoded military mentality has caused in Turkey. Instead of handling problems that actually undermine its image and shake people's confidence in the army, they think ostentatious shows will once again make the TSK unquestionable. If the top commanders of the army think this way, they are wrong.
The Turkish nation, of course, takes pride in having a strong army as they would take pride in having a strong democracy, a perfect judicial system, a developed economy and advanced education and health care systems. And the Turkish nation knows that an army cannot be strong by interfering with the daily lives of people and engaging in all sorts of controversial political issues or taking sides in connection with these issues. The Turkish nation also knows that really strong armies refrain from performing shows of power that target their own nations as part of a strange complex, but make themselves invisible in the public sphere to the greatest extent possible and show their strength not only by maintaining the security of the country but also by not overstepping their real area of activity.
A strong army does not mean uniformed masses in the streets, or tanks, or cannons. Today, what is expected from a strong army of a strong country is to pay utter respect to democracy, the popular will, the rule of law, the civilian administration and individual rights and freedoms. Moreover, shouldn't our distinguished commanders look around and question what age they live in? Don't they ever think about what other countries perform the military shows the TSK staged on Aug. 30? Does the TSK see Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and other countries where democratic and human development are swept aside and the people deceived by military shows of power as models for itself and the country? Does it regard the level of contemporary civilization set as a target for the country by the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as the level of these autocratic or non-democratic countries?
These shows of power can be understood to a certain extent in countries facing international threats such as Russia, Iran and North Korea. But how can we interpret the show of power by our army? I do not want think about this possibility, but does this show, which does not target any external threat, target the Turkish society, which was targeted by the flags waved by ultra-secularists in the Republican Rallies of 2007, sponsored by the generals and civilians who today are standing trial in the Ergenekon case? Does the TSK perform this show of power against its own people?
This show of power strongly tells us that a strong Turkey is possible only with a strong democracy.
