Does it sound like a normal, democratic practice, in line with the universal notion of the rule of law? Of course not. But it is not surprising to see that the bureaucracy, including the military one, sits above the law in a country established and ruled by a bureaucratic elite. They view themselves as the owners of the state, the rescuers of the nation and the makers of law. The system is designed to benefit and protect them.Despite this, a few courageous intellectuals made a historic move last week. They filed a criminal complaint against Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ. In the complaint delivered to a public prosecutor, Gen. Başbuğ was accused of making a political statement, something which has been criminalized under the Military Penal Code. The intellectuals, including Ufuk Uras, Oya Baydar, Baskın Oran, Mithat Sancar, Aydın Engin and Sezgin Tanrıkulu, maintain that Article 148/c of the Military Penal Code bans military personnel from making political statements in public. Those military personnel who engage in political activities through public speeches and statements should be imprisoned for between one month and five years according to the law -- a law that seems to have escaped the attention of the military bureaucracy due to their confidence that no one would dare question their political role in the Turkish Republic.
What the intellectuals are referring to in their petition is the speech that Başbuğ made during his recent visit to Mardin. In his speech Başbuğ said: “In this part of the country people suffered from the aghas [feudal lords]. One of the fundamental problems today is saving our people from the domination of the aghas of terror and politics. … Is there a problem about Kurdish education? I do not think so. The mother tongue is taught by mothers. Is there anybody who says parents should not teach their children Kurdish?”
This is of course not a particularly strong political statement. We have seen much worse and even the political engagement of military officers by force in the past.
But the point the petitioners are making is that time is up for the military's unaccountable involvement in Turkey's political affairs. Enough is enough. Someone should constantly remind the chief commander of the boundaries within which his men should remain. The intellectuals' petition has done this. One of the intellectuals who signed it, Professor Baskın Oran, wrote in the Radikal daily that Gen. Başbuğ is entitled to voice his thoughts provided that he has taken off his uniform and has given up his arms.
He is absolutely right: an institution that speaks from the barrel of its gun cannot be part of freedom of expression, only a hindrance to it.
The criminal complaint delivered to the public prosecutor will enable us once more to discover if there are any privileged citizens in the republic. If there are, then the question will emerge as to what kind of republic we have. We will also see if the military bureaucracy will be punished in due course if it does not abide by the rules and goes beyond its duty and mandate.
Some are trying to prevent this from happening. The intellectuals who dared to attempt to bring Gen. Başbuğ to court started to receive death threats from an organization called the Turkish Revenge Brigade (TİT), a group which has been associated with the “deep state.” Everybody wants to believe that the military does not need the protection of such a gang. It should be the responsibility of the state to protect the intellectuals and of the military to make sure that those who are willing to act in its name do not extend into the barracks.
