We were trained by the leaders of the party who were retired officers trained by US Army Special Operations as part of the “behind enemy lines” resistance in NATO countries against an expected Soviet onslaught. Our definition of the enemy was external then.Yet, we were told that the enemy had many accomplices at home and we had to exterminate them. I and an assortment of my comrades from small Anatolian towns and villages who had gathered in larger cities were perfect choices for our masters. We were “nobody” until we were discovered and given the task of saving our country from bondage. Our revered leaders in the party gave us political as well as combat training. There we learned that the elite of our country had been co-opted and had sold their loyalty to foreign powers. All demands for freedom of expression, association and rule of law were subversions to bring in a Communist system piecemeal. We believed it.
We were at the forefront of every demonstration or armed attack on workers’ assemblies, university rallies and popular meetings protesting official repression or vying for more rights and freedoms. We were on the side of the state because we did not trust the nation. We were nationalists, but this was not the right kind of nation we wanted. We wanted a combatant nation under the banner of our glorious state and in perfect harmony within. We did not understand why everyone did not shout out loud that they were happy and proud of being a Turk. Much later we found out that there were others on our sacred lands that were not ethnic Turks. We hated it and we hated them. They were an aberration of our belief that our nation was of pure blood. The noblest blood was running in our veins.
So we set out intimidating the non-Turks, knocked off those who we thought to be Communists and all those who did not pay tribute to us. Whatever we did was always rewarded by our superiors. Our crimes were covered up with the help and participation of officials in the security apparatus, judiciary and other concerned units of the government. The streets and schools turned into slaughterhouses due to our armed clashes with the leftist youth who were pointed out to us as prey. Almost 20 people died in armed clashes on the streets of Turkish cities until the day (Sept. 12) of the 1980 coup. What is surprising is that on Sept. 13, the country returned to absolute tranquility that hasn’t been seen for years.
Now that I look back, we killed top intellectuals, impartial prosecutors and judges and labor leaders. Our authorities saw them as enemies. I never asked myself what kind of a system is it that can only survive by the elimination of its brightest thinkers, academics and professionals. But there must be an important reason why the system trained and rewarded its unofficial executioners.
We were told that our unitary state was under duress. That is why we wanted everyone to think and acts like us. If they did not comply, we hurt them first and exterminated them the second time. Now they say national unity must be based on volition and consensus among peoples. What peoples? There is only one people in this country, and it is of Turkish blood and Sunni Muslim conviction. (To be continued)
