About us
  |  
Advertising
  |  
Contact
  |  
Get Home Delivery
  |  
RSS
  |  
Share on your site
  |  
MULTIMEDIA
May 27, 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 

Banging the table with an invisible sledgehammer
by
Ali Murat Yel*

27 January 2010 / ,
When I watched a speech delivered by the chief of General Staff to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Kazım Karabekir, a former general and war hero, the other day on TV, I decided I believed in the existence of the so-called Sledgehammer plan of the 1st Army since the chief of General Staff banged on the table in front of him every time he denied the accusations.
 He was banging the table with an invisible sledgehammer as if he could crush those who would not believe him like little insects. Under such humiliation and defeat I also remembered a notorious soccer commentator, Erman Toroğlu, on Lig TV, who once upon a time criticized one of the former chiefs of General Staff, Hilmi özkök, for being a democrat, saying he would rather have a chief with a strong attitude who could bang on tables. So Toroğlu must have been very happy to watch our chief of General Staff who “would cause one to sit down when he struck with his fist.” As readers may have guessed, this is a Turkish expression which means that a strong and fearless person deals with opponents through heavy blows so that they will remain silent and obedient afterwards. In other parts of the world a person would bang a table when she or he is angry or frustrated, but in Turkey, this gesture simply means that the banger is angry, frustrated and more importantly, she or he is a strong and powerful person whose statements are not questioned. The chief of General Staff is trying to give this image to the whole world, yet his gestures give him away. He is no  longer as strong as he would like.

Were he not to echo the sound of the Sledgehammer plan by striking his words on our ears and if he could remain calm and, more importantly, self-confident, it would have been a lot easier to convince us. He had a similar attitude when he called another plan “just a piece of paper” by downplaying its importance. Yet, later on the document with a “wet signature” (not the Xeroxed copy) was found despite his denials.

During the chilling speech the chief of General Staff threatened all opponents, or those who believe that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is quite capable of carrying out a military coup at any time the top generals see fit, by stating that the TSK “had a limit to its patience.” In other words, the Turkish army had a low boiling point, and the time is ripe for a coup. Instead of threatening people, he could have appealed to the Turkish courts -- military or civilian – on charges of libel and defamation. If I were in his shoes, I would use all my wealth and energy to convict them in a court of law and get them the punishment they deserve if and when some people attacked my reputation by false publications.

The chief of General Staff also had to resort to the religious feelings of the public by giving examples from army manuals; he stressed the fact that the Turkish cavalry would charge the enemy by yelling at them with the words “Allah, Allah.” This is an Islamic tradition since the time of the Prophet Muhammad which symbolizes the tenet of Islam that soldiers are not attacking the enemy for their own benefit but “in the name of God.” So, he asks us that if the army charges the enemy with cries of “Allah, Allah,” why would it bomb a mosque? The answer is quite simple: The Turkish people are overwhelmingly Muslim, and if they witness that one of their historic mosques is attacked, they would be bereft of hope and want the army to take over during such a horrible and dreadful time.

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated earlier, one does not have to appreciate the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but one has to accept it in the name of democracy. The future seems bright since none of the secret plans remain in darkness. We used to envy the level of democracy in Western countries and did not inquire into the price they had to pay. These days we are painfully realizing that if one wishes to achieve something, one has to be aware of the old capitalist maxim that one has to pay for it. Today we may seem to be humiliated by our own General Staff, but tomorrow the chief of General Staff will not be able to bang tables and brandish his sword in our faces. He will know that we really love our country and army, but at the same time we seek to live in a democratic country. Today we are paying the price by being accused of being “remorseless,” but tomorrow everybody will clearly see that we are not against our military as a whole but only those groups within the army with anti-democratic tendencies. Today we are lucky to have a General Staff that condemns the past military interventions; tomorrow our General Staff will have forgotten what a military coup is, let alone be able to prepare plots to realize one.

*Ali Murat Yel teaches sociology and social anthropology at Fatih University, İstanbul.
 
Op-Ed  Other Titles
The serial killer’s wife, Alevis and confrontation
by
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
The TSK in politics and democracy under the sledgehammer
by
Özer Sencar & Ünal Bilir*
Mosques, minarets, religious diversity: Europe and the rest
by
Şener Aktürk*
Dream interventions vs. Dream country
by
Sevgi Akarçeşme*
Washington’s ‘war on terror’ and Hollywood
by
Ali Murat Yel*
Can a coup be staged?
by
MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE
The new face of Turkish foreign policy (II)
by
Özer Sencar & Ünal Bilir*
Muslim democratic women of Turkey
by
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
What the Haiti earthquake compels one to ponder… (2)
by
Hamza Zeytinoğlu & Mehmet Öğütçü*
The new face of Turkish foreign policy (I)
by
Özer Sencar & Ünal Bilir*
To understand Turkey
by
ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
What the Haiti earthquake compels one to ponder… (1)
by
Hamza Zeytinoğlu & Mehmet Öğütçü*
Weather
City>>
ISTANBUL
Today Mon Tue
14C°
22C°
15C°
23C°
15C°
22C°
 

© Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. 2007, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Cad. No: 6, Bahçelievler - İstanbul 34194 Turkey, +90 (212) 454 1454, +90 (212) 454 1497(fax)