Adding insult to injury in Uludere

The Turkish military stated that the attack took place due to false intelligence but the source of the false intelligence and whether the attack was in fact a mistake or an intentional plot remain unknown. On Wednesday, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin delivered some highly criticized statements. “If they [the victims] had been captured alive, they would have been put on trial on charges of smuggling, but this incident has overshadowed the smuggling issue.”

Sabah’s Emre Aköz said he found Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s policy of protecting and supporting everyone in his Cabinet and not summarily firing them to be right. When opposition groups or the media give a minister a hard time, Erdoğan first remains silent. He then moderately defends the criticized person and when the criticisms come to an end, Erdoğan then decides if he should fire the minister. However, the situation with Interior Minister Şahin is much more different, according to Aköz. Şahin never stops making wrong and ill-timed statements, which is why even Erdoğan has joined others in criticizing him.

Another criticism came from Hürriyet’s Taha Akyol, who said that Şahin’s statements now require a second apology from the state to the relatives of the Uludere victims. According to Akyol, an interior minister of a country that has a “chronic terrorism problem” and severe polarization between citizens should not speak out very often, but when he does, he should use “soothing and constructive” language. This is just as important as his actions. In a situation like this, Akyol added, Şahin should either resign or the prime minister should fire him to make up for the political mistake. The most important and urgent thing at the moment though, according to Akyol, is to apologize to the relatives of the Uludere victims right away.

Cengiz Çandar, a columnist with the Radikal daily, relayed a quote from President Abdullah Gül, who visited Silicon Valley on Thursday. Gül said he was the one who suggested visiting the area. “When we think about it, this place is the source of all the developments that have changed our lives. This is where projects that aim to remove our common fears are designed. As part of its development projects, Turkey needs to make more moves in the fields of science and technology so that we can finally become a fully developed country.” Looking at these statements, Çandar noted, one might think that Turkey finally has a visionary president. The same notion goes for the Turkish prime minister, Çandar said, as both politicians have wise ideas to help Turkey develop further. But at the same time Turkey is losing a lot in terms of justice, the columnist noted, referring to the deadlock in the Uludere incident. Before making technological plans and projects, Turkey should first resolve its problems with its legal system and practices. Çandar recommended Gül visit Uludere after Silicon Valley so he could listen to today’s problems before making huge investments for tomorrow.

Ahmet Taşgetiren from the Bugün daily described the current debates over the Uludere incident as “adding insult to injury.” A mistake was made; there is no doubt about this. If the attack had indeed been wrongly carried out, then it was the military’s fault; if there was in fact a secret plot behind the attack, then it was the state’s fault for not showing enough determination in revealing the perpetrators and the aim of the plot. Either way, he said, the state does not have the luxury of making another mistake.