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The military continues to surprise everyone. This institution has been so indoctrinated into our brains starting from primary school and so glorified in our eyes that we never expect them to blunder and panic. However, the developments of the last week added clumsiness to the military’s pro-coup and manipulation-obsessed image.
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First, an operation that was believed, with persuasive evidence, to have been conducted for the assassination of Bülent Arınç was unearthed. Some military officers carrying drawings showing the street where Arınç lived were apprehended, and one of them tried to swallow the paper containing Arınç’s address. An investigation found them to be connected to the Special Forces Command, and a search was launched at the relevant units at the General Staff by court order. Naturally, this was easier said than done. The military resisted. But the judge did not back down, and the rooms in which, it was claimed, “cosmic” or extremely confidential documents and information are kept were locked up. Meanwhile, something quite unexpected happened. Upon notification by the judge in question, it was found that two vehicles containing military personnel were tailing the judge’s car to harass him. There were some low-ranking military personnel inside these cars, and the General Staff rejected claims that there was any conspiracy in this tailing business and complained about the judge being unnecessarily picky about being followed. The pro-military press focused on these two incidents and claimed that it was the government that was to be blamed for the conspiracy, if anyone. First, given that no military officer can be silly enough to be incapable of memorizing an address, then the paper containing the address cannot be accepted as evidence. Indeed, the General Staff said that those military officers were actually tracking a colonel who was leaking information, and it seemed that there are similarities in the addresses. Second, the fact that only low-ranking military personnel tracked the judge implied that there was much exaggeration in panic involving the whole episode, and the judge blundered in this case. However, statements from the experts who know the ins and outs of the Special Forces Command followed. They said that before planned assassinations, several people would conduct physical observations on location in order to learn more about the parking and activities in the street. Indeed, in the case at hand, the military officers in question had parked the car they hired in front of Arınç’s house, and it was very likely that the person who parked the car had just received Arınç’s address. Moreover, even if we accept the General Staff’s statement that a colonel was being tracked, it is hard to make sense of the General Staff’s subsequent statement that this colonel did not leak any information during the time he was tracked. Moreover, it was apparent that the military authorities had decided to take a break in tracking him. We may ask whether leaking activities are suspended in the summer. On the other hand, intelligence experts noted that this period overlaps with the parliamentary intersession and therefore it is highly likely that the person being tracked was a deputy. As for the tracking of the judge for harassment purposes, analysts point out that this is the way it is normally done, i.e., by using the people who are directly connected to the matter at hand -- it would suffice only if the soldiers who are being used in this way are aware of the mission. An ordinary Turkish citizen cannot easily accept the military’s performance in these incidents. What we see is an organization that blunders and screws things up every move it makes. An explanation for this is that while decisions on these actions are made at a central location, they are implemented through customary methods. Actually, this was the standard course of things, but in the past, the police would not track the military; they would instead keep outside military operations or just ignore them. And the judiciary would always side with the military and afford them protection. Today, on the other hand, there is self-confidence inside the police and the judiciary that helps them resist the psychological pressures of the military guardianship system. In the Western world, too, certain resistance to reforms is expected, but normal bureaucratic attitudes entail adaptation to what is new. In our country, on the other hand, there are two models of resistance: reforms of the judiciary and the police function to divide and liberate the institutional structure, and the resulting cleavages foment internal conflicts. In contrast, the military’s central mindset resists change and its policy of resisting reforms causes the entire military structure to erode. Thus, the process that we call “normalization” helps us readjust to the new and realistic image of the military, and in the end, it is we who are liberated. The military’s panic and clumsiness help us feel that we are “citizens,” and for the first time, we can talk about our responsibilities independently of the state.
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| 08 January 2010, Friday |
| ETYEN MAHÇUPYAN |
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