The price of 'softening'?

Let's ask the question clearly, without beating around the bush;

If Özgür Özel hadn't insisted on "softening" and "mellowing out" after the local elections, and hadn't become preoccupied with trying to curry favor with Tayyip;

If he hadn't disappointed the people of this country who voted for him with great hope, and instead had put up a firm, tough opposition, pushed for early elections, and managed to lead the masses who are already struggling to survive at the hunger threshold;

If he hadn't followed the palace's artificial agenda and instead kept issues like the burning economy, the refugee problem that has reached a point the country can no longer bear, the terrorist statelet emerging right next to us, corruption, and insolence much more at the forefront;

If, instead of being a petitioner and asking for advice by saying, "Please do this, do that," he had been able to say loudly and decisively, "I am a candidate to govern Turkey";

Would the government have had the courage to so recklessly dismiss these five young lieutenants and three heroic officers in the prime of their lives from the Turkish Armed Forces?

We should have learned by now, since 2002:

Whatever they want to do, whatever they are planning, they first test the ground nicely. They first take the pulse of the people, then they weigh and measure the attitude and stance of the opposition.

They look to see if there will be a reaction, or how much and what kind of reaction will come.

If they see a strong threat to themselves or the possibility of a major problem that could cause a fracture in their Islamist base, they immediately shift into reverse and back down.

If they see that there is "not a peep" from the opposition or that the people are in a state of "silence of the lambs"; that is when, in the words of teenagers, they go "full steam ahead" and do whatever is on their mind without fearing anyone.

We have witnessed dozens, perhaps hundreds of examples of this to date.

Unfortunately, we could not stand up for the lieutenants and their commanders who were dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces because they did not say they were "Tayyip's soldiers," but rather that they were proud to be "Mustafa Kemal's soldiers," and made this felt to friend and foe alike on the day they were commissioned as lieutenants.

Try finding the main opposition party that should be firing up the people. Just as you can't sail a ship with empty words, you can't achieve results just by shouting until your throat is torn.

Naturally, the government, seeing this, showed no mercy to anyone.

Özgür Özel has been raging since the decision was announced, but that ship has sailed. No matter what he says or what reaction he shows at this point, it is empty... It has no meaning.

He should have foreseen all of this after the CHP emerged as the leading party in the local elections; he should have built his strategy accordingly, demanded power unconditionally from day one, narrowed the political space of the AKP and Tayyip, and prevented them from doing as they pleased in the country.

Instead of dividing and fragmenting his voters, he should have consolidated them.

If he had done that, no one would have dared to target these young lieutenants just for saying, "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal."

But he didn't, he couldn't!

If the government can act as comfortably as it does today, if it can throw anyone in jail on any pretext, if it can manufacture crimes on social media and force people to be silent so easily; the most important reason for this is the incompetence of Özgür Özel and his entourage.

However, the real danger is that while pretending to show the resolve he failed to show yesterday, he does not realize that he is playing with the future of the lieutenants.

The other day he came out and said;

"If they want to see themselves somewhere, that position they want to see is on our head, we are the guarantee. But we accept them as guests in the place where they want to take office. Because that duty will last until the first general election to be held."

He had previously made a statement saying, "We will not leave those lieutenants alone. If they accept, we will employ them in the most appropriate place, right next to us, by our side. We had four lieutenants who were dismissed from duty before this. We are employing three of them in institutions within the CHP's sphere of influence. One of them found a better job there. They had also dismissed four lieutenants who reacted to those who did not wear Atatürk pins, and those four lieutenants are working now."

We don't know if he said these sentences after consulting with the CHP's legal advisors or if he spoke as it crossed his mind, but these matters are not like selling aspirin at a pharmacy.

Clause D of the 1st Paragraph of Article 20 of the Turkish Armed Forces Disciplinary Law No. 6410 is extremely clear:

"Involvement in ideological or political activities. Joining political parties, involvement in ideological or political activities, engaging in attitudes and behaviors that disrupt discipline for ideological or political purposes..."

Similarly, Article 148 of the Military Penal Code No. 1632 contains the provision: "Those who gather for political purposes, those who join political parties, those who participate in political demonstrations, meetings, and elections, or those who make verbal suggestions for this purpose in any way, and those who write political articles and give speeches in this direction shall be imprisoned for up to five years."

With the situation as it is, Özgür Özel is practically throwing the young lieutenants into the fire. Because the dismissal decisions are not the end of the road. These decisions will become final after the appeal process.

This is where the trouble begins.

The dismissals passed the High Disciplinary Board of the Ministry of National Defense by a narrow margin. Five of the nine members approved, while four members said "no." Moreover, there are allegations that irregularities were committed in the investigation file.

In other words, at the end of the process, these decisions could potentially be overturned.

Instead of taking a principled stand against the issue and creating political pressure, Özgür Özel is putting the lieutenants in a difficult position under the guise of "standing up for them." While the appeal process is ongoing, associating them with politics in one way or another could damage their defense. In other words, even if the administrative court overturns the dismissal decision, these words of Özgür Özel could become a source of trouble for the lieutenants.

The old folks didn't say it for nothing; you have to think twice before you speak once.

You shouldn't make things worse while trying to fix them!