160,000 privileged 'Mr. Mehmet's every year!

Do you know what the greatest injustice, the greatest lack of conscience, and the greatest lack of fairness committed by the AKP, which has the word “justice” in its name, has been during its more than 21 years in power?

Paid military service…

The law, which was initially enacted in previous years so that our young people living and working abroad would not be victimized, eventually came to cover “everyone who has the money.”

When that happened, the inequality between “Mehmet the soldier (Mehmetçik)” and “Mr. Mehmet” was approved by law.

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The price to be paid in 2024 by those who prefer to pay money instead of performing military service was announced yesterday:

It increased from 122,351 liras to 182,609 liras and 4 kuruş, an increase of approximately 60,000 liras.

If a minimum-wage worker wants to perform their military service through the paid option, they will have to give approximately 11 months of their salary to the state!

As such, the practice means the following:

Everyone is equal, but those with money are a little more equal!

Becoming a martyr or a veteran is a duty for the poor; the privilege of never taking the risk of dying or being injured belongs to the rich…

They put down the money, they become neither martyrs nor veterans…

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So, what percentage of the young people in our country can benefit from this practice?

The figures I will provide are fresh: 

Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler himself announced it at his year-end meeting with journalists on December 16, 2023:

“Since 2019, when the current Paid Military Service Law came into effect, 2 million 817 thousand 600 of our young people have performed their patriotic service in the four years that have passed. That is, they went to the military. In the same period, 641 thousand 544 people benefited from the paid military service practice.”

In other words… 

While 3 million 450 thousand 140 young people in Turkey should have gone to the military in these four years, 18.5 percent of them got out of military service by paying money to the state!

160,000 people every year!

In other words, 81.5 out of every 100 Turks remained a 'Mehmetçik' (soldier), while 18.5 became 'Mr. Mehmet'!

Actually, not all of them are rich…

Some are kids who take out bank loans so they don't lose their jobs by going to the military, and who work day and night to save money for this…

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So, what is fair?

Undoubtedly, it is for our laws to expect this “compulsory duty” from everyone under equal conditions, regardless of whether they are rich or poor…

Since 20 percent of those who come of age in this country do not have to perform military service; since we have such a surplus in the number of soldiers…

Then shorten the compulsory military service period significantly…

Shorten it, but make everyone do it!

Let the honor of falling as a martyr not be experienced only by the children of poor families; grant this opportunity to the rich as well!