I would slap the person who commits that insolence too...

You must remember the great disgrace at the Tuzla Infantry School... A lieutenant participating in the November 10th ceremonies, where Atatürk was to be commemorated, crumpled up the photograph of Atatürk given to him to pin on his lapel and put it in his pocket; other lieutenants reacted to him because of this.

The events continued that same evening in the dormitory ward, and a "scuffle" broke out between the lieutenant who did not want to wear the photograph and his two friends, and the lieutenant who warned them and his three friends.

Although the lieutenant who did not wear the photograph claimed he had been subjected to violence and attempted to get a medical report from the hospital, no signs of assault were found on him.

The seven lieutenants whose names were involved in the dispute were immediately suspended after the incident was reflected in the media.

Yesterday, we learned that this investigation has been completed and that along with the lieutenants who showed disrespect to Atatürk, the four pro-Atatürk lieutenants who warned them have also been dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces...

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A great feeling of rebellion arose within me when I read the news.

Think about it; you are a soldier...

One or more of your colleagues shows disrespect to the founder of this country, and on his death anniversary at that...

And when you go and warn them, they stand up to you defiantly...

In the end, you are lumped in with these ungrateful cultists, accused of "disturbing the order," and your duty, to which you have dedicated a significant part of your life, is terminated.

What is your crime?

Not remaining a spectator to the disrespect shown to Atatürk...

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I am 63 years old...

I swear that if that disrespect were shown in front of me anywhere today, I wouldn't just stop at warning them; I would slap them with everything I've got...

Now that I say this, don't think of me as someone who favors violence. I have been on the receiving end due to my gentlemanly nature, but I have never slapped anyone in my life!

However, if I were to witness such a thing, I would not hesitate at all...

I wouldn't even think about the consequences...

If it's a crime, then it's a crime!

If there is a penalty, I will pay it...

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If we haven't written or drawn about the management of the Turkish Armed Forces until today, it is so that the defense of the homeland is not harmed.

This silence of ours should definitely not mean that we do not see the reactionary organization within the Turkish Armed Forces over the last 20 years...

Didn't those who ordered the poor students under their command to open fire on civilians on July 15, those who even took the Chief of General Staff hostage, those who raided the Special Forces Command, those who rained bombs on the Parliament from the air, and those who raided the hotel where the President was staying, come from this army?

Do the Chief of General Staff and the force commanders who turned a blind eye to their infiltration into the army have no fault at all?

Are Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his cronies, who ended "dismissals from the army due to reactionary activities" as soon as they came to power, and who granted amnesty to those previously dismissed or appointed them to critical public positions, as pure as the driven snow?

Hey; wasn't even an admiral who is still on duty in this country caught on camera with his turban? Are those who do not punish this very innocent?

Are we going to ignore the cowardly commanders who, in twenty years, have caused the Turkish Armed Forces to fall from first place in the ranking of the "country's most trusted institutions" to the point where they cannot even make it into the top 10?

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If this army were still Atatürk's army...

If the mentality managing this army had not surrendered to cults...

If there were a Chief of General Staff at the head of this army who did not pledge allegiance to the government, but remembered that he is the number one person responsible for the defense of the country against internal and external enemies...

Those lieutenants who warned the cultist enemies of Atatürk would not be dismissed; on the contrary, a "medal of honor" would be pinned to their lapels.

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I repeat.

In my life, let alone being an officer or a police officer, I haven't even been a civil servant.

I haven't even drunk a glass of the state's water for free.

I haven't received a single penny of state salary.

But I have always given to the state.

I paid taxes, I paid fees, I gave eight months of my life to military service.

Still, I say; let alone a lieutenant fed by the state...

If I see a scoundrel who disrespects my Atatürk, even if his rank is a general, I will set a precedent for myself and even if I knew I would be killed, I would go and slap him!

That is why I applaud those four lions who "did what was necessary" and I want the "dismissal decision" made against them to be revoked immediately.

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Hey, enemies of Atatürk and the Republic.

Hey, scoundrels, ingrates, base bigots!

You can think all you want that you have intimidated, scared, taken over, neutralized, or purged Atatürk's uniformed soldiers from the army...

He has millions of ununiformed soldiers in this country...

By the way, what will you do with us?

Will you have us stripped of our citizenship too?

Will you kick us out of the country?

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You know that giant portrait of Atatürk that you hang on your party's headquarters building, trembling with fear every time you are in a tight spot...

The day will come when even that won't save you...

You had better watch your step; do not mess with our Atatürk, our republic, our secularism, our democracy!