How Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan took his own life

On the March 18 Çanakkale Victory and Martyrs' Remembrance Day, Erdoğan, who had his iftar at the 4th Corps Command, said, "Having a strong army is a necessity for us, beyond a preference. We are a country, a nation, and an army that must always keep its deterrence at the highest level." [https://www.tccb.gov.tr/haberler/410/151730/-guclu-bir-orduya-sahip-olmak-bizim-icin-tercihten-ote-mecburiyettir-]

Exactly so, but we have lived through and seen what happened to our army—and what it was subjected to—during their term in power, entirely in line with the desires of imperialists under the guise of "fighting against tutelage." [https://muyesseryildiz.com/2023/01/16/askeri-vesayetin-sonu-ya-da-haramin-zekati/]

Indeed, before the ink on those words had even dried, it was he himself who, while recounting their struggle against "tutelage" at rallies, said the following [https://www.tccb.gov.tr/haberler/410/151836/-tum-renkleriyle-tum-farkliliklariyla-turkiye-yi-kucaklayan-bir-anlayisla-85-milyona-askla-hizmet-ediyoruz-] and stated: [https://www.tccb.gov.tr/haberler/410/151906/-turkiye-yi-bolgesinin-istikrar-ve-guven-adasi-h-line-donusturduk-]

"Strengthening our democracy by rescuing it from the yoke of tutelage is our reference point..."

"Over the past 21 years, we have pushed back tutelage and repelled coup plotters."

Do not worry, I will not recount what the TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) has experienced in the last 21 years. Besides, apart from a handful of people, nobody cares anyway.

THEY SUSPENDED HIM, THEY BID HIM FAREWELL WITH A MILITARY CEREMONY

You may have heard; a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel took his own life the day before yesterday. I will talk about him and his farewell letter.

Signal Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan Ünyeli worked in critical positions not only before but also after July 15 due to his area of expertise. For the past year, he had been serving at the Signal Electronic Information Systems School and Training Center Command (MEBS), which is affiliated with the Land Forces Command Training and Doctrine Command (EDOK).

We see what is being done with technology; but while our people still brand everyone a terrorist based on phone calls, Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan also got into trouble because of a missed call on his phone 12 years ago.

Ultimately, as he was leaving work on Tuesday evening, he was informed that he had been suspended.

He went to his home in Oran, Ankara, where he lived alone.

And the next morning, he sent his suicide note via WhatsApp to his peers, some of his superiors, and his colleagues.

They immediately went to Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan's house. No one opened the door. The door was forced open. He was not there; his suicide note and will were. They checked his car; it was in front of the building. They watched the apartment security cameras, and when it was seen that he had last walked toward the Oran forest, they began searching there. At the same time, two women out for a morning walk had reported to the police that they had seen someone dead in the forest. Soldiers and police found Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan simultaneously. He had taken his own life with his service pistol.

It did not make a single line of news. Yet, some journalists who learned of the report made to the police had also reached the scene.

His sick mother and sister lived in Istanbul. His father, whom he had not seen for 26 years, came from Çanakkale, claimed his body, and took it to his hometown. Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan was laid to rest yesterday at the afternoon prayer with a military ceremony held there. In addition to his family, the Çanakkale Governor, the Çanakkale Strait and Garrison Commander, a group of his peers, and executives of the Turkey Retired Officers Association (TESUD) attended the ceremony.

"WE WERE MARGINALIZED AND PUNISHED"

Let us come to the two-page farewell letter that begins with Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan's address: "My dear comrades-in-arms."

"I am sorry to be leaving you in this way. I have always taken pride in serving with you in the Turkish Armed Forces, whose uniform I have worn with honor since 1995. I thank all my colleagues and heroic comrades-in-arms whose paths crossed with mine with my most sincere wishes. I want you to know that this decision of mine was not taken with momentary feelings and was thoroughly considered. For this reason, I hope you will respect my choice and not be saddened." After saying this, he emphasized the following:

"We are all aware of the vile attacks that have been carried out for years against the sacred self and distinguished personnel of the Turkish Armed Forces. It is truly impossible to explain how we arrived from those beautiful days in the 1990s, when the Turkish people proudly embraced their soldiers, to these dark days we are in now—that is, to military marginalization and punishment. We had learned to be on the hit lists of terrorist organizations and extremist religious groups when we were just 14 years old, but we could not have predicted being totally ostracized by the entire public. I could never make sense of how this hatred and feeling of inferiority toward the TSK spread to the grassroots of the public. These vile feelings that were nurtured took shape and first played with the reputation of the soldier, then began to manifest in personal rights and judicial decisions."

He then described what officers and non-commissioned officers experienced as follows:

"Officer and non-commissioned officer positions have now become professions from which one cannot retire directly. It is hard to believe; however, you are thrown out the door without exception due to forced separation and lack of staff for officers, and due to age limits for non-commissioned officers, and you have to wait 10-19 years without a salary or health insurance to be able to retire. You struggle against all kinds of dangers, night and day, summer and winter, without regard for working hours, risking your life for the peace and security of our country, yet your connection with the TSK is severed before you can qualify for retirement. In my own specific case, although I have had SGK (Social Security Institution) entry before September 8, 1999, I can neither retire nor resign due to mandatory service. While most of my peers of the same age can retire, a handful of officers and non-commissioned officers, including myself, are experiencing an unprecedented grievance due to the completely incorrect interpretation of the law. It is not difficult to guess what kind of judicial decision would have been issued if this grievance, for which the path to justice is also closed, had occurred in another professional group."

"AT THIS RATE, THERE WILL BE NO SOLDIER LEFT WHO HAS NOT BEEN TRIED"

He continued as follows:

"The sense of honor and dignity are sacred values that an officer will never compromise. I think there will be no military personnel left who has not been tried or subjected to administrative measures at the end of the process that began with the Ergenekon, Balyoz, Military Espionage, etc., cases and evolved into a different dimension after the heinous July 15 coup attempt. I state with sadness that humiliating administrative/judicial measures have been applied to me personally for the last year. I hope what I have experienced due to a missed call made to my phone by an unknown person exactly 12 years ago does not happen to anyone else. Of course, I will not make my own situation pathetic while there are so many soldiers who are ignored by the entire society and left to die in prisons unjustly at the age of 90. However, as someone whose only goal was to try to be worthy of the history of the Turkish Nation and the trust of our eternal Commander-in-Chief Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who did not compromise on loyalty to the Constitution, and who fulfilled all the duties required by the military profession, the injustices done to me have exceeded the limits of endurance. You might say 'do not take the matter seriously' in an environment where those who praise the FETÖ ringleader from the parliamentary podium are Ministers of Justice, and those who stand at attention to take photos are members of parliament, but I cannot suppress the anger I feel and I cannot accept it."

"WITH THE WISH THAT THE TURKISH NATION WILL EMBRACE THE TSK AGAIN"

Giving advice to young officers and non-commissioned officers: "Based on the fact that attacks on the honor of the Turkish soldier will increase even more and that they will be tried to be drawn into similar processes, they should record all their actions to emerge with their heads held high from the administrative and judicial processes they will most likely encounter in the future, and file a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office regarding missed calls to their phones," Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan's final words and wish were as follows:

"The only truth I believe in and know is the high character of the Turkish Nation and its culture. I curse all terrorist organizations that covet the indivisible integrity of the Republic of Turkey, especially FETÖ and the PKK. I dream of a country where there is no cronyism, sectarianism, or factionalism, and where just being a Turkish citizen is enough for a sense of belonging. With the wish that the Turkish Nation will once again embrace the Turkish Armed Forces, which are its own children. Farewell."

WHAT HAD LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALİ TATAR SAID?

Do you remember the farewell letter of Teacher Lieutenant Colonel Ali Tatar, who gave up his life "to rebel against the lawlessness" [https://www.gazetevatan.com/gundem/yarbay-tatarin-veda-mektubu-279330] in 2009 over the plots against the TSK?

"If you continue this way, you will find neither an army to govern nor a country and republic to live in," he had said.

What state are we in 15 years later? Lieutenant Colonel Gökhan has shown this with poignant findings and another painful ending!..