“It is as if the Minister of National Defense has never served in the military”!..

Following the events at the Tuzla Infantry School during the November 10 Atatürk Commemoration Ceremony, when a lieutenant failed to wear a photograph of Atatürk, the administrative outcome for now has resulted in the dismissal of 7 lieutenants from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), in a “4 from here, 3 from there” fashion.

However, it seems the debates on this matter will continue for some time.

Let us start with a recent development.

The lieutenant who did not wear the Atatürk photograph on his lapel, along with two lieutenants who stood by him, have filed a criminal complaint against the Commander of the Land Forces Training and Doctrine Command (EDOK), Lieutenant General Zorlu Topaloğlu, who is conducting the disciplinary investigation, and the investigation committee, on charges of “misconduct in office, failure to report a crime, destruction, concealment, and alteration of criminal evidence; and shielding a criminal.”

In the criminal complaint filed by the lawyer for lieutenants A.A., M.F.Ş., and F.A.—whose dismissal from the TSK was decided because their “loyalty to Atatürk’s Principles and the Republic was found to be suspicious”—on the day the dismissal decision was approved by Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, it was alleged that “the statements of the three lieutenants were taken using prohibited interrogation methods, and that A.A., who did not wear the Atatürk photograph, was interrogated for 6 hours and forced to express his thoughts on his love for Atatürk.” It was requested that 6 commanders at the Tuzla Infantry School who have knowledge and observations regarding these events be heard as witnesses.

The criminal complaint also included the following allegations:

- A report was prepared that is misleading to the Ministry of National Defense and the public, and contrary to the truth.

- An attempt was made to conceal evidence by ignoring the battery report given to Infantry Lieutenant A.A.

- Suspect Zorlu Topaloğlu shielded a criminal and committed misconduct by removing the trainee named Infantry Lieutenant S.Ç., who personally carried out the attack/battery incident in the three lieutenants' dormitory on November 13, from the investigation file.

- The suspect investigation committee, by defining and accepting the events entirely through the statements and accounts of the attacking group, showed that it is in consensus with the attacking group that has long exploited Atatürkism.

The lawyer for the three lieutenants also stated that, in light of the documents received from the Prosecutor's Office, EDOK Commander Zorlu Topaloğlu should be immediately removed from his post for the sake of the integrity of the administrative investigation, which the Land Forces Command has decided to deepen.

THE COMMANDERS' RELIGIOUS SENSIBILITIES ARE NOT AS THEY WISHED

We had previously pointed out that, at the very beginning of the investigation into the events at the Tuzla Infantry School, the team of retired General Adnan Tanrıverdi—founder of SADAT (International Defense Consultancy), ASSAM (Center for Strategic Studies Defending Justice), and ASDER (Association of Defenders of Justice), and former chief security advisor to Erdoğan—accused Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, Chief of General Staff General Metin Gürak, and National Defense University Rector Prof. Erhan Afyoncu, primarily Zorlu Topaloğlu.

A figure from that team, in an article written on the ASDER website after the decision to dismiss the 7 lieutenants, also expressed his reaction to Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, the commanders, and the MIT (National Intelligence Organization).

This individual, who was dismissed from the TSK in 1996, stated, “Even if the commanders at the head of the army do not have the religious sensibilities we desire, protecting our army is one of our most important duties,” and then emphasized that the use of unspeakable, vulgar profanities and insults against religious officers in particular during the events at the Tuzla Infantry School deeply wounded millions of people like himself.

HE CALLED IT A “FETÖ ACT” AND DEMANDED THEIR ARREST

He then claimed, “These ugly acts of indiscipline are not just an action carried out by 4 officers. The battery and insults against officers who perform prayers are just one of the recently emerged actions of America and Zionist organizations, primarily the FETÖ organization,” and continued as follows:

“No officer who acts against disciplinary rules, and especially one who beats his classmates while using vulgar profanities, is a soldier worthy of this institution. These individuals must be punished in the harshest way and reformed in military prisons as a lesson to others... The Land Forces High Disciplinary Board displayed faulty management by punishing only four out of dozens of officers who were the perpetrators of the serious disciplinary incidents that took place at the Tuzla Infantry School, while removing the three victimized lieutenants from the army in return. The Minister of National Defense, as if he had never performed military service, caused the disaster to grow even larger by not going after the true perpetrators of the incident, that is, those who provoked and incited the acts of indiscipline.”

While the individual in question argued that “such major actions could not be the work of four young lieutenants,” he practically called the MIT to duty with the following expressions:

“The National Intelligence Organization exists for this. There cannot be an intelligence organization that ignores the illegal activities of coup-plotting juntas and conspiratorial gangs within the army and never goes after them in any period... The grave and distressing developments at the Tuzla Infantry School should not be seen as a simple disciplinary incident. Such insurrectionary events must be accepted as the surfacing extensions of deep-seated coup attempts, and necessary measures must be taken urgently.”

In short; where the Tuzla Infantry School incident could lead or where it is intended to be led is clear. Hadn't the Yeni Şafak newspaper already run the headline “Lieutenant Junta” in the very first weeks of the investigation?!