The “A Commander Is Not a Deity” Case!..

Turkey witnessed the dismissal of five lieutenants from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on charges of “lack of discipline” after they crossed swords and chanted, “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal” following their graduation ceremony, along with three commanders who did not prevent this “act.”

There is an interesting “mobbing” file, disguised as a “lack of discipline” case, currently pending before both the Constitutional Court and the Ministry of National Defense, which has not yet reached the public agenda.

The parties to the file are a rather famous general and a first lieutenant.

General D.A. is the commander of a Training Center, and First Lieutenant M.E. is the station commander at the same location. Throughout his 3-year tenure as station commander, M.E. has not received any disciplinary penalties and has successfully performed his assigned duties.

However, things changed starting in May of last year. First, according to allegations, General D.A. issued an order not found in any regulation, requiring M.E. to greet him at the barracks gate every morning. M.E. complied with this order, even if he did not understand the reason.

The first incident subject to the lawsuit occurred in November. First Lieutenant M.E. made some WhatsApp posts that were visible to others.

General D.A. concluded that these posts were directed at him personally and initiated a disciplinary investigation against M.E.

The investigation was conducted by the Acting Central Commander, who concluded that M.E. had committed the “lack of discipline” of “disrespect toward a superior or senior officer while off-duty” and sentenced him to a “written warning.”

Just one day later, General D.A. intervened and sent a letter to the Central Command stating that “the disciplinary report was not examined in accordance with procedure and a procedural error was made,” requesting that the “three issues identified in the final report be re-evaluated,” or in other words, that M.E. be given a different penalty.

Following this letter, the Acting Central Commander who conducted the investigation changed his mind, despite there being no changes in the file other than this explicit order from General D.A., and issued three penalties to M.E. for the same matter: a reprimand for the accusation of “committing the lack of discipline of acting contrary to professional ethics,” and two written warnings for the “disciplinary offenses of disrespect toward a superior or senior officer and disparaging others while off-duty.”

The Assumption of “Other Meanings May Arise”

The justification for the reprimand penalty is explained as follows:

“You stated that the posts made contained family matters. However, as a member of the TSK, which is the apple of the eye of the Turkish Nation from which it emerged, even if the posts made cover the issues you mentioned in your statement, other meanings could arise and we, as an institution, could be harmed...”

In the written warning penalties, attention is drawn to the fact that M.E. “did not receive any disciplinary penalties during his 3-year station command period, performed his assigned duties, and is at the beginning of his career.”

First Lieutenant M.E. does not/cannot appeal these penalties; because the higher authority to which the appeal would go is General D.A. himself, whom he believes requested that these penalties be imposed on him.

M.E. does not appeal within the institution, but since the path of administrative judiciary is closed for these penalties, he makes an individual application directly to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that his “right to freedom of expression” has been violated.

His lawyer, İbrahim Yılmaz, who filed the application in question to the Constitutional Court, argues that “M.E.’s WhatsApp posts were posts that did not mention any institution, person, or entity—let alone his superior or senior officer—many of which were purely informational and related to his own personal situation, while others were based on private relationships between relatives, and did not reveal the institution he served in or his identity; they contained no threats, insults, or derogatory expressions,” and that the penalties were entirely based on “mind-reading and assumptions based on General D.A.’s assessment.” Attorney Yılmaz also notes that imposing three penalties for the same act in violation of the TSK Disciplinary Law is unlawful and arbitrary.

This is Also a “You Didn’t Say Thank You” Penalty

We mentioned that General D.A. ordered M.E. to greet him at the barracks gate every morning in May, and that M.E. complied with this order; an interesting development occurs regarding this matter during the investigation process initiated due to the WhatsApp correspondence.

In a post General D.A. made in the Training Center’s WhatsApp group through another soldier, while instructing the Security Guard Company Commander to also participate in the greeting ceremony at the gate, he says, “The Central Commander and the team commander shall greet me every morning together with the Security Guard Company Commander. This is my second and final order. If First Lieutenant M.E. is not in the group, warn him.”

Although it is not understood why General D.A. felt the need for such an order and on what basis he determined this greeting committee, the instruction is carried out; in addition to M.E. and the Acting Central Commander, the Security Guard Company Commander begins to greet General D.A. at the barracks gate entrance every morning along with the gate duty non-commissioned officer. In these greetings, the most senior soldier shouts “Attention!” and the others salute the commander’s vehicle as it passes by without stopping.

On the morning of December 17, the same ceremony is repeated. General D.A. continues on his way to his office without stopping his vehicle at all.

About half an hour later, the following instruction comes from General D.A. for First Lieutenant M.E.:

“He saluted while I was entering the barracks in the morning, but he didn’t shout ‘Thank you!’ to me. Therefore, draw up a disciplinary report and let’s penalize him.”

Thus, a second disciplinary investigation is initiated against M.E. after the WhatsApp correspondence. The gate duty non-commissioned officer, whose statement was taken within the scope of this investigation, says, “I saw that General D.A. saluted from behind the window.” According to this, General D.A. understood that M.E. did not say “Thank you” without even rolling down his car window!..

As a result of this investigation, it is decided to give First Lieutenant M.E. a “reprimand” penalty, and the decision is justified as follows:

“Even though you stated in your defense that there is no such practice in the TSK, it has been determined that subordinates saluting while the commander’s vehicle is passing with the pennant attached, even if they do not see the commander, means ‘My commander, I saw you, I received your salute. I am ready to receive your orders,’ and furthermore, all personnel present in the gate area say ‘Thank you,’ showing that they are ready to receive the commander’s orders.”

The lieutenant appeals this penalty to the Land Forces Training and Doctrine Command (EDOK), which is the higher authority. However, EDOK rejects the appeal, concluding that “there is no illegality in the disciplinary penalty imposed because First Lieutenant M.E. did not respond with ‘Thank you’ despite the unit commander saluting during the passage of the official vehicle.”

In the individual application made by First Lieutenant M.E.’s lawyer, İbrahim Yılmaz, to the Constitutional Court, this incident is also recounted, and it is claimed that “the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment has been violated.”

Attorney Yılmaz applies not only to the Constitutional Court but also to the Ministry of National Defense for “the investigation of General D.A.’s unlawful and arbitrary actions containing ill-treatment toward First Lieutenant M.E. and other personnel if any, the conduct of a disciplinary investigation against him, and the initiation of a judicial investigation for the crime of misconduct in office,” and also to CİMER and the TBMM Human Rights Commission for the follow-up of these.

“This Leads to Sycophancy”

While Attorney Yılmaz adds the circular on the prohibition of mobbing in workplaces, which Erdoğan published on March 6, to his aforementioned applications, he uses the following remarkable expressions:

“While it is a necessity for a subordinate to salute a superior, it is also a necessity for a superior to receive the subordinate’s salute. The rule of ‘Then you will also say thank you to me’ by General D.A., who fulfills the obligation of receiving the salute given, does not exist in any legislation or source. It was invented by General D.A. Furthermore, the fact that subordinates who salute rejoice just because the commander received the salute given to him, thinking ‘Our commander received our salute, hooray,’ and shouting ‘Thank you’ to their commanders out of the blue, and being punished when they do not shout, is as devoid of legal basis as it is contrary to the military courtesy and etiquette rules that have been practiced in the TSK for hundreds of years. This is a phenomenon that does not exist in Turkish military practice, that disrupts the subordinate-superior balance in favor of the superior in an immoderate and indefinite way, and that shifts away from the commander-leader approach toward a commander-deity approach. For centuries, the Turkish soldier has held a place in the hearts of the Turkish Nation with his characteristics of being headstrong, disciplined, absolutely obedient to his superiors, but also not engaging in sycophancy and not liking sycophants. With the spread and increase of the practices we have described, the Turkish soldier will lose these characteristics in the hearts and minds of our nation, and instead will begin to have a character that engages in sycophancy to the commander’s face, fawns over his commander immoderately, but whose every kind of lack of discipline in the background is covered up by the commander. Commanders being fair/equitable and respecting the rights of their subordinates is a sought-after and targeted issue in the TSK. History rewards heroes who perform their assigned duties properly and those who know the honor and dignity of the units under their command as their own honor and dignity and preserve it, just as it carries those who believe they have extraordinary talents and powers and act not according to regulations but with personal ambitions and delusions, and who persecute the members of the nation (their soldiers) and their state entrusted to them, to the place they deserve.”

Let’s see what the attitude of the Ministry of National Defense, which dismissed the lieutenants in one fell swoop, will be in the face of these accusations regarding a general!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 14, 2025