Another lieutenant who said 'We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers' files a lawsuit!

Lieutenants who were dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for crossing swords and reciting the Officer's Oath by saying "We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers" following the official program at the Military Academy's August 30 graduation ceremony have launched a legal battle.

In this context, Batuhan Gazi Kılıç, one of the dismissed lieutenants, filed a lawsuit with the Istanbul Administrative Court on duty for the cancellation of the Land Forces Command High Disciplinary Board's decision. Kılıç argued that the decision was unjust and unlawful, and initiated a legal process to return to the TSK.

Lieutenant Serhat Gündar, who was previously dismissed for the same reason, had also applied to the Administrative Court in a similar manner. The lawsuits filed by Gündar and Kılıç have led to assessments that other lieutenants dismissed from the TSK may also initiate similar legal processes.

According to the report in Nefes; the lawsuit petition, which states that the High Disciplinary Board (YDK) decision is unlawful, included the following views:

“The member of the board with the longest military experience at the rank of Lieutenant General (Tevfik Algan), the only legal expert member, the Head of Legal Services, and the Branch Manager who has reviewed the most similar files also voted against the dismissals. The decision was taken by only a one-vote majority.

The disciplinary investigation committee interfered with the client's statements, and prohibited interrogation methods were used. The fact that personnel of very high rank, such as generals, colonels, and lieutenant colonels, were assigned to the Investigation Committee according to the client's rank, and the attitude of 'it didn't happen like that, did you say it like this, let's write it like this' in an environment where lawyers were not present for witnesses and those under investigation, violated the right to defense.

This violation reached such a degree that prohibited interrogation methods were even used, such as showing an interrogation transcript and saying, 'Lieutenant Ebru said she planned it in advance, just accept it now' or 'Lieutenant İzzet said he planned it in advance, just accept it now.'

It is not possible to accept the words 'We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers' as a protest action, as argued in the YDK decision. 90 percent of society is of the opinion that the reputation of the State and the TSK was not damaged by the lieutenants' action.

The dismissed lieutenants could not believe that after a celebration carried out with innocent feelings, they were labeled as coup-plotting lieutenants, junta-member lieutenants, those who drew swords against the government, and undisciplined lieutenants, and were accused of things that never crossed their minds.”