Celal Şengör's response to Erdoğan on 'lieutenants': 'He should have been proud'
Prof. Dr. Celal Şengör, regarding President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks targeting lieutenants over their sword-swearing ceremony, stated, "Clashing swords is a tradition. Our lieutenants symbolically draw their swords against the enemy at the beginning of their professional lives."
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Journalist Fatih Altaylı shared Prof. Dr. Celal Şengör's remarks on the controversial swearing-in ceremony of the lieutenants in his column today.
'HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD OF IT'
According to Altaylı, Şengör, who sent two photographs from Air Force Academy graduation ceremonies, noted the following:
"Clashing swords is a tradition, not a lack of discipline. The President asked against whom those swords are drawn. Let me provide the answer: Our lieutenants symbolically draw their swords against the enemy at the beginning of their professional lives. It is unnecessary to take offense at this symbolic act or to ask against whom they drew them. Instead of seeing a problem in this scene, the President should have been proud of it. His latest statement truly saddened me."
WHAT HAPPENED?
Following the Military Academy graduation ceremony attended by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the lieutenants gathered in the middle of the field where the ceremony was held, drew their swords, and read an oath after chanting the slogan, "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal." The debate began after footage of the lieutenants spread on social media.