Cem Gürdeniz's response to Murat Bardakçı on 'landing craft'

Journalist Fatih Altaylı hosted historian Murat Bardakçı as a guest on his Teke Tek Bilim program, broadcast on his YouTube channel. A debate over "landing craft" took place during the program. Retired Rear Admiral Cem Gürdeniz responded on social media to Bardakçı, who had stated, "Turkey did not have landing craft until the 2000s."

Participating in the Teke Tek program, Bardakçı claimed that Turkey did not have landing craft until the 2000s. Bardakçı also argued that the Turkish military could not conduct a landing in Cyprus because it lacked landing craft. Bardakçı's remarks were widely debated on social media. Bardakçı said the following:

“Not everything is bad. Turkey currently has a military presence in over 30 countries; this is an important thing. Demirel told me, I heard it from Demirel himself. I asked why we couldn't land in Cyprus, and he said, ‘We didn't have landing craft at that time, that's all.’ When Şükrü Kaya was the Minister of the Interior; Atatürk's Interior Minister, he starts an Islands program. They have ships and such built, it is obstructed, the project is stopped. Years later, like 30 years later, Süleyman Demirel asks for landing craft, he can't get them built, even in the early 2000s, in that old Turkey you long for, they wouldn't even sell aluminum to the soldiers, what are you talking about, they were going to build ships. Old Turkey, don't ever romanticize the old Turkey.”

Retired Rear Admiral Cem Gürdeniz refuted Bardakçı in a response posted on his social media account. He explained that during the landing on July 20, 1974, marines landed in Kyrenia using domestically produced landing craft. Gürdeniz wrote the following:

“Let us remind those popular history enthusiasts who do not know our naval history: Our Landing Fleet has two components. Marines and landing craft. The 1963 Bloody Christmas served as the wake-up call for the Republican Navy in the establishment of the Landing Fleet.

The Johnson letter dated June 5, 1964, accelerated the need for an amphibious force. Despite NATO, the new center of gravity for the Navy became the Eastern Mediterranean. The Naval Forces began to form Marine units and established the nucleus of the first amphibious battalion in Gölcük. On the other hand, regarding shipbuilding, the Cumhuriyet newspaper invited the public to donate to the navy with the “The Nation builds” campaign on the front page of its May 2, 1965 issue.

Donations grew like an avalanche, fueled by the pain of the navy being unable to do anything to save our kinsmen in Cyprus, in order to build new landing craft. In the face of this magnificent interest and support from the public, the “Turkish Navy Association” was established on May 11, 1965, under the leadership of Naval Forces Commander Admiral Necdet Uran. The association initiated various landing craft (LCM, LCT, and LCU) construction projects at the Taşkızak and Gölcük Shipyards with public donations.

Between 1964 and 1965, 16 Ç 201-class LCUs and 20 Ç 301-class LCMs were built at the Gölcük and Taşkızak Shipyards. These ships, built entirely with national resources, landed armored units in Kyrenia around noon on July 20, 1974, and secured the beachhead. Without these ships and our amphibious regiment, marine battalions with tanks and armored vehicles could not have been landed on the shore. I salute everyone who contributed. I bow with respect before their cherished memories.”