Army investigating pro-EU and pro-US elements

According to the memorandum, those favoring the EU and the United States think that relations with these countries are more valuable than Turkey’s domestic values. The memorandum also names all kinds of people — from religious minorities to those who consider themselves minorities, i.e., different ethnicities, high-society types, artists, Satanists, Masons, etc. — as "potential enemies" who are also to be followed and investigated. The other elements are there only to divert attention from the pro-EU and pro-U.S. individuals, but we all know that these pro-EU/pro-U.S. elements are the real targets.

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I also have another published memorandum that is much more innocent and that in this case was distributed by a sub-commander of the Gendarmerie Forces. The memorandum was drafted as a result of an order received from a higher commander and openly stipulates that a certain political periodical is to be read by all personnel, i.e., from privates on up to the top.

The periodical is very nationalist, and the cited and copied issue is full of articles in line with "protecting our rights in Cyprus on nationalist concerns" and articles disclosing the real face of the United States.

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Turkey is a country in which at least 70 percent of the population is in favor of EU membership, a country in which the military is considered to be the strongest ally of the United States — the army actually receives most of its arms and ammunition from the States. Turkey is also a country where the National Security Council (MGK) has advised that membership in the EU should be considered "state policy." It is always stressed by the chief of general staff that the military always acts with uniformity and that conflicting views cannot co-exist within its ranks.

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It is very obvious that these two memorandums are in conflict with both the official view of and the hierarchy within the army.

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The discussion surrounding EU membership is dividing the country into at least two main camps more strongly with each passing day. After the infamous March 1 parliamentary motion that, contrary to expectations, rejected a U.S. request to launch an assault on Iraq from Turkish soil, the country is also welcoming the new skeptics of the United States. The two camps are those for the protection of the status quo and the "closing" of the country to the world, and those in favor of Turkey’s integration into the new world order. This split is the most radical among the military and the civilian bureaucracy and the intellectuals. It becomes most tension filled when different views are reflected by the military. Those who are skeptical about both the EU and the US are becoming more and more radical as time passes, and, as these memorandums show, they don’t care much about legality and are more and more frequently referring to fascist methods.

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It is possible, in order to avoid revealing the arguments within itself, as if they had not already been revealed, that the chief of general staff may try to label the memorandums "local attempts." Nobody in the country is ready to swallow that kind of explanation, and I trust that such an attempt to minimize a very serious breaking of the law will only serve to encourage those who are open to disobeying the law. I want to believe that the chief of general staff will be much more careful in defining the "memorandum incident" than has been reflected in the media so far.