Not In Words But Also In Essence

BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA
SABAH- There is only one comment to be made about the press conference held by Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit yesterday, that is, he gave his message in a kind and witty way, without violating the law. He mentioned the people from whom he thinks differently not only in words, but also in essence and he did it clearly, but without giving names. He spoke about the points that he doesn't agree with the government on such issues as presidential elections, the mass meeting to be held for Republic tomorrow, rumors of coup d'état, operation against Iraq and relations with the European Union and the US. Let's start from presidential elections. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc have been saying for many days the Constitution states who can be elected the president. Meanwhile, Gen. Buyukanit said that the person to be elected the president `would also be the chief commander of the general staff,' adding, `Of course we know the legislation, Constitution, law and the way of electing the president. As a citizen and a member of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), we hope that the person who has the basic values of the Republic not in words, but in essence will be elected the president.' Thus, Gen. Buyukanit meant that this issue wouldn't be limited to certain articles of the Constitution on the duty and power of the president and showed that they don't want a person who is suspected to have `adopted them in essence' to become the president, even if he has these characteristics.

As usual, while I was making evaluations with my colleagues at the end of the press conference, we all agreed that this message was sent to Mr. Erdogan. However, these two views were dominating the meaning of message. Some said that he wanted to tell Mr. Erdogan not to stand as candidate, otherwise there would be problems between you, as the chief commander, and the army. Some others said that he meant that Mr. Erdogan can stand as candidate and when he moves to Presidential Palace, we can see if you comply with basic principles or not. Gen. Buyukanit had also other disagreements with the government and Mr. Arinc. For example, he criticized the rumors on an `initiative of coup d'état' which was claimed to have been written by former Sea Forces Commander Ozden Ornek on his diary. He even denied that this initiative also took place on general staff's archives. In this respect, he didn't agree with Mr. Arinc, who warned that the mass meeting to be held tomorrow for the Republic was organized by the Kemalist Thought Association, but there are certain allegations that Sener Eruygur Pasha is leading it and there would be the coup d'état. He said that certain domestic and foreign centers have been trying to deteriorate the TSK since 2003. It was seen that Gen. Buyukanit was thinking differently about Kurdish leaders from northern Iraq and the issue of cross-border operation against Iraq. He explained the reasons why they have waited for such a long period of time to respond to attacks against them. However, following lines from Ataturk, whose photograph was hung on the wall of Orbay Hall, where the press conference was held: `Doing something timelessly means failure. Everything should be done on time'.