BY SUKRU KUCUKSAHIN
HURRIYET- My first long meeting with Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug took place back when he was land forces commander. His intellectual capacity, his knowledge of scholarship, and his calm were very evident. But after the terrorist attack against the Aktutun outpost last October, I was surprised by the how strong his remarks were.
When I heard his speech this week at the War Academy, again I saw an intellectual Basbug when he told those who defend the West and the European Union in terms of the military's role that he was speaking in reference to Western scholars. The content of his speech has been thoroughly analyzed, so today I'll mostly focus on his style.
But first, let's discuss his use of the phrase 'Turkish nation.' Basbug used the same phrase during a press conference back in 2004 when he was deputy chief of General Staff, but it was little noticed. It's very natural that repeating these words as chief of General Staff created a stir, but I'd like to highlight the consistency and determination in Basbug's way of thinking. In general, Basbug's speech didn't engage in sloganeering, but he made proper determinations which call for support. But he made certain statements which one expects to hear from a president, so he didn't dispel a certain contradiction.
The volume of his voice during certain sentences (for example, the parts about Turkey's unitary structure, efforts to smear the army, and the relation between the army and religion), some special stress on certain words (for example, the nation-state), expressions which appeared as anger rather than sadness (for example, the failure to protect dead soldiers), and asking the audience 'how can you explain this?' instead of 'how can it be explained?' created these impressions.
When he stressed his determination, he touched the table with his hands. In addition, he was very sad and emotional when he said that terrorists are also people. He laced his fingers together when he spoke of 'common values.' These were all very successful moves. Now we'll wait for his press conference next week. Basbug didn't meet the political expectations of some people at the War Academy. I think and hope that he'll show the same stance next week as well, because after saying that the National Security Council (NSC) is fulfilling its responsibilities, he said that every member of the NSC is equal. I'm sure people wouldn't find a soldier speaking on that basis as odd, but would support him."