As I reflect back when I was a 4th grader in an elementary school in a southern city of Turkiye when we had a c'oup d'etat by the Turkish Army. But this c'oup d'etat was not a fascist one, only to prevent the fascist rule of the government. I woud like to give some background of our republic. At the end of WW I, when the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany, we were defeated and invaded by the English, French, Italians, our army dispersed, arms confiscated, the docks etc. etc. everything taken away.
The British Empire used the Greeks to attack us promising to help them in any way. But they didn't or couldn't just after a major world war. Anyway we fought our Independence War under conditions so deplorable it was like a miracle how we won. But we had a great leader who was a great commander and a great politician. He formed the SECULAR Turkish Republic with one party in 1923. He made a lot of reforms, closing all the religous schools, giving women the right to vote and to be voted, disposed of the Halife (which means the heir to Prophet Mohammed- the Sultan was considered the Halife), changing the alphabet from Arabic into Latin etc. etc. When he died in 1938 WW II was about to begin.
His successor coming from the military and having fought wars, did not side with any nation in WW II and Turkiye did not fight the war although there was a lot of pressure from both sides to make us enter the war on their side. In 1946 we had another party, and they came to power in 1950. From then on they started to destroy every reform that had been made, drunk with the majority they had in the parliament. They were again chosen in 1954 but in 1957 they did a lot of tricks to win the election and they won again. The prime minister, drunk with his victory, is claimed to have said, " I can become the Sultan if I so desired." By then Turkiye was having trouble in finances, the government spending without regard to our budget etc. we had a very big devaluation (about 58 %) and for the first time we borrowed money from IMF and still do.
Protests began in the media, the students were protesting too. But they began to censor the newspapers. I remember seeing newspapes with blank places, censored writing were not printed and nothing else was printed in place either. Arrests of protestors and political opponents began. There was a big protest meeting in Ankara on the 5th of May, 1960. People informed one another of the meeting with the code 555 K (meaning on the 5th day of the 5th month at 5 o'clock pm in Kizilay) This was an illegal protest of course and the police shot a lot of people. Then on the 27th of May 1960 the Army arrested all the members of the parliament and the president. They were tried in military courts and 3 of them, the prime minister and 2 ministers were convicted to death. And next year normal political regime started again.
Turkiye has fought a lot of wars especially starting from 1912 (The Balkan wars) up till 1923 almost non-stop. We as a nation do not like to fight unless to defend our country and as Ataturk said "Peace at home, peace in the World."
As I draw parallels between USA and the Ottoman Empire or any other empire that stayed on the world stage, there will come a time when they will all decline and disentegrate but devastating the lives and livelihoods of a lot of their people and the peoples of the world in the process. The insatiable greed for power will make those leaders blind to some simple thruths which will make the ground on which they stand cave in. I also remember those films, documentaries and books about the WW II which have been shown or read by the US citizens too. But I presume it has not been enough because just after that war, the Cold War was on stage with more propaganda against it than fascism.
The situation of the world is extraordinary so it requires extraordinary measures from us all, the people who can see and analyze and draw conclusions. I think we are nearing a WW III where there will be no winners. We have a common border with Iran ( which has not been violated since 1699) and our longest border is with Syria in the south. Turkiye might be on their list next with their plan of reshaping the Middle East. A book published by two turkish authors, named The Metal Storm tells of such a scenario. Turkey has been tried to be divided into smaller parts by agents provacateurs of first the British, then many other nations. Divide and conquer. An investigative journalist Mr. Ugur Mumcu was assasinated just for that, telling the truth about the British, the petroleum companies and printing books.
A lot other intellectuals have been cleared by planting bombs in their cars or delivering bomb letters. Israel is buying land in Turkiye and Israeli mothers are giving birth to their children in Turkiye so that they will be considered citizens. I hope that there will be some powerful people who can put some sense into the minds of these mad men. But I do not have much hope, the escalating tension will explode someday. The law of physics - for every action there is a reaction. I don't want my life to be " A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury." quoted from Shakespeare. But I am a fighter; I will fight by trying to bring awareness to people, beginning by my family (which I am already doing) to friends, neighbors, taxi drivers or to people I don't know while waiting in line etc My son tells me someday you'll get into trouble. And if it comes to that, I am not afraid. Living in fear is what they want us to do, freezing in fear, being paralized and not being able to think soundly.
Living in an age where every word is being hollowed of its real meaning and a new vocabulary is being created, the masses being dozed with all kinds of opium, the fashion, sports games, soap operas, religion, fear of diseases,
financial problems. Ordinary men and women live in a man made dream where they are actually drowned in despair or ecstacy and are used as food. TIME TO WAKE UP !! WAKE UP OR GO TO SLEEP FOREVER !
Aurora
The British Empire used the Greeks to attack us promising to help them in any way. But they didn't or couldn't just after a major world war. Anyway we fought our Independence War under conditions so deplorable it was like a miracle how we won. But we had a great leader who was a great commander and a great politician. He formed the SECULAR Turkish Republic with one party in 1923. He made a lot of reforms, closing all the religous schools, giving women the right to vote and to be voted, disposed of the Halife (which means the heir to Prophet Mohammed- the Sultan was considered the Halife), changing the alphabet from Arabic into Latin etc. etc. When he died in 1938 WW II was about to begin.
His successor coming from the military and having fought wars, did not side with any nation in WW II and Turkiye did not fight the war although there was a lot of pressure from both sides to make us enter the war on their side. In 1946 we had another party, and they came to power in 1950. From then on they started to destroy every reform that had been made, drunk with the majority they had in the parliament. They were again chosen in 1954 but in 1957 they did a lot of tricks to win the election and they won again. The prime minister, drunk with his victory, is claimed to have said, " I can become the Sultan if I so desired." By then Turkiye was having trouble in finances, the government spending without regard to our budget etc. we had a very big devaluation (about 58 %) and for the first time we borrowed money from IMF and still do.
Protests began in the media, the students were protesting too. But they began to censor the newspapers. I remember seeing newspapes with blank places, censored writing were not printed and nothing else was printed in place either. Arrests of protestors and political opponents began. There was a big protest meeting in Ankara on the 5th of May, 1960. People informed one another of the meeting with the code 555 K (meaning on the 5th day of the 5th month at 5 o'clock pm in Kizilay) This was an illegal protest of course and the police shot a lot of people. Then on the 27th of May 1960 the Army arrested all the members of the parliament and the president. They were tried in military courts and 3 of them, the prime minister and 2 ministers were convicted to death. And next year normal political regime started again.
Turkiye has fought a lot of wars especially starting from 1912 (The Balkan wars) up till 1923 almost non-stop. We as a nation do not like to fight unless to defend our country and as Ataturk said "Peace at home, peace in the World."
As I draw parallels between USA and the Ottoman Empire or any other empire that stayed on the world stage, there will come a time when they will all decline and disentegrate but devastating the lives and livelihoods of a lot of their people and the peoples of the world in the process. The insatiable greed for power will make those leaders blind to some simple thruths which will make the ground on which they stand cave in. I also remember those films, documentaries and books about the WW II which have been shown or read by the US citizens too. But I presume it has not been enough because just after that war, the Cold War was on stage with more propaganda against it than fascism.
The situation of the world is extraordinary so it requires extraordinary measures from us all, the people who can see and analyze and draw conclusions. I think we are nearing a WW III where there will be no winners. We have a common border with Iran ( which has not been violated since 1699) and our longest border is with Syria in the south. Turkiye might be on their list next with their plan of reshaping the Middle East. A book published by two turkish authors, named The Metal Storm tells of such a scenario. Turkey has been tried to be divided into smaller parts by agents provacateurs of first the British, then many other nations. Divide and conquer. An investigative journalist Mr. Ugur Mumcu was assasinated just for that, telling the truth about the British, the petroleum companies and printing books.
A lot other intellectuals have been cleared by planting bombs in their cars or delivering bomb letters. Israel is buying land in Turkiye and Israeli mothers are giving birth to their children in Turkiye so that they will be considered citizens. I hope that there will be some powerful people who can put some sense into the minds of these mad men. But I do not have much hope, the escalating tension will explode someday. The law of physics - for every action there is a reaction. I don't want my life to be " A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury." quoted from Shakespeare. But I am a fighter; I will fight by trying to bring awareness to people, beginning by my family (which I am already doing) to friends, neighbors, taxi drivers or to people I don't know while waiting in line etc My son tells me someday you'll get into trouble. And if it comes to that, I am not afraid. Living in fear is what they want us to do, freezing in fear, being paralized and not being able to think soundly.
Living in an age where every word is being hollowed of its real meaning and a new vocabulary is being created, the masses being dozed with all kinds of opium, the fashion, sports games, soap operas, religion, fear of diseases,
financial problems. Ordinary men and women live in a man made dream where they are actually drowned in despair or ecstacy and are used as food. TIME TO WAKE UP !! WAKE UP OR GO TO SLEEP FOREVER !
Aurora
