Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RWISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
nation will probably never forgive them ... that it is the families of draft dodgers who should be sorry for the
those who should really be sorry for what is situation.
happening are the families of the people who As result of Serdar Gürefs own attempts at dodging military
will do anything to avoid military service and
'The thereby have lost their principal values."
service, reaction has now rightfully targeted Gen. Güre~. "First
send your son, Pasha," was how the headline of a Turkish newspaper
read on Dec. 6.
These words came in early December from the spokesman of Serdar Güre~ is less known by the foreign community than he
Turkey's Chief of Staff, who promised to the Turkish nation that is by the Turkish public - and èspecially by those readers who
all draft dodgers would certainly be punished "the way they closely follow scandal magazines. His name is associated with
deserve, and willlive with this disgrace for the rest of their lives." television serials, where he was readily given a job, and with
Col. Dogu SilahçlOglu's statement, quoted by the Anatolia some gang fights. Once there was a report that, at the head of a
news agency, was but part of Ankara's overall drive for military group of soldiers, this young draft dodger had exhibited his powers
of command byraiding a night club where he had had an
recruitment, which is partly an attempt to cope with terrorism. It
also reflected the irony which lies behind the Turkish system. argument.
President Süleyman Demirel, for instance, was a draft dodger Most of all, however, Serdar Güre~ is now a symbol in the
until the age of 31 and did his military service only after the 1960 Turkish press of how crooked the system is. As thousands of
military coup.
young and patriotic children were giving their lives for their
I myself was a draft dodger until1985 when I was dragged into country over the past years, Güre~ has been having the time of his
military service.
life.
And I have known many other draft dodgers over the past
Acting, using parental influence to go about his business, having
fun and avoiding military service.
jecade, mainly people who have families and jobs and are afraid
)f losing both while serving compulsory military service on an
Now we learn from an Istanbul press conference that Serdar
incredibly low wage.
was not even a student, as he had
According to the Defence Minister,
claimed to be for over the past four
1 total of 250 thousand people in
Turkey - where the army numbers
around 500 thousand - are draft
jodgers. He too accepts that a majority
of these are from the troubled
Southeast region.
This week, when two Turkish television
journalists attempted to cover
the issue and showed footage of interviews
with draft dodgers, they were
arrested. A military court is now to
"The question now is why
Serdar, or any other
children, can have this
kind of immunity, while
those without influential
parents have to go and
fight -- and die-- for their
country. And how/ar.those
who
keep on talking of courage
and heroism will tolerate this."
char~e them with encouraging draft
evasIOn.
This alone shows how sensitive
Turkey has become on this issue. And
to what extent the issue can be freely
debated without ending up in trouble.
In the words of one security officer,
draft dodging appears to have become
part of the Turkish culture and its roots
should not only be sought in separatist
violence. Nor is it news that a majority
of the children of the rich do not serve
in the troubled Southeast region.
In the words of a police officer at Istanbul's international airport,
"We never see anyone dressed properly heading there.
Always the soldiers going to the region are children of the poor or
the middle class."
Indeed, the system itself has adapted to the conditions over the
years. Many officials have exercised their political influence to
"help" relatives and friends, basing them in other and safer parts
of the country.
As a result, it can be seen that many of the Turkish "heroes
who have earned the respect of the nation" in that region, as it
was expressed by Col. SilahçlOglu, are actually middle class or
peasant children, mainly from the Black Sea region. Another side
of the coin is obviously those who have so much influence on the
overall system that they have managed to avoid military service
altogether - turning draft dodging into a sort of profession.
The real irony which has surfaced in the recent months, though,
is the fact that as Turkey's military command searches for these
potential recruits under a new policy, the most senior commander
of the Turkish armed forces is failing to see that the rules are
kept. Recent reports imply that Gen. Güre~ has no say even over
his own son, while officers from his department are saying openly
years. Is the Güre~ family so divided
that the Pasha father did not know of
this? Or is a son too valuable to
serve the country?
On Tuesday, a group of teachers
from the State Conservatory held a
press conference which they referred
to as "informing on a crime," and
declared that Güre~ forced his way
into the school in 1988 with the
assistance of an officer and his
father' s aide-de-camp. In other
words, they were "ordered" to
accept him. And their story continues:
Serdar gtadually started to prop
olll of dasse:i and by the end of the
firs't year, failed because he had not
attended enough. In 1990, when he
did not attend classes again he was
about to fail but an exception was
made and he.stayed. At one point, he
was elevated from the second class
to the fourth, and so on.
The issue was so controversial that, angered by Serdar's immunity,
one of his lecturers even resigned in protest. The general
view among his teachers is that the son ofTurkey's Chief of Staff
has used his school registration only to dodge military service. 'In
other words, he is among the 250 thousand who, according to
Col. Dogu SilahçlOglu, "will probably never be forgiven by the
nation." t
How much ofthis Gen. Güre~ knows, and how far his influence
over Serdar extends, is not quite clear, but looking at what
Serdar's teachers are saying, it appears that he is fully aware of
what is going on.
The question is why Serdar, or any other children, can have this
kind of immunity, while those without influential parents have to
go and fight -and die- for their country. And how far those
who keep on talking of courage and heroism will tolerate this.
Serdar, we've all done our military service and served this
country. Now we are waiting for you to make your own decision
to do the same. Otherwise what we are being told about determination,
combat, and the great values which some institutions represent,
won't have any meaning, will it?
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