Yusuf Kanlı

If after three full months the files regarding the Lighthouse Islamist charity fund sham in Germany could not be brought to Turkey and the masterminds of what the German judges described as the biggest ever charity swindling scandal in Germany could be brought before justice here, is it possible to talk in this country about an administration respecting and upholding justice? Did the Justice Ministry ask Germany through channels of diplomacy to send Turkey the entire Lighthouse scandal file or did the ministry just pretended as if it asked that file and sent by post a letter to the German Justice Ministry? Has that letter reached the German Justice Ministry?

Who were implicated in Turkey in the scandal, and what were the positions they occupy in Turkish bureaucracy and administration? If not only in that scandal but also in a housing cooperative sham the name of a senior bureaucrat was mentioned, is the government required to at least open an investigation against that bureaucrat? If the position of that bureaucrat specifically prohibits him of undertaking any administrative duty apart from his official position and apart from being implicated in those shameful scandals, if he is proved to have violated that restriction, should the prime ministry approve requests to prosecute that bureaucrat or order investigations against him be closed down?

Obviously developments regarding the Lighthouse scandal case testifies to the reluctance of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, to act on that issue. Why? Because what will be at stake might not be just the head of the Television High Board, or RTÜK, chairman but the very existence of the AKP as well. Why? Well, what if an investigation proves that some of the siphoned charity fund landed in the coffers of the AKP or somewhere at the Prime Ministry? Turkish laws say that Constitutional Court may close down a political party if it is proved that it received foreign financial assistance.

Or, what does it mean if the prosecutor of the so-called "Ergenekon terror gang" trial decides to ask some 37 questions to Tuncay Güney, the fake rabbi living in Canada on whose testimonies several years ago now constitutes the backbone of the Ergenekon trial, but somehow the questions of the prosecutor were sent to the Toronto residence of the brother of a reporter of the pro-government Yeni Şafak newspaper? Why the questions were sent to that address, furthermore, why did not the prosecutor send the questions through the Foreign Ministry channel?

Erdoğan the co-chairman
The prime minister was confessing yesterday that he was the co-chairman of the Wider Middle East Project of the outgoing Neo-cons in the United States. The premier was confessing that he knew that this project was aiming to "restructure" the entire Middle East. But, he agreed to undertake the duty of "co-chairman" of that project because he believed the project was aiming to bring peace to the Middle East, enhance individual freedoms in the region, improve rights and liberties of women.

So, what was Turkey’s role in this project as "co-chairman?" The prime minister apparently has no idea about what the Wider Middle East Project roles of Turkey or himself are other than he was the "co-chairman." Or, was he trying to hide from us that his duty as co-chairman was to create, strengthen and consolidate a "moderate Islamic Turkish republic" as a role model for the radical Islamic administrations elsewhere in the Muslim states of the region? Or, was the premier unaware that the aim of the project was to provide security of Israel?

Or, is it possible that the prime minister knows well all these and that is why he was so angered with the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip bordering genocide feeling that as a co-chairman of the project he was betrayed? If so, since he did not sign any document and formally undertaken such a responsibility why not the prime minister just declare that he has given up the duty of co-chairman of the project?

To what extent, on the other hand, the current Ergenekon case in Turkey is related with the Wider Middle East Project? Or, is the Ergenekon a criminal case, a revanchist move of the AKP or part of a wider campaign of killing a nationalist, Kemalist, secular political opposition in Turkey obstructing advance of political Islam?

The self-proclaimed rabbi Tuncay Güney was talking on the telephone to a TV channel from Canada. He was suggesting that Hürriyet’s editor in chief, Ertuğrul Özkök, must be taken under detention and interrogated by the prosecutors in connection with the so-called "Ergenekon terror gang" probe, because it was he who first revealed to retired General Veli Küçük, one of the "bosses" of the "gang" that the man known as Mehmet Özbay was indeed the notorious underground leader Abdullah Çatlı, (who died in the Susurluk accident in 1996).

As the entire Ergenekon probe was based on what he allegedly testified to police years ago, what Güney said might be an indication of what might be in store in the coming weeks and months, I was thinking when I came across with an interview in the "Taraf" newspaper with Mahmut Övür, a columnist of Sabah, one of the pro-government newspapers. Övür was hinting in the interview who might be taken in by the police in the next roundup of the Ergenekon saga. Övür, like many other columnists and journalists serving in the pro-government and Islamist media, has proved to be an important informant, some sort of a fortune teller, regarding who might be rounded up by police at orders of the Ergenekon case prosecutors. For example, just before the latest 10th round of detentions, ambushes on houses and offices, Övür wrote an article asking where former Istanbul Mayor Bedrettin Dalan was. Dalan was in the United States for the past two months and he escaped being detained, but now he is on the wanted list of the prosecutor. His son and some executives of the university of the foundation he established were interrogated but freed by the prosecutors.In the interview with Taraf, Övür accepted that he knew or at least "estimated" that an operation was underway. He claimed that an in-between-the-lines read of the Ergenekon indictment would reveal that Dalan was a leading civilian leader of the Ergenekon gang. But, who would be in the list of names to be rounded up in the next wave of the Ergenekon probe? As Övür has an idea about all aspects of the trial and can indeed forecast what might be in the pipeline, what was his assessment?Next target: Post 1993 politicians, media As I would subscribe as well (not that I know anything but rather because the evolution of Ergenekon indicates so) Övür was of the idea that in the next wave of Ergenekon probe at the bulls-eye will be the politicians who served at important posts in the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s. Perhaps Övür was referring to those politicians who served in the country after Süleyman Demirel became president in 1993... Övür did not say whether there was a woman prime minister and her husband in that list of politicians, but no one would be surprised to see them in such a list as the Special Operations Department in the police was established at the orders of that female premier and the arms missing since then were claimed to have been "imported" with her permission from Israel. Furthermore, Övür was saying that as part of that "imminent" wave of Ergenekon detentions, some people from the media would be rounded up as well. Övür was not giving a number of media people who might be rounded up in that "imminent" operation, but including a senior publisher some 100 people might be take in according to speculations in the pro-government media over the past week.As neither Fehmi Koru of Yeni Şafak or Şamil Tayyar of Star newspaper, the reliable fortune tellers regarding the Ergenekon probe developments, did not write yet about the new wave of Ergenekon detentions, perhaps there is still some time before the 11th wave of detentions get underway.Former top commander might be targeted But, Övür has an idea about even the 12th wave of Ergenekon. According to him, the 12th wave will as well be on the military or to put it more precisely will be against some retired generals. According to Övür including a former chief of general staff several generals might be taken in within that 12th wave.Though the premier and his penslingers in the media are denying that Ergenekon probe is a revanchist campaign, apparently there is frustration among the political Islam cadres of the failure to see the commanders of the Feb. 28 process period were taken in and punished.

To what extent was it appropriate for a justice minister to describe as "Turkey cleansing its intestines" an operation said to be aimed at routing a group, apparently a rather large one, of criminals who were engaged in a gang activity and even established a "terrorist gang" aimed at stirring up social unrest, chaos and anarchy and plot the Turkish Armed Forces to overthrow the elected, yet condemned by the high court of being a focus of anti-secular activities, government of the country? Or, to what extent it was appropriate for Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin who over the past six years earned respect of even his political opponents with his gentlemanly attitude, quality in political conduct to describe a judicial process as Turkey emptying its intestines?

Right, many people were shocked when Şahin, the first-ever justice minister of the country who publicly apologized for the death by torture of a citizen at a police station and a detention center came up a few days later with a rather antagonistic explanation of why he approved continuation of prosecution of a father on grounds that he intimidated the Turkish state when he cried in pain "The state killed my son!" and complained of the shooting and killing of his young son who did not heed police order to stop in İzmir. He must have understood the pain of a father whose son was killed by police bullets just because he was drunk and tried to escape the traffic police. As a father he must have thought of the pain that farther was suffering when he cried "Murderer state" rather than ordering a trial against the farther under the contentious Article 301 of the Penal Code regulating punishment of insult to the nation and the state. That was the first negative mark that Şahin received as a justice minister. But, still, even that failure of Şahin could be considered a petty crime compared to what he has said about the so-called Ergenekon trial: "Turkey is defecating. Turkey will continue cleaning its intestines."

Someone must remind the justice minister of the country. Even if we are to put aside international norms of justice, under the current constitution and laws of this country no one can be considered guilty until a court sentences her or him. Being detained, accused or even indicted by a prosecutor does not and should not be taken as verification that a person indeed is guilty of a crime. As a lawyer by profession, Şahin must know this principle well better than anyone else. Rather than engaging in such degrading attitude, the minister must have focused on the gross violation of justice and existing laws of the country with the way the Ergenekon probe is being conducted. While detention is an exemption in Turkish laws the Ergenekon prosecutor is ordering detention of people and raid on their homes and offices. What’s being done is no less than "fire and then aim" joke.

Justice is needed by everyone
No government can stay in office forever. A day may come when today’s powerful people will need justice as well. It has become a routine in Turkey. No ruling party executive or local administrator can be prosecuted of corruption as long as the party stays in government. But once a political group loses elections evidences of corruption at government offices as well as municipalities which could not be investigated until that day are exposed all of a sudden.

What about the illegal villas constructed on a deforested area in Istanbul that were being issued permission well after the construction was completed? What about the special decrease in VAT rate for maze imports or the production of liquid eggs? Was it a coincidence that the son of a minister was the sole importer of maze during that period? Was it a coincidence that the son of the same minister was the sole liquid egg producer? What about the privatization deals negotiated in the middle of night behind some closed doors tough a former prime minister was prosecuted with the same charge just recently? Companies of the sons and daughters of the president, the prime minister, ministers, executives of the ruling party were all of course operating in full conformity with laws. They have no wrongdoing. Are you sure?

When that day comes the executives of that time, particularly the justice minister, hopefully will not use such an inappropriate term in describing the probe against corruption, nepotism, misuse of office and such crimes during the AKP rule.

Were they the arms and ammunition missing since the Susurluk trial? Was it an arms cache of the so-called "Ergenekon terror gang" or was this cache "discovered" two days after the latest wave of Ergenekon detentions and house and office searches to stifle those who complained of seeing signs of a "political vendetta" by political Islamists against the secular modern republic? Why were those weapons and ammunition buried there? Were they the arms of a "gang" aimed at toppling the government, or what were they? The cache was found buried at a forested area at the Gölbaşı district of Ankara. A sketch found during the search at the home of İbrahim Şahin, the former deputy chief of the police department’s "Special Operations" squad was instrumental in the discovery of the cache.

Şahin, who was detained in this week’s tenth wave of Ergenekon operation, was tried and sentenced to six years in jail in the 1996 Susurluk scandal, in which links between underground elements, politicians, and bureaucrats were established for the first time. During the Susurluk probe of 1996 the arms imported from Israel to equip the police special forces headed by Şahin could not be found and according to the court testimonies "were sent to a country" the name of which was not disclosed for "national security reasons."

Were the shoulder missile launchers, UZI submachine guns, Glock and Baretta pistols, TNT molds and plastic explosives and other ammunition found at Gölbaşı and at the searches earlier this week at Şahin’s Ankara and Istanbul homes indeed part of those missing arms? If so, can we assume that other missing guns that were imported from Israel by a private company and donated to Police Special Operations squad headed by Şahin could finally be traced as well?

The discovered Gölbaşı arms cache is definitely very important. Though according to reports the serial and production codes on the arms and ammunition discovered were "professionally wiped out" let us hope that examinations will establish in which crimes these arms were used and shed light on at least some of the unsolved murder cases of the Susurluk period.But, could discovery of these arms and ammunition be considered as evidence of a link between the Susurluk gang and those detained or being accused in the Ergenekon probe? Or, are those who have been skeptical about the motives behind the Ergenekon probe and who consider it some sort of exploitation of a criminal gang activity by including in it hard core opponents in a revanchist campaign wrong all the way down?

Ergenekon, a cocktail
The way this probe is being conducted, the 2,500-page-long indictment based mostly on wishy-washy claims, telephone conversations, unverified claims but almost no hard evidence and the humiliating attitude of the police in searching houses and offices and in detaining people, servicing testimonies that ought to be kept confidential from pro-government media and in a way subjecting the accused and yet to be accused to summary execution on the front pages and on TV bulletins of the pro-government media, all indicate that there is a political motivation in this probe. That is why many people are complaining of a "fear empire" buildup in the country.

Some liberal and Islamist media outlets have been contending that what Turkey was probing was a coup plot against the government and a "coup organization" would of course have senior and well-respected bureaucracy, academics as well as active and retired military figures because if successful the "coup team" would become the new administration of the country. Naturally, there is logic in that. However, somehow it was neglected that a coup can only be undertaken by the armed elements within the state, not by retired generals and some geriatric professors with the help of some underground figures. Furthermore, is it reasonable to accuse people and then try to concoct evidence against them by searching their houses and offices? Is it reasonable to keep people under detention for six month, one year or even for a longer period without producing an indictment and officially charging them while according to procedures of trial detention is an exceptional measure.

What will happen if most of those accused under Ergenekon are eventually freed by the court because of lack of hard evidence against them? How they will be compensated?

"First they came" is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892 to 1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. More than half a century on, a controversy is still continuing on the origin of the writer of the "First they came" poem. Some claim that it was written by Bertolt Brecht, some say Milton Mayer reported it first in his famous 1955 book "They Thought They Were Free," based on interviews he conducted in Germany. Many believe the sentiments expressed in the poem could be traced to speeches given by Pastor Martin Niemöller in 1946.

There is a controversy as well regarding the wording of the poem, both in terms of its provenance, and the substance and order of the groups that are mentioned in its many versions. Of the various versions of the poem, I would like to present here the version that I like most:

First they came
When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,

and by that time

there was no one left to speak out.

Ergenekon’s 10th wave!
Compared to the previous nine waves, the 10th wave of detentions and house searches Wednesday within the framework of the so-called "Ergenekon terrorist gang probe" was perhaps the strongest and most papers said it was like a tsunami.

Although at the July 1 wave, two retired full generals were detained, in this latest wave two retired full generals, one retired lieutenant general, nine active senior officers, scores of professors were detained and, for the first time ever in the history of modern Turkish Republic, the residence of a former chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals was raidedÉ It was indeed a tsunami.

What’s happening now appears to many people some sort of a re-enactment of the notorious parliamentary interrogation commission practice applied by the former Democrat Party, or the DP, to scare and silence the opposition. It is obvious that Turkey is sailing full steam toward a crisis.

The people detained or their houses were searched Wednesday have nothing in common except their strong commitment to secular modern democratic republic and they are all known as staunch patriots and die-hard opponents of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

You might be next
Seeing police at your doorstep must be a very strange feeling... Particularly if you are not officially charged with anything and the police detaining you have no idea why they have ambushed your house or officeÉ It must be a very difficult momentÉ Scary, is it not?

It has become crystal clear that the Ergenekon trial is not a judicial case. We are very much worried that what we have now seems to be a political vendetta of the AKP against its opponents and in that campaign the Islamist Gülen brotherhood organization within the judiciary is being used as a tool.

Reactions of the society to the shocking detentions demonstrate as well that such worries are shared by the Turkish public. We are very much worried as well with the continued silence of the military regarding the detention of three more generals and scores of active officers.

Including those who have been so critical in the past of the top generals talking on domestic political developments are now suffering labor pains to learn what the generals think of the latest detentions but the military is dead silent on the issue. This is not at all a promising sign.

The drift toward crisis was accelerated with the latest detentions.

Knock Knock Knock. It was neither the milkman, nor the postman knocking on the doors of dozens of people in what appeared to be a police operation launched simultaneously in six provinces, including the three biggest cities Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir as part of a country-wide investigation ordered by an Istanbul court into a purported plot to topple the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government. But, unlike the previous detention waves that were carried out within the framework of the "Ergenekon" investigation this time there was no midnight ambush on residences and offices of the people taken under detention. Police knocked on the doors of around 40 people including two retired four-star generals, one of them a former National Security Council, or MGK, secretary-general, several active but junior officers, a former Court of Appeals chief prosecutor, a former president of the Higher Education Council, or YÖK, and a leading socialist professor who have been boasting to have been one of the leaders of the student unrest of the 1950s that resulted with the first-ever military takeover of the republican political history.

The so-called "Ergenekon" investigation, that has been hailed by pro-government circles, supporters of political Islam in the country and some neo-liberals as an unprecedented step to combat rogue elements of the state intervening illegally in national politics while condemned by secularists, patriots and Kemalists as a revanchist campaign of the AKP aimed at silencing and pacifying its political opponents, has been continuing on well over 19 months and some 86 defendants are facing court since October for alleged membership in Ergenekon and plotting to topple the ruling AKP government while indictment against scores of other detained defendants, including two former four-star generals, is still pending.

Revenge of Feb. 28?
Jubilation was noticeable in the broadcasts of the pro-government liberal and Islamist TV stations as the latest wave of detentions within the scope of the Ergenekon probe appeared to be a revenge to a 1997 "post-modern coup" or the so-called "Feb. 28 process" that forced out the first-ever Islamist-led government of the country headed by Necmettin Erbakan. The Feb. 28 process not only forced Erbakan to step down from the prime ministry but subsequently his Welfare Party, or RP, was closed down by the Constitutional Court on grounds of failing to conform to the secularism principle of the modern Turkish republic. After RP’s closure political Islam established the Fazilet (Virtue) Party, or FP, which was also closed by the Constitutional Court again for violating the secularism principle. The Feb. 28 process and the closure of the RP and then the FP, led to a split in the political Islam movement in the country with the so-called "reformist wing" establishing today’s AKP and the conservatives loyal to Erbakan forming the Saadet (Felicity) Party, or SP.

Fact or fiction?
It is clear that something strange is happening in Turkey for the past 19 months. Is this process really a hunt for some rogue elements of the state who have made it a habit to intervene in politics, or is this a plot aimed at silencing and pacifying the opposition against the Islamist AKP governance in the country or is it a move aimed at tarnishing the "most trusted state element" status still enjoyed by the Turkish military? Or, as many opponents claim, is this a plot within the Wider Middle East Plan of Washington that considers Turkish patriotism as an obstruction to converting Turkey into an exemplary "moderate Islamic nation" model against radical Islam? Or, are these irrational detentions part of a plot to provoke the Turkish military, undertake yet another intervention in politics and kill the already dim European Union prospects of the country all together.

While it is obvious that there might be some real criminals among the people detained over the past 19 months, it is a fact as well that the detained people is a composition who do not have almost anything in common other than being patriots and strong opponents of the AKP. What is crystal clear, at least to this writer, is that the entire Egenekon case reflects a power struggle between the political Islam or the AKP and the secularist modern Turkish republic. The eventual outcome will define whether Turkey will continue tilting toward becoming an autocratic but sui-generis Muslim country, or a modern republic anchored to the West.

It was 1951. The Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party, or DP, was the prime minister of the country for about a year after decades of single party rule of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, came to an end. Not only Turkey moved on pluralistic democracy with the 1950 elections, that year as part of a general amnesty saw as well the release from prison of Nazım Hikmet Ran, the communist poet who wrote "The Epic of the Liberation War," the best-ever epic on the Turkish War of Liberation. Nazim was in prison since 1938, coincidentally also the death year of modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Nazım was serving a 28.4 years imprisonment on conviction that he had incited the military to revolt.

Nazım was 48-years-old when he was discharged from prison. He was still facing charges that he was a member of the then banned Communist Party. As is now, there was conscription practice in the country and military service was a duty for all male Turks. At the age of 48, Nazım was asked to join the military. His health not suitable for conscription, bored with the judicial investigations against him under the notorious articles 141 and 142 of the former Penal Code which regulated penalties against both communist or fascist propaganda and attempts to change the democratic order in the country with a communist or fascist dictatorship, Nazım left the country secretly for a self-imposed exile in the Soviet Union.The Council of Ministers, meeting under the chairmanship of late Premier Adnan Menderes on July 25, 1951 decided to strip Nazım of his Turkish citizenship.

Forty-five years have passed since that decision of the Turkish Cabinet. Several governments have served in the country. Many of them were coalitions in which social democrats were senior partners. Still, no one ever thought that Nazım could be given back his citizenship the way he was stripped of citizenship: With a Council of Ministers decision annulling the 1951 decision. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government said there was no need to legislate a new law and give back Nazım his citizenship. The government said it was odd to think that only with the individual’s application citizenship could be given back and since Nazım was long dead his citizenship could not be restored. If the cabinet decision that stripped him of citizenship is annulled, Nazım’s citizenship would be automatically restored. That was what the government did. A disgrace to the biggest master of Turkish language, to a poet who described best the War of Liberation, a man who proved his love for this country and nation with his volumes of poetry every line of which were smelling a strong longing for the homeland he was deprived of came to an end 45 years after his death.

For this simple, but great achievement, we have to express our gratitude to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who ordered Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay to "find a way and finish off this problem," and to Günay, who worked out the formula of annulling the first cabinet decision. Otherwise, if the established procedure was to be applied and since Nazım would not raise from grave to sign a petition to request his citizenship be restored, this problem would never ever be solved and the disgrace would continue forever.

Bringing back Nazım
It was the will of Nazım. He wrote that he wanted to be buried in Turkey, at a village, under an oak tree. He did not say he wanted to be buried at a "prestigious" grave in Moscow. Culture Minister Günay is now saying that the government is decided to undertake whatever possible to arrange the return of Nazım’s remains to Turkey and buried at a village cemetery under an oak tree as he had stressed in his will. Should we really? According to Murat Germen, the grandson of Nazım’s sister, Samiye Yaltırım, remains of Nazım should not be brought to Turkey and he should be allowed to rest in his Moscow grave, though a symbolic grave could be built for him at a place considered appropriate by the government. As for this moment, we have no idea what Nazım’s son, Mehmet thinks on the issue.

However, the will of Nazım must be respected and the great poet must be reburied at a village cemetery, under an oak tree in Turkey and perhaps through an agreement between the two governments the Moscow grave might be maintained as the "First Burial Site of Great Turkish Poet Nazım." We owe this to Nazım.

Letters are pouring in from readers in the United States and Israel. Some are sharing the grief and indignation in the Turkish society that are being reflected to a certain extend to pages of newspapers and their online editions, some are accusing the Turkish media of having a biased pro-Hamas approach to the developments.

These readers are accusing the Turkish media of forgetting that Hamas was no different than the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, terrorist group and stressing that Israel has the legitimate right to undertake measures aimed at stopping continued Hamas shelling at Israeli settlements. Israel cannot be denied of the right to defend itself and its citizens, these letters underline. Indeed, these letters were not saying much different than the official Israeli statements trying to provide legitimacy to the inhumane and indiscriminate attacks on Gaza which definitely cannot be explained with a "act of self defense" explanation.

Gaza Strip is an enclave. Palestinian civilians have no place to go. Israel is attacking with sophisticated warfare and there are claims that it is using weapons banned by international conventions as well. The United States is blocking the U.N. Security Council from adopting a ceasefire resolution, and thus have become an accomplice of Israel in the crime against humanity being committed in Gaza. Israel is not after peace and co-habitation of the Israeli and the Palestinian state side by side, but rather to consolidate Jewish aspirations by shedding Palestinian blood, to devastate the legitimate right of resistance of the Palestinian people; by confining Palestinians to ghettos and making them accept to live under Israeli mercy.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, but Israel must understand that its gross violation of human rights and the American obstructions against a ceasefire resolution at the Security Council are providing legitimacy to Hamas not only in Gaza, but across the Muslim world and deepening prospects of a conflict of civilizations. Whereas, an honest peace between Israel and Palestinians could be an asset for global peace.

Turkey’s failure As we reported in this column back on Dec. 30, the Israeli air and land operation on Gaza Strip should not have been a surprise, at least for the Turkish government, because at the beginning of December, Israel contacted Ankara and urged its good offices to convince Hamas to extend the ceasefire. Turkish officials did not believe that while the Israeli blockade of Gaza continued Hamas would not agree to extend the truce and thus Ankara balked undertaking such a role at the time.