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Firsts at YAŞ
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The Supreme Military Council, or YAŞ, met throughout Tuesday and in the evening hours it was announced that:
a) the regional situation was evaluated; b) the preparedness for war of the Turkish Armed Forces was examined and within that framework the requirements that have emerged and measures to be taken to meet those requirements were identified; c) within the domestic security overview, threats, risks and measures to be taken were discussed; d) and a total of 24 military personnel Ğ 19 of them because of drug addiction and of having immoral relations and five of them because of fundamentalist actions and behavior Ğ were sacked by a majority vote as their actions fell contrary to the fundamental structure of the Armed Forces and could upset military discipline.
That was what more or less the statement issued late Tuesday evening. How should it be interpreted? First of all, with the stress that the expulsion decision was adopted by a "majority vote" it has to be understood that there was no surprise and both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül maintained their objection to the YAŞ expulsions and placed reservations. YAŞ decisions are final and cannot be appealed. Indeed, ever since the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power, the prime minister and the defense minister have been objecting to YAŞ expulsions on grounds that dismissals could not be appealed, while the military has been categorically objecting to government demands to grant appeal rights to those dismissed, saying such a move would upset discipline and the command chain in the military. As regards the "firsts" at the YAŞ meeting, the first one was of course the fact that this was the first YAŞ meeting of new top general İlker Başbuğ. The second very important and unprecedented aspect was in the sentence that 19 personnel were sacked because of drug addiction and of having developed immoral relations. This was the first-ever time that the military has sacked any of its personnel citing drug addiction as the reason.
And, of course the most important aspect of the meeting was the speedy approval by President Abdullah Gül of the YAŞ decisions, including the dismissals. When he was prime minister, Gül was the first-ever civilian member of the YAŞ to have placed a reservation on the dismissals. However, as he had no right to place a reservation and as president he could either endorse or turn down the YAŞ decisions and turning down would mean a fresh full-fledged crisis between the military and the civilian government Ğ including the president Ğ Gül did not have much choice but to approve the dismissals, in line with his declared position that as president his duty was to oversee the smooth functioning of the state and thus he would fulfill the duty entrusted to him as president.
Thus, a potential storm was avoided.
Manifested manipulation
It remains a mystery for most Turks how it happened that from the July 22, 2007, parliamentary elections till now, that is over the past 16 months, according to the Higher Election Board the Turkish, the population increased by some 6 million new adults eligible to vote in the March 2009 local polls. In the 2002 elections, however, although some 2.5 million new voters were added to the lists, the actual number of Turks eligible to cast a vote was nearly 43 million, some 1.5 million less than the previously disclosed figure. Why is there this incredible pendulum in the number of Turks eligible to vote? Was there a Rwanda-type genocidal massacre of some 4 million people in Turkey before the 2007 vote? Why was the decrease in the population? Or, how did it happen that within the past 16 months Turkish electoral population increased by 6 million?
What we indeed have is a manifested manipulation of population records. Before the 2007 vote the government was in efforts to prove its great economic successes that pushed the per capita income in the country close to the $10,000 mark. The lesser the population, then the higher the GNP, which would be better for the government. Now, we have a different situation. Municipalities receive assistance from the Treasury according to the number of people who reside in that municipality area. The higher the number of people living in that municipality, the higher will be the share of that municipality from allocations for local governance. That is, we are not a rabbit nation to multiply our population so speedily É It is just a matter of gross manipulation of records and statistics É Now, can we believe in statistics of any sort in this country?
That was what more or less the statement issued late Tuesday evening. How should it be interpreted? First of all, with the stress that the expulsion decision was adopted by a "majority vote" it has to be understood that there was no surprise and both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül maintained their objection to the YAŞ expulsions and placed reservations. YAŞ decisions are final and cannot be appealed. Indeed, ever since the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power, the prime minister and the defense minister have been objecting to YAŞ expulsions on grounds that dismissals could not be appealed, while the military has been categorically objecting to government demands to grant appeal rights to those dismissed, saying such a move would upset discipline and the command chain in the military. As regards the "firsts" at the YAŞ meeting, the first one was of course the fact that this was the first YAŞ meeting of new top general İlker Başbuğ. The second very important and unprecedented aspect was in the sentence that 19 personnel were sacked because of drug addiction and of having developed immoral relations. This was the first-ever time that the military has sacked any of its personnel citing drug addiction as the reason.
And, of course the most important aspect of the meeting was the speedy approval by President Abdullah Gül of the YAŞ decisions, including the dismissals. When he was prime minister, Gül was the first-ever civilian member of the YAŞ to have placed a reservation on the dismissals. However, as he had no right to place a reservation and as president he could either endorse or turn down the YAŞ decisions and turning down would mean a fresh full-fledged crisis between the military and the civilian government Ğ including the president Ğ Gül did not have much choice but to approve the dismissals, in line with his declared position that as president his duty was to oversee the smooth functioning of the state and thus he would fulfill the duty entrusted to him as president.
Thus, a potential storm was avoided.
Manifested manipulation
It remains a mystery for most Turks how it happened that from the July 22, 2007, parliamentary elections till now, that is over the past 16 months, according to the Higher Election Board the Turkish, the population increased by some 6 million new adults eligible to vote in the March 2009 local polls. In the 2002 elections, however, although some 2.5 million new voters were added to the lists, the actual number of Turks eligible to cast a vote was nearly 43 million, some 1.5 million less than the previously disclosed figure. Why is there this incredible pendulum in the number of Turks eligible to vote? Was there a Rwanda-type genocidal massacre of some 4 million people in Turkey before the 2007 vote? Why was the decrease in the population? Or, how did it happen that within the past 16 months Turkish electoral population increased by 6 million?
What we indeed have is a manifested manipulation of population records. Before the 2007 vote the government was in efforts to prove its great economic successes that pushed the per capita income in the country close to the $10,000 mark. The lesser the population, then the higher the GNP, which would be better for the government. Now, we have a different situation. Municipalities receive assistance from the Treasury according to the number of people who reside in that municipality area. The higher the number of people living in that municipality, the higher will be the share of that municipality from allocations for local governance. That is, we are not a rabbit nation to multiply our population so speedily É It is just a matter of gross manipulation of records and statistics É Now, can we believe in statistics of any sort in this country?
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