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Mad showman of the town
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Life was coming to a standstill. People were even adjusting their flight hours to make sure that they can watch at least at the airport the new episode of it. On average 15 to 16 people were being killed, scores were wounded, tortured in every episode of it. It was the "Valley of the Wolves," TV series.
The serial was so "successful" that when because of protests scriptwriters were first compelled to reduce violence in it and later briefly suspended, its producers immediately shot a film version of it, "Valley of the Wolves-Iraq" in which the humiliating hood incident against Turkish soldiers at the Suleymaniyeh town of northern Iraq by American forces in 2003 was reciprocated with an operation by the alleged "deep state" elements headed by Polat Alemdar.
Thus, while the official Turkey could not say anything worth to mention to the United States regarding the hood humiliation, the "deep state" Turkey of Alemdar delivered the Americans an equally humiliating response.
Last week, Atilla Olgaç, one of the actors starring in the serial was participating in one of those many morning programs aimed for the women, particularly housewives, audience. Halfway through the program Olgaç, probably just to attract some attention, started to make what appeared to be a late confession. He reportedly said that he killed 10 Greek Cypriots during the 1974 Cyprus operation of Turkey, the first being an 19-year-old prisoner, whose hands were tied. He claimed that the prisoner spat on his face and his commander asked him to punish the prisoner and kill him and see the difference between killing in real life and killing on the stage as an actor.
Even war has rules
In a war unfortunately the rule has been that you either kill or get killed. However, under international rules covering warfare, put aside killing prisoners whose hands are tied, even bad treatment of prisoners is a war crime and those who are involved in such heinous actions must be punished severely.
The Greek and Greek Cypriot public, for obvious reasons, were outraged with the nauseous and deplorable "revelations" of actor Olgaç after the remark of the actor made bold headlines in newspapers of both two countries. Of course, while in total ignorance of the pain of the families of missing persons we may just say "What is this fuss in the Greek Cypriot side? Why they are making so much noise over what an actor said?" we may as well try to make an empathy and try to understand the individual and communal psychology and the trauma scratched with the words of Olgaç.
In Cyprus, there are about 500 Turkish Cypriot missing persons, all presumed dead by the Turkish Cypriot state to bring an end to the sorrow of their families, from the 1963 to 1974 attacks on Turkish Cypriots and some 1,500 missing Greek Cypriots from the 1974 Athens-backed coup against the then Makarios government and the ensuing Turkish intervention. Furthermore, because that the Greek Cypriot government has been trying to exploit the missing persons issue and refusing to declare them dead, the Greek Cypriot people were made to believe that there might still be some Greek Cypriot prisoners living at a Turkish prison. Thus, Olgaç’s words were like bullets into the chests of families still looking for their missing beloved ones.
Olgaç withdrew his remark a day later and claimed that no such incident happened; he indeed wrote and played during that morning program. People who somehow knew about the 20-day service of Olgaç in Cyprus during the intervention declared that he was so scared of the war that his commanders had assigned him to the kitchen to pile potatoes.
The Olgaç case, however, must be investigated by the Turkish military and a satisfactory statement must be made. If indeed Olgaç committed such a war crime, he must be punished. Otherwise, he must be made to pay for the shameful remark he made just to attract some attention.
And we should not yell at Greek Cypriots and accuse them of trying to exploit Olgaç’s words. This is a very sensitive issue and just like the pain we have in our hearts for the missing Turkish Cypriots, even after 35 years there is still pain in the hearts of the families of the Greek Cypriot missing peoples.
Thus, while the official Turkey could not say anything worth to mention to the United States regarding the hood humiliation, the "deep state" Turkey of Alemdar delivered the Americans an equally humiliating response.
Last week, Atilla Olgaç, one of the actors starring in the serial was participating in one of those many morning programs aimed for the women, particularly housewives, audience. Halfway through the program Olgaç, probably just to attract some attention, started to make what appeared to be a late confession. He reportedly said that he killed 10 Greek Cypriots during the 1974 Cyprus operation of Turkey, the first being an 19-year-old prisoner, whose hands were tied. He claimed that the prisoner spat on his face and his commander asked him to punish the prisoner and kill him and see the difference between killing in real life and killing on the stage as an actor.
Even war has rules
In a war unfortunately the rule has been that you either kill or get killed. However, under international rules covering warfare, put aside killing prisoners whose hands are tied, even bad treatment of prisoners is a war crime and those who are involved in such heinous actions must be punished severely.
The Greek and Greek Cypriot public, for obvious reasons, were outraged with the nauseous and deplorable "revelations" of actor Olgaç after the remark of the actor made bold headlines in newspapers of both two countries. Of course, while in total ignorance of the pain of the families of missing persons we may just say "What is this fuss in the Greek Cypriot side? Why they are making so much noise over what an actor said?" we may as well try to make an empathy and try to understand the individual and communal psychology and the trauma scratched with the words of Olgaç.
In Cyprus, there are about 500 Turkish Cypriot missing persons, all presumed dead by the Turkish Cypriot state to bring an end to the sorrow of their families, from the 1963 to 1974 attacks on Turkish Cypriots and some 1,500 missing Greek Cypriots from the 1974 Athens-backed coup against the then Makarios government and the ensuing Turkish intervention. Furthermore, because that the Greek Cypriot government has been trying to exploit the missing persons issue and refusing to declare them dead, the Greek Cypriot people were made to believe that there might still be some Greek Cypriot prisoners living at a Turkish prison. Thus, Olgaç’s words were like bullets into the chests of families still looking for their missing beloved ones.
Olgaç withdrew his remark a day later and claimed that no such incident happened; he indeed wrote and played during that morning program. People who somehow knew about the 20-day service of Olgaç in Cyprus during the intervention declared that he was so scared of the war that his commanders had assigned him to the kitchen to pile potatoes.
The Olgaç case, however, must be investigated by the Turkish military and a satisfactory statement must be made. If indeed Olgaç committed such a war crime, he must be punished. Otherwise, he must be made to pay for the shameful remark he made just to attract some attention.
And we should not yell at Greek Cypriots and accuse them of trying to exploit Olgaç’s words. This is a very sensitive issue and just like the pain we have in our hearts for the missing Turkish Cypriots, even after 35 years there is still pain in the hearts of the families of the Greek Cypriot missing peoples.
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