LACK OF HOPE
By Hikmet Bila
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Feb 19 2007
(CUMHURIYET)- Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit’s remarks
in the US weren’t new. He pointed to the same issues when he first
rose to the helm of the Turkish military. Back then, he said that the
Turkish Republic has never faced so many and varied risks and threats
since 1923, that is, when it was founded. If he’s saying the same thing
six months later, it means that same threats are there. If the person
who heads the army of a country which is surrounded with threats —
from Cyprus to northern Iraq, and the Caucasus to Iran — says this,
it means that there’s a serious situation. Turkey has been trying
to join the European Union for many years, and look at what Europe
is doing now. Cooperation between members of a terrorist group and
the secret services of European countries is being exposed, but still
they are indifferent. They are leaving the Copenhagen criteria aside,
making strategic calculations using 19th century logic, and pursuing
territory and influence on Cyprus. A group of hawks who seized the
US are floundering, but now they are opening a front in northern Iraq
with America’s army, weapons and tanks. If this isn’t risk and threat,
then what is?
Maybe the most interesting and dangerous side of the so-called Armenian
resolution set to be debated by the US House of Representatives is that
it claims that half a million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were
subjected to a genocide in 1915-1923. Just this sneaky calculation
suffices to show how great the risk is. Why 1923? Because, if you
include 1923 in the claims of genocide, you can get the opportunity to
accuse not only the Ottomans, but also the republic and Ataturk. It
seems that our friends and allies make such fine calculations
this way. These friends and allies either don’t know how to make
calculations, or they’re ready to write off 70 million people.
Gen. Buyukanit made another important remark in the US. Maybe this
is something new. He urged us not to lose hope in spite of all the
risks and threats. Let’s remember what he said. He said that the
direst situation in a country is a lack of hope and that someone who
has lost hope has lost everything. Buyukanit stated that when the
Turkish Republic and the people who make it up are hopeless, they lose
everything. He added that the situation of the Turkish people isn’t
like this now and that we should have confidence in ourselves. I think
the most important aspect of his speech in the US lies in these words.