Ecevit: 'State-Within-a-State Prompters' Behind Terror Cases
By Omer Sahin
Published: Wednesday, September 07, 2005
zaman.com
Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit believes there is a "state-within-a-state" behind the terror cases and the escalating tension among the people.
Speaking to Zaman, Ecevit told, "Supporters of democratic and legitimate state began to be replaced by prompters of state-within-a-state along with separatist terror. Now, these kinds of tendencies have begun to arise again."
One time prime minister signals the circles undertaking "a different mission" within the state by referring to the state-within-a-state concept.
Indicating that some people go outside the legal and democratic frame in the name of the "nation", Ecevit addressed the "Private War Office" in his early statements, also known as "counter-guerilla" for the state-within-a-state.
Ecevit says that this structure was particularly influential in the cases before September 12.
Ecevit accuses the state-within-a-state of the incident claming the lives of 37 citizens in Taksim Square on 1 May 1977. He explained that he conveyed his suspicion about the issue to the president at the time, Fahri Koruturk, who then called Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel upon the development. Ecevit said,"Mr. Demirel was aware of the Private War Office; however, I did not know about it much."
He invited the citizens to act with common sense against provocations and emphasized the foreign force for that. Ecevit noted that some countries that appear to be Turkey’s ally, support terror and added that the national unity of the country, which was not damaged even in the 1970's, is now under threat.
Ecevit accuses the government and the opposition of being ineffective for this issue and added:
"Kids who thought there was a lack of authority in the state began provocations. But, The Turkish nation has overcome many similar problems in its history and it will overcome these too. Our citizens will protect our company against internal enemies and our army will protect against external enemies.“
Ecevit touched on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s "Kurdish Problem" remark that caused lots of discussions. As Ecevit emphasized that no one was mistreated by the law because they were Kurdish, he brought a new perspective to the problem.
"There is no Kurdish problem in Turkey, there is a feudalism problem in Turkey," The former Prime Minister said.
Even founding father of Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and 2nd President Ismet Inonu could not solve the feudalism problem in the southeastern region of Anatolia according to Ecevit.
"The feudal authorities support PKK in order to protect their land; they also support the government for the same reason. The villagers are negatively affected by this and the region is not developed for this reason." Even the feudal authorities in the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) opposed the land reform taxes.
My father is Kurdish
Ecevit, who was born in Kastamonu, confirmed speculations that his father was originally Kurdish.
He said his family had emigrated from the Southeastern Anatolian region to the Daday town of Kastamonu, but he learned this fact later in his life.
"When I was the secretary-general of the Republican People's Party (CHP), I visited Daday, where my relatives lived. I learned this fact from a gravestone. Neither my father nor my grandfather told me this because there were no such discriminations at that time."
Curtain over counter guerillas should be removed
Ecevit in an address on 26 September 1974 in Giresun said: "The curtain of mist over the composition and the goals of this legal-looking illegal organization called the "counter guerrilla" that appeared in the post March 12 period and that overshadowed lawfulness and the humanitarian aspects of precautionary measures and investigations have not been removed yet. Unless this curtain of mist is removed, some people or organizations behind the curtains could possibly play new dark roles."
In a special report titled the "Department of the Ministry of National Defense and the Counter Guerrilla" that Ecevit submitted to former president Fahri Koruturk on 7 May 1977 it stated:
"It is a strong possibility that except those with good intentions, there might be people within this organization, who made use of their military training for national defense in violent incidents in Turkey, therefore serving their political ideologies. There are indicators that some of the people, who worked at top levels inside this organization, made use of their knowledge and the staff they trained in political events after they retired.”
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