by Yunus Emre Özgün
A/Secretary General of the World Anti-Imperialist Youth Union & A/Head of International Relations Bureau of the Youth Union of Türkiye (TGB)
As human beings, the states can only be as sovereign as the area of independence they gain. Political power is the primary apparatus for deciding or not deciding this. The government takes decisions to be independent and sovereign by relying on the institutions of parliament, justice, military, foreign affairs, economics/trade, education, and culture. Their real and legitimate source of power is national public opinion or consensus. For example, the decisions of the Sivas Congress, which is on its 105th anniversary (1), are among the milestones of the political will that created the Republic of Türkiye and the anti-imperialist national resistance organized by it.
Consensus/dissensus of state and nation
Consensus and consistency between the government, the state apparatus, and national public opinion is a prerequisite for success, while contradictions erode the state apparatus and the nation. The consensus and dissensus between them directly affect the national approach to the needs and imperatives of the country.
Thus, with the pressure and influence of imperialist and hostile states, the ground is formed in the target country for mass chaotic upheavals aimed at disrupting the national situation with color revolutions, coup attempts, etc. Numerous events ranging from Yugoslavia to Romania, and Georgia, from Ukraine to Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Arab Spring/West Asia, and from Latin America to Africa are myriad of exemplary cases. Türkiye is one of the countries that has experienced this the most severely, respectively with 2 coups and 1 coup attempt in 1971, 1980, and 2016.
National consensus
On July 15, 2016, the failed coup attempt (2) by the US-backed FETO/Gulenist Terrorist Organization deep state (Gladio) elements was crushed by the partnership of the political power, parliament-justice, armed forces/police forces, and popular resistance. As a matter of fact, since 2013, the AK Party administration has been fighting against FETO by reconciling with the state apparatus and national values. This is a solid example of national coherence.
On the other hand, on September 2, 2024, the authorities of the Republic of Türkiye applied for full membership in the BRICS, the largest economic union on the planet (3), which is seen as an alternative to the EU. (4) The goal of joining the sovereign community of sovereign countries and building the new multipolar international order is highly consistent with Türkiye’s needs and imperatives.
National dissensus
However, on the very same day, September 2, 2024, the Turkish authorities detained 15 young Turk activists of the Turkish Vatan (Patriotic) Party and the Youth Union of Türkiye (TGB) who put sacks on the heads of the combatant servicemen of the USS WASP amphibious assault ship docked in the port of Izmir with the primary mission of supporting Israel in its genocide in Palestine. Despite criteria that did not meet legal basis (5), 10 of them were arrested with a thinly veiled US ultimatum (6) directed by the US Embassy in Ankara, the White House, and the Pentagon.
This decision, in which the influence of the political power is evident, is not following formal procedures, ordinary or tactical, but is a political decision that is inconsistent with the Türkiye-BRICS context. However, it is quite meaningful. Because the Republic of Türkiye lost its comprehensive and consistent political course with the loss of Atatürk in 1938. The claim of a “Turkish Century”, while very proud, lacks a strong political will, apart from decades of effort by national elements in the defense industry.
Since the mid-1940s, with the Marshall Plan and accession to NATO, Türkiye has suffered from governments, parties and top state bureaucracies that would guarantee engagement in the US-centered unipolar globalist imperialist system.
The geopolitical, economic, legal and educational reality of the modern Turkish state, founded by Atatürk with institutional foresight on the basis of anti-imperialism and revolutionism, has been deeply distorted and crippled. From vital heavy industrial ventures such as aircraft (6), aircraft engines (7), weapons (8), railroads (9), and maritime (10) to Village Institutes (11) and university departments of related industrial/scientific branches (12), these institutional goals were dismantled and canceled shortly after Atatürk’s demise, and even before, due to the weakness of Atatürk’s close associates in his party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). (13)
From the USS Missouri to the USS Wasp
This political chronicle, which could be symbolically started with the USS Missouri docking in Istanbul in 1946, has continued until today. By sending the USS WASP to Izmir on the eve of the August 30 Victory Day and September 9, the day of the final liberation of Izmir and Anatolia from Greco-British occupation, the US is trying to “refresh” eroded relations. This is because the US has turned its focus back to the Eastern Mediterranean in order to save Israel from its failure in the Asia-Pacific and its priceless presence in West Asia. In addition to Israel, it is trying to play a very aggressive game with Greece, the Southern Cyprus Greek Administration, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, partly Egypt and the rogue Haftar in Libya. This is because its strategy since World War II is at its most fragile period due to the increasing number of states and actors in the region that it cannot control.
Anchoring in the eastern Mediterranean
Particularly after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, the following occurred in Türkiye:
(1) Euphrates Shield & Olive Branch Operations,
(2) Karabakh War II,
(3) Turkish-Libyan maritime jurisdiction agreement,
(4) Hydrocarbon exploration and drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean with gunboat diplomacy,
(5) Increased activities with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
(6) Natural gas pipelines with Russia, construction of nuclear power plants and the purchase of S400 air defense missiles,
(7) oosted growing national production capacity in the defense industry,
(8) Rapprochement/normalization with SCO, BRICS, West Asian, African and Latin American countries…
The dominant geopolitical and political transformation expressed -and blamed- as “Eurasianism” has elevated Türkiye’s national momentum of consensus to an unprecedented levels. However, the strategy to divert Türkiye from its nationalist course and realign it to Atlantic orientation, highlighted in 2020 by the Rand Corporation, associated with US Military Intelligence, in its notorious report (14), led to a number of readjustments.
New reality in Turkish politics
The faction of traditional liberals and pro-Western political Islamists within the ruling party, the AK Party, as well as within the opposition parties, managed to increase the factors of national dissensus through US pressure and the weakness of the AK Party administration. May 2023 elections resulted in a concession to the influence of these wings in state bodies.
Vatan Party formulated the new situation as “3 positions in Turkish politics” (15):
- (1) Pro-Western/ US (CHP and allied opposition parties, PKK’s political affiliate HDP),
- (2) Those who fear the US (AK Party/MHP political alliance),
- (3) Advocates of Complete Independence/Alternative System (Vatan Party and the majority of the people without a party who need to be organized)
Returning to the context, the essence of the sack action of the young Turks is not to betray the Palestinian cause, but also a reference to the sack and interrogation incident of July 4, 2003. On March 1, 2003, Turkish MPs rejected the parliamentary vote on the resolution to join the US invasion of Iraq as an “ally”. Even AK Party MPs who voted against were accused of being pro-Perinçek/Vatan Party. (16)
4 months later, on July 4th, the day of US Independence, US troops in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, staged a plot to put a sack over the heads of Turkish Special Forces and made them ride in the back of a military truck with an open bed, and served it to the world media. The Turkish Special Forces were ordered not to resist by the Turkish Chief of General Staff at the time and the Turkish Special Forces team was interrogated by US soldiers for 60 hours. (17)
7 Retaliatories, 1 arrest
In response, members of the Vatan Party’s Vanguard Youth (Öncü Gençlik), and the nationwide university and high school student organization TGB (Youth Union of Türkiye), launched retaliatory actions in 2011. The protests focused not on personal violence and aggression, but on the powerful symbolism of political retaliation. The 7th act of democratic retaliation by putting sacks on US soldiers on a military deployment to Türkiye was carried out on September 2 in Izmir against the USS WASP’s Marines.
Unlike the previous 6 sack actions that ended in acquittal, during the period of actions between 2011 and 2013, when the AK Party administration, in collaboration with FETO on Ergenekon-Balyoz trials, had members of the Vatan Party and TGB jailed and was the most pro-US/EU, on September 2, 2024, an arrest warrant was issued for the protesters on a political and irregular grounds. In the 1-minute protest, contrary to what the US media, such as the Washington Post (18) and the New York Times (19), etc., claim, no US soldier was beaten or violently assaulted, as confirmed by the White House and the Pentagon. (20)
The action was evidently and overwhelmingly approved by individuals and organizations nationally and internationally and went viral on the internet. Moreover, political and media figures and citizens known to be close to the AK Party supported the action on social media.
However, the decision of the chief prosecutor and the judge instructed by the AK Party administration was a sequel to the military exercise on the USS WASP in a way. Although it was not a military requirement, holding drills with the USS WASP, which came with a mission to support Israel, and welcoming the ship’s commanders in Izmir was the first round of national dissensus. (21)
It is such an oxymoron that on social media, FETO members (22), HDP/PKK/YPG proxies (23) and, who have defected to the US and EU countries hostile to Türkiye and President Erdoğan, and CFR/CIA analysts (24) organizedly targeted the young Turkish activists and the Turkish state. Adding liberal and pro-Atlantic journalists (25) and politicians in Türkiye who launched a smear campaign against the action and the political picture is complete. (26)
Bricks or sacks
The word BRICS is not only an acrostic but also a connotation of the English word “building material; bricks” and is meaningful in terms of its global objective. In order to break down the thick walls built by the US/EU/NATO hegemonism and to build new global structures with bricks to be contributed by each nation, it is necessary for each political power to first put bricks of independence and sovereignty in its own country. Türkiye is a modern, strong and influential nation-state with a background of empires, which the West has not been able to colonize.
As President Erdoğan says, “The world is bigger than 5” (27) and so is the Republic of Türkiye. However, it seems that some of Türkiye’s top officials have a bigger sack on their heads. Because it is the United States, a “NATO ally”, that shoots down Turkish UCAVs, sustains FETO/PKK/YPG, builds countless naval and air bases for Greece and the Southern Cyprus against the Blue Homeland and the Northern Cyprus, provides lethal weapons, signs bilateral military agreements, and provides all kinds of military, financial, political, tactical and strategic support to genocidal Israel. The AK Party administration’s failure to prevent such an “ally” from intervening in domestic affairs over a non-violent, democratic and politically reciprocal action shows that the national dissensus has deepened. A political power that prefers the oxymoron politics of the “new era/honeymoon” with the US to its own patriotic citizens and national interests cannot meet the principled and functional expectations even if it is admitted to BRICS.
In lieu of conclusion
Not as a compliment or praise, but as a historical political position, the national consensus and moral law of patriotism of the Turkish imperial legacy and Atatürk’s Republic was executed in the action of the Vatan Party and TGB members. Not only retaliating against the plot and hostility directed at the Turkish Armed Forces and Palestinians, but the arrested students also exposed the inconsistencies of the AK Party administration and the Mexican standoff of Turkish mainstream politics. Upon the 7th large “brick”, the Turkish youth have publicly received messages of support from the anti-imperialist patriotic opinion in the USA, as well as from the institutions and individuals of the BRICS member and candidate countries and have already been admitted to BRICS ahead of the Turkish government on the basis of their principled political stance.
References
(1) Also see: Lure book of the GNAT, GNAT Press, Publications and Public Relations Department Printing House, Ankara, 2015, p. 16, https://www5.tbmm.gov.tr/yayinlar/prestij_kitap_ingilizce_s.pdf.
(2) ‘An Informative Note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Failed Coup Attempt’, the Turkish MFA, https://www.mfa.gov.tr/an-informative-note-of-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-on-the-failed-coup-attempt.en.mfa.
(3) ‘BRICS and G7 countries’ share of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) from 2000 to 2024’, July 15, 2024, The Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1412425/gdp-ppp-share-world-gdp-g7-brics/#:~:text=The%20BRICS%20countries%20overtook%20the,held%20by%20the%20G7%20countries.
(4) ‘Joining BRICS+ ‘good alternative’ to EU: Turkiye’, June 2024, The Cradle, https://thecradle.co/articles-id/25253.
(5) ‘Beyaz Saray-Pentagon devrede: ABD istedi hükümet tutuklattı’, September 2024, Aydinlik Gazetesi, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/beyaz-saray-pentagon-devrede-abd-istedi-hukumet-tutuklatti-487853.
(6) ‘ABD’li yetkililer açıkladı: Öncü Gençlik ve TGB üyelerinin soruşturmasında İzmir polisiyle işbirliği yapıldı!’, September 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/abdli-yetkililer-acikladi-oncu-genclik-ve-tgb-uyelerinin-sorusmasinda-izmir-polisiyle-isbirligi-yapildi-oncu-genclik-ve-tgb-uyeleri-tutuklandi-487734.
(7) ‘Mustafa Kemal’in Uçakları: Türkiye’nin Uçak İmalat Tarihi (1923-2012)’, İsmail Yavuz, November 2018, 9th edition, Istanbul, İsBank Cultural Publications, https://www.iskultur.com.tr/yazarlar/ismail-yavuz?srsltid=AfmBOopPeM7aHkjPNscX8ioosaz85Gke4i9RMGxjFvEXvOiJ6DFj0RtL.
(8) ‘Killigil Nuri’, Alp Yenen, May 2019, https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/killigil-nuri-1-1/.
(9) ‘Entrance of American Imperialism into Turkey During the Period of the Rebublic: Thornburg Report, Prof Dr Yaşar Semiz, Lecturer Güngör Toplu’, May 2019, Journal of Social Sciences, https://toplumbilimleri.com/?mod=tammetin&makaleadi=&makaleurl=16150765-9e5a-47c8-b530-01b353c48b1c.pdf&key=7395
(10) Deniz Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı (1923-1938)’, February 2024, Atatürk Encyclopedia, https://ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr/bilgi/deniz-kuvvetleri-komutanligi-1923-1938/#:~:text=Ulu%20Önder%20Atatürk%2C%20Deniz%20Kuvvetleri,Bakanlığın%20kurulmasının%20gerekliliğini%20ortaya%20koymuştur.
(11) ‘Köy Enstitüleri böyle katledildi!’, Mehmet Sazak, April 2019, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/koy-enstituleri-boyle-katledildi-123980.
(12) Ibidem, footnote 7th.
(13) ‘The Effects Of Foreign Reports Prepared For The Period Of 1945-1960 On Turkish Industry Policies’, Asst Prof Murat Yıldız, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322051882_1945-1960_Donemi_Hazirlanan_Yabanci_Raporlarin_Turk_Sanayi_Politikalarina_Etkile.
(14) ‘Turkey’s Nationalist Course Implications for the U.S.-Turkish Strategic Partnership and the U.S. Army’, Stephan J. Flanagan and others, January 2020, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2589.html.
(15) ‘Ne HDP’li ne HÜDA PAR’lı ittifak: Tek seçenek Perinçek’, Mart 2023, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/perincek-millet-ittifaki-amerikanin-aleti-digerleri-de-amerikadan-korkuyor-vatan-partisi-turkiyenin-kaderini-degistirecek-377271.
(16) ‘ABD’nin unutamadığı gün: 1 Mart!’, Ercan Dolapçı, Mart 2018, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://vatanpartisi.org.tr/genel-merkez/rota-yazilari/dogu-perincek-abd-nin-2003-yilindaki-kurt-koridoru-girisimi-20816.
(17) ‘Hood event’, Wikipedia ENG, ‘Çuval Olayı’, Vikipedi TR, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hood_event#:~:text=On%20July%204%2C%202003%2C%20a,led%20away%20to%20be%20interrogated, https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çuval_Olayı.
(18) ‘Turkey detains 15 members of anti-American youth group for assaulting 2 US servicemen’, September 2024, the Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/02/turkey-american-youth-military-izmir-assault/85324aec-694d-11ef-86b4-58b1d68922fb_story.html.
(19) ‘Two U.S. Marines Attacked in Turkey by Nationalist Youth Group’, September 2024, the New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/02/world/europe/marines-attacked-turkey.html.
(20) ‘Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder Holds Press Briefing’, September 2024, https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3893507/pentagon-press-secretary-air-force-maj-gen-pat-ryder-holds-press-briefing/.
(21) ‘Madem şikayetçisin neden birliktesin?’, September 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/uss-wasp-hucum-gemisi-neden-akdenize-gonderildi-uss-wasp-hucum-gemisi-neden-izmire-geldi-abd-gemileri-neden-mavi-vatanda-487586. Also see: ‘ABD amfibi gemilerinin Güney Mavi Vatan’daki varlığının niyeti nedir?’, Halil Özsaraç, August 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/koseyazisi/abd-amfibi-gemilerinin-guney-mavi-vatandaki-varliginin-niyeti-nedir-487178
(22) ‘US Marines attacked in Turkey ‘kills my heart’: Enes Kanter Freedom, Vargas Reports’, September 3, NewsNation’s YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iCE0UzJnZ8.
(23) ‘Çuvalı ABD askeri yedi, ses DEM’li Encu’den geldi’, September 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/cuvali-abd-askeri-yedi-ses-demli-encuden-geldi-487575.
(24) See: Steven A. Cook’s quoted retweet on the X platform, September 3, 1:04 am. https://x.com/stevenacook/status/1830728641526817110.
(25) ‘ABD askerine ‘çuval’ Fatih Altaylı’yı rahatsız etti! Vatan Partisi’nden yanıt gecikmedi’, September 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/abd-askerine-cuval-fatih-altayliyi-rahatsiz-etti-vatan-partisinden-yanit-gecikmedi-487637.
(26) ‘Medyanın Halleri: Türk basını bu rezaletten utanmalı! O çuval sizin başınıza da mı geçti?’, September 2024, Aydinlik Newspaper, https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/medyanin-halleri-turk-basini-bu-rezaletten-utanmali-o-cuval-sizin-basiniza-da-mi-gecti-487791.
(27) ‘Our Motto ‘the World is Bigger than Five’ is the Biggest-Ever Rise against Global Injustice’, January 2018, Justice Forum, Presidency of Republic of Türkiye, https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/89052/our-motto-the-world-is-bigger-than-five-is-the-biggest-ever-rise-against-global-injustice