WE WILL EITHER REMAIN OUTSIDE OR JOIN THE WAR
“It is evident that Turkey alone has no capability to prevent the war under the existing conditions. But, we can not base our accounts on the assumption that there will be no war. We should make a choice between bad and worse. We will either remain outside the war or we will join the process.”
THE ARMY KNOWS THE SEVERITY DIMENSION OF WAR
“Unless we enter war, our losses will never be met. If we help war, part of our losses will be met and we shall extend humanitarian aid to refugees.”
“It has been voiced that 94% of the people are against the war. It is wrong. 100% of our nation is against the war. The army, which is aware of the severity dimension of war, is always the first to oppose the war.”
OUR TROOPS WOULD RETURN WITHOUT EVEN FIRING A BULLET
“We thought that lesser people will die and the war will last shorter if a northern front is opened. We would return without firing a single bullet.”
“If we would have to intervene into unexpected developments, they would not object. All these things and other issues were relatively assured with a written document.”
NOT THE PRICE OF WAR BUT THE COMPENSATION OF LOSSES
“Financial assistance was not the price of collaboration but it was asked for the compensation of at least some of our losses. We were not after the price of our assistance.”
“There is no disturbance in the Turkish Armed Forces. The problem was based on an article published on one of the newspapers that, “The Army is Disturbed”. This news is not true.”
A WARM MESSAGE AND A WARNING TO KURDS
“We are hostages of our geography. We have no other place to go and we have no other neighbors. We have blood relations with the region's people. We always protected them in their most difficult days. We have never lied to them.”
“Those who want to replace peace with conflicts will bear its consequences and responsibility. Let us remind them our legitimate right of protection.”
ARINC: WE ARE PROUD OF THE STATEMENT OF GEN. OZKOK
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc dubbed the statement of Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok as very positive, saying that one should feel proud of this statement, which summarized the opinions of the army about the current situation and which voiced respect to the democratic choice of the Parliament. While Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said that it was a “good statement”, CHP leader Deniz Baykal said that it was very timely and useful.
