On July 12, 2023, the news of the death of Turkish invader named Erdem Kavlak, who was allegedly seriously injured in a “gun accident” in the so-called “Pençe-Kilit” operation zone, was broadcast by Erdogan media. It was speculated that “Erdem Kavlak” either committed suicide or rebelled against something and was killed. The reason we are making this prediction is: It was because we had seen or heard many times that a new syndromes keep killing Turkish soldiers, and many of these examples were accidents like “he died as a result of a gun accident, fell off a cliff, stung by a bee, drowned in water, hit by a helicopter propeller, Heart attack, hit by a lightning strike…etc”
On July 13, 2023, the video of the Turkish invader named “Erdem Kavlak” who rebelled against his commanders, was published. Shortly before he died, the invader said in the video “We are thirsty here. Our situation is not good, if anything happens to me here, the commanders are responsible.” On April 23, 2021, the Turkish invaders started the most extensive invasion operations on Medya Defense Zones. In the days when the operations started, Erdogan and his ministers were stating clear figures about how long this operation would continue.
Those who spoke most assertively on this subject predicted that this operation would be completed within 2 months and Medya Defense Areas would be completely occupied within 2 months. However, the Turkish-occupation, from its mercenaries to its senior commanders, entered this operation scratching their heads. While the war crimes minister of the time was shouting and advertising the “Claw Lock” invasion operation on television, the situation of the Turkish soldiers in the Zap and Avaşîn fields, the real face of the war, was not as it was said. They carried out many operations in different years, especially on the Zagros border lines. They were operating across the border, relying on the fortresses and their own rear, equipped with superior technique.
TURKISH LIES
While the fascist chief Erdogan was declaring himself the new conqueror of the Middle East, saying, “We are moving a few miles beyond the border every day,” Turkish soldiers were not as confident as their leaders, advancing towards the inner areas where the guerrilla had been positioned for years and almost turned each of them into a fortress. Turkish soldiers were persuaded by lies, “This job is done in 2 months. You will return to your father’s home in 2 months”. But 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and it still goes on. The terrain of the Zagros is difficult, unruly. Winters are cold enough to freeze people, and summers are unbearably hot. And only people who were born and raised in this geography and gave their years to this geography can live here.
The Turkish invaders, who landed in the area in full equipment in 2021, began to wander around the field without a gun, naked, towards the summer months. Just like the invader who was killed on May 24 on the “Cehennem Hill” of Zap, wearing only underwear… What makes a soldier who has been trained for years on sensitivity, camouflage, secrecy, and vigilance become like this? Of course, it wasn’t just the hot weather that made them tired, it was the resistance of the guerrilla and their failures in the face of it. A soldier who was scolded and beaten by his commanders after each unsuccessful attack would naturally experience a very heavy psychology.
THE GUERRILLA FIGHTS AN IDEOLOGICAL WAR
The other side of the matter is this: The guerrilla is a self-sacrificing army that dies every day for its own ideology, loyalties and goals. We have known dozens of brave warriors who were neither frightened nor afraid of death when they saw the body of their comrade who was dismembered next to them. This is where the stability of guerrilla warfare and its progress without hesitation come from. One of these examples is Werxelê resistance. The Turkish invaders participated in the attack launched in the Zap and Avaşîn areas on April 17, 2022, with the same psychology, were the most fed up.
The guerrillas could listen to the voices of the soldiers talking among themselves outside, and they were arguing about who will enter the guerilla tunnels first: “Come on, it’s your turn! Come on my lion, get in, it’s easy after”. Werxelê resisters reported that the invaders were fighting with each other every day. The resistance was approaching its 100th day, the psychology of the invaders even crumbled further. Those who miss their mother’s food, get tired of eating canned food, complain about not being able to take a bath, dream of their fiancé, fall asleep on guard duty, are caught off guard every time, soldiers holding positions with their underwear, of course could not cope with the Apoist guerrilla’s spirit.
In conclusion, The situation of Turkish soldiers in Medya Defense Zones is not good at all. And this situation proves itself with the results we see today. The death or murder of Erdem Kavlak “as a result of an accident”, however, is a result of the great Zap and Avaşîn resistance by the guerilla. The fate of not only Erdem Kavlak but also many invaders who are said to have died under different pretexts today is actually unknown. It is an undeniable fact that the number of invaders killed because many soldiers who could not bear the heavy psychology of this war committed suicide or because they rebelled against those who dragged them into this darkness is incalculable. Every Turkish soldier fighting against the guerrilla in Medya Defense Zones must visit rehabilitation centers. Otherwise, there may be more situations like the “accidents”, like in the Erdem Kavlak incident.
BOOK TELLS THE PERSPECTIVE OF TURKISH SOLDIERS
The book Voices from the Front tells the first-hand accounts of Turkish soldiers who have fought in the nasty internal war against the Kurds: the shock of entering military life and the traumas of warfare; the changes in personality and relations with family and friends, the lingering emotional effects of violence, and the difficulties in returning to the ‘real world’, to borrow a phrase from Vietnam vets. Corruption, disillusionment and despair alternate with the small victories of humanity overcoming hellish conditions.
“If Soldiers Had the Opportunity, They Would Run Away”
I was sent to the Kayseri Air Deployment Unit where I was trained as a commando. There were two options: parachute or climbing. I chose climbing. They did not give us even a minute of rest in Kayseri. There was heavy beating as well. When the three-month training period was over, they told us that we would be going to the conflict areas. Our real unit was in Çorlu, but for one year, they had moved it to the Southeast. We were first sent to the deployment headquarters in Diyarbakır and hen to our designated units. Mine was a gendarmerie unit. I was assigned to the Kısmetli village close to Mardin-Dargeçit. The village is on top of a commanding hill and has a school.
I was 1.72 meters tall and weighed 47–48 kilos. If I weighed 45 kilos, they would certify me as “unfit.” I had to lose some more weight. I tried my best; didn’t eat, didn’t drink. I was not all that weak. Of course it was not easy. I did not eat any bread. No rice, pasta, or pastries. All I ate was fruit and the juice that was served along with the meal. Without the bread and rice, I came down to 46 kilos. I talked openly with the doctors and asked them not to give me a “rest” again. Finally, the doctor recorded my weight as 45 kilos, although it was 46 and I was discharged as “unfit for duty.”
This “No to Compulsory Conscription” attitude is not very popular in this society. There is just one person here, three there and that’s it. Why? Because, in this country, you cannot get married unless you have served in the military. You are not treated as a grown-up man if you have not served. If the discharge from being unfit had not worked for me, I was determined to escape. I would have escaped. Now I can eat everything, no more diet.
“These Were Moments When We Missed Death”
I suffered more from military discipline than I suffered from the PKK. The local people constantly caused problems as well. They would plant opium and engage in smuggling. There was also bribery. I witnessed several of our officers accepting bribes. Issues such as drugs, weapons, and smuggling all depend on the officers to control. We would catch many Kalashnikovs, G3s, and other rifles being smuggled. Ours was a small station with a twenty soldier team. The rest were support staff: orderlies of the officers, secretaries, weapons maintenance specialist, communications officer, and so on. Half of the team would stand guard during the day and the second half during the night. I, as the team sergeant, was always on duty. If you get into any kind of argument with the commander, he starts accusing you of being a PKK member. According to military logic, even the slightest attempt to ask for your rights is enough to label you a PKK sympathizer. It was the same for the villagers. It is enough for a villager to complain that they don’t have a road leading to their village for him to be labeled as a PKK militant. The officers say that they are all Kemalists, but most of them have no idea who Kemal Atatürk is or what his ideas are.
There were nine Kurdish soldiers in the station and they would speak Kurdish among themselves. On the other hand, it was forbidden to speak Kurdish. It was these soldiers who showed the greatest reaction against the PKK. There were a couple of those who did not support the PKK, but did demand the right to freely speak their language and sing their songs. It was never my personal aspiration to go into combat and kill this many militants, but as a member of the military I had to abide with the goals set up by the military. I would say that 80 percent of the privates were like me.
There is a rumor that quite a few officers have been shot by their own soldiers. I believe that. You can do anything in that psychological state. I mean, you do turn into a bloody criminal. No one from our team died, but there were some who were heavily wounded. One of the privates had been cursed at and beaten by an officer. He shot himself while he was on guard duty. The logic is that you are there to “protect the unity of the country.”
On my return, I asked my family to meet me at the port. I had really missed walking on the coast of Samsun and I did that on my first day without getting some sleep. Freedom. Yet I could not feel free. I had forgotten about human relationships. I was having a hard time relating to people. I would freeze when I started talking to someone. Deep down, I want to talk to people and tell them that the reality is quite different from how it is portrayed. The Turkish military is not as heroic as it is said to be. Neither is the Turkish soldier. In fact, they make you suffer tremendously in the name of heroism.
Before military service, I always demanded my rights. But when the response was violence, I never went along with it. Now, I can say that I am more prone to using violence. Violence does not solve problems, but it does make certain things easier. There are many people around me who are having a difficult time after coming back from military service. Everybody is trying to deal with it in their own way. Half of them are not aware that there is a problem. They label it as “becoming mature.” Those who realize that there is a problem they need to deal with, don’t know how to get help from a psychologist.
Source: Nûçe Ciwan