The Tanks, Earthquake, and A Calling...

By Bircan UNVER

Although not widely known to general public, Turkey’s plans to buy 1000 tanks for 8 billion dollars and Germany’s approval of the shipment of two sample tanks are both neglected news which appeared in the media in October. Following that, Israel Prime Minister Barak visited Turkey with new proposals to sell arms.

Perhaps the plan to buy 1000 tanks is the only upper side of the iceberg. Most probably, repairing our thousands of old, used defense equipment needs a still higher budget and more sophisticated projects...

Despite these, the unrecoverable suffering caused by the August 17 earthquake and the insufficiencies and handicaps of the system revealed with the unfortunate disaster, it became clear that no significant infrastructure investments and radical precautions are being taken. For example, what happened to 12 thousand children that became orphans after the earthquake? What has been done for their future or what is currently being done?

Why does not Turkey divert the investments from defense expenditures and arms purchases to the well being of our people who suffer from natural disasters, to re-structuring, production, education, new technologies, and space research?

Why is there still and abstract enemy image and why do we spend our present and future for the sake of protecting national boundaries against this virtual enemy?

All new defense equipment loses its effectiveness and damaging power in a very short time as more sophisticated equipment is produced. Why does our beloved country, our present and future is so focused on the weapon industry, which will probably cease to exist within thirty years?

Investing in arms, which does not contribute at all to the productive capacity and cultural wealth is not to way to become a strong and effective country and maintaining this power in the future! When funds are transferred from defense industry to production, education, and new technologies, our foundation will become much stronger, and we will become much more powerful in international platforms. Defending our country properly, maintaining our unity, and progress can only be possible with "disarming".

Today, everybody admits that Japan’s power in the world and in the US is stemming not from defense expenditures, but to long-term, well-planned investment into technology.

Similarly, US-China relations is currently being characterized by China’s prospective membership to the World Trade Organization (after US Congress’s approval), a development seen as the commercial event of the century. This also shows that today real power and defense is conducted by economic investments.

Why does not Turkey, with its thirty million young people cooperate with Greece in tourism, economics, and culture, and instead still prefer "threatening" policies?

Did not we experience a similar incident with Italy? If our economic relations with Italy were not this strong, perhaps Italy would not reject "political asylum" request of Abdullah Ocalan.

We can all have a dream: If Turkey cancel out all funds allocated for defense expenditures and divert these funds to the restructuring of the country, to the economy, new technology, and occupational education… Who would benefit from this, and who would suffer?

Of course, countries that supplied and marketed arms to Turkey will suffer from such a decision. (In fact, these countries might be those who criticize Turkey for ‘human rights violations’; that’s the flip side of the coin.)

The best way to defend our country is to educate our young population, to strengthen the infrastructure and economy through investing into new technologies.

In this case, Turkey has to come into its senses and launch the restructuring program in the new millennium. If we want to preserve national unity, if we want to be a stronger country within our boundaries and in international arena, if we do not want to turn upside down in every new earthquake, we have to choose "disarming" and reformation.

The foundations of real democracy, improvement in human rights, and having peace as an institution can only be feasible through disarming. Only then we can resist natural disasters and recover from our sufferings in a timely manner.

November 1999, New York

Translated from Turkish by Ozgur Isitan Gun

For Turkish version: Tanklar, Deprem ve Bir Cagri...