know thine enemy

well, it's always nice to be able to say "i told you so", especially when it supports a life-time decision you have made. i have reached the conclusion on the morning of 12 september 1980 that kenan evren, the leader of the putsch that cost turkey at least a century of civilization right on the edge of a breaking point, is my sworn enemy. i do not mean an enemy in the millitary or feudal sense of course, or even target my hostility at his person - his person is ephemeral, what he stands for is eternal in an oriental despotism. i rather harbor an undying opposition executed through intellectual and democratic means to whatever he stands for, which invariably perpetuates that despotism.

i said in one of yesterday's posts about evren's suggestion of a federated turkey that he would never aim for more liberty but for increased control through a series of cloned minor and junior ankaras, all flawed by the same festering ailments.

even in that form, his outburst was blown back to his face by the majority of the polity quorum - a gung ho prosecutor even attempted to bring the ex-junta-leader to court, we'll see how he sits back in his chair -. turks are apparently so much in love with their defunct, archaic and totally dysfunctional system of state that they consider it a taboo and a crime to discuss, much less to alter it.

the ex-dictator reportedly called m. y. yılmaz of hürriyet who was also outraged at his suggestion of a federated turkey and told the columnist that he did not have in mind a "federation" but a system of districts whose administration depends on the "principle of appointed regional governors".

know thine enemies. little chance you can beat many of them, but they do tend to trap themselves by the reason of the obvious, so that you can slip by the thrashing dragon on your way to freedom.