When I read in newspaper columns that there are various suggestions for solutions to eliminate the negative situation created by the S-400s in relations with the United States, I remembered that Kazim Karabekir Pasha and his comrades have made their homeland love and their decisions within this scope.
Armistice of Mudros
Articles 5 and 20 of the Armistice of Mudros, signed after the First World War, draw attention.
In the fifth article, “Any military force deemed necessary for the protection of borders and internal security will be demobilized immediately. (The number of this military force will be decided by the Allied Powers after negotiating with the Ottoman State.)”.
In the twentieth article, it is stated that “The army to be demobilized will act in accordance with the instructions given regarding the equipment, weapons, ammunition and war material.”
One of the main purposes of the Armistice of Mudros is to make the Ottomans defenseless in case of possible attack and to facilitate the invasion of the country.
Kazim Karabekir and the Delivery of Weapons
Lieutenant Colonel Rawlison, who was in Erzurum as the representative of the occupation forces, demanded the delivery of cannon wedges, machine guns and rifle mechanisms from Kazım Karabekir Pasha in accordance with the provisions of Mudros. After delaying for a long time, Karabekir Pasha gives the order to collect and deliver the gun wedges, mechanisms and weapons of the civilian people upon the surrender order from the Istanbul Government.
Withdrawal of Weapons
On the other hand, while carrying out Istanbul's orders, he planned to take back what he had given by dressing his officers in civilian clothes. Weapons and wedges received by Lieutenant Colonel Rawlison were shipped by train. At Taşkesen Station, the road of the train was cut off by officers in plain clothes and the delivery of the equipment was requested. When the British and Turkish guards on the train saw about 300-400 horsemen on the hills, they did not resist and surrendered.
Karabekir Pasha, in the telegram he sent to Istanbul on 26 July 1919, reported that the train was blocked by unknown persons and the equipment was moved to the mountains, and that there was no information about the fate of the equipment and that the British at the head of the wagon were not harmed.
Similarity in Mudros and S-400
Even when the country was under occupation in the Armistice of Mudros, the rulers of that day did not speak up, but stood up against the provisions that would leave the country defenseless in the future.
Whereas; The possible penalty for not obeying the orders of the Istanbul Government with the provisions of that day is death. Those who love the homeland have taken this path knowing its provisions.
It would not be wrong to say that opposing the use of the S-400s and preventing their use have the same aim, while the delivery of weapons in the Armistice of Mudros was aimed at leaving the country defenseless.
While remembering that day and what happened today, first my heart constricted, then I realized that I was short of breath and tears were flowing from my eyes and I thought:
Commander of the Engagement Regiment, Major Emin, who stopped the train at Taşkesen Station, raises his head from where he is lying and asks where is "National Sovereignty and National Will", looking at the present.
Where do our martyrs, whom we do not accept as dead according to our belief, look at the past and today and say “Full Independence”?
Our youth, on the other hand, evaluates the "Turkish Army, its position and understanding of national consciousness" by comparing the Armistice of Mudros and today's conditions.
Regardless of which political view you may have, our young girls and boys, "National Will, National Sovereignty, Full Independence and the Turkish army" is a matter above politics.
Remember Mehmet Akif's couplets, do not despair.
The horizons of the West may be bound with walls of steel,
But my borders are guarded by the mighty bosom of a believer.
Bellow out, do not be afraid! And think: how can this fiery faith ever be extinguished,
By that battered, single-fanged monster you call "civilization"?
The cannon wedges, weapon mechanisms and weapons that Kazım Karabekir Pasha took back contributed to the victory of the War of Independence. I respectfully commemorate all our officers, privates and non-commissioned officers who volunteered to take back the weapons. God rest their souls.