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Video footage of a Turkish officer shooting at a target surrounded by soldiers, posted online late Wednesday by various news organizations, has prompted an official investigation by the General Staff and debate over the militarys mentality.
The officer shown in the video was subsequently said to have carried out similar target practice during his time serving in the Akçay 6th Motorized Domestic Security Infantry Brigade in the southeastern province of Şırnak.
The video, shot with a cell phone, shows more than 15 soldiers gathered around a shooting target, some sitting, some standing and two holding the target from either side. Capt. Metin Gürcan from the Special Forces first addresses the soldiers, saying: If there is anyone without courage who would say I cannot stand [here] sir, he leaves.
None of the soldiers move. Gürcan then shoots at the target five times with his pistol, hitting it four times. Three of the shots are made between his legs with his back turned to the target. The soldiers are heard expressing worry while their superior is shooting backwards, but still nobody moves. The practice, described as a trust shoot, ends with no injuries.
Following the release of the video online, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül told the press Thursday that the chief of General Staff had started an investigation on the matter.
The General Staff released a statement shortly thereafter, stating that, There is no such target training in the shooting directives of the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK]. It then added: However, a shooting style called trust shoot was practiced by TSK Special Forces personnel at a demonstration years ago that the mentioned personnel [Gürcan] also attended and [the demonstration] was broadcast on television channels.
The statement ends with an announcement that an investigation into the captains behavior had been initiated.
An online search of the phrase güven atışı (trust shoot) turns up numerous photos and videos online showing Turkish military personnel engaged in such exercises.
The mentality and psychological factors that cause soldiers to act this way should be questioned, retired military judge Ümit Kardaş told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. Though he said he preferred not to comment on the matter before the investigation and any subsequent trial is concluded, he said questions such as Why do such events occur within the Armed Forces so often? and Why was this order obeyed? should be asked.
The video is reminiscent of an incident in 2009 when a soldier was disciplined by being forced to hold a hand grenade with its pin pulled out, Kardaş said. Four privates died in the incident, for which Lt. Mehmet Tümer was found responsible and sentenced to nine years and two months in prison.
Retired Gen. Nejat Eslen told the Daily News that soldiers in the lower ranks have the right to disobey an unlawful order from a superior. If soldiers believe an order they received is unlawful, it is within their rights to ask for it in writing, disobey it and report it to the superior officer, Eslen said. There cannot be such target practice, he said, characterizing the trust shoot as incompatible with logic, law and the traditions of the Armed Forces.
News channel CNNTürk solicited opinions on the issue from various experts Thursday. Political Science Professor Doğu Ergil told the channel that eastern and southeastern Turkey had lived under emergency law for years and although that period is now over, its legacy of trigger-happy psychology and language remains.
The region had a different law system Ergil said. The ones with the guns practiced politics too. They made their own rules. The way of the gun reigned supreme.
Sinan Ogam, the president of the Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Analyses, or TÜRKSAM, called Gürcans target practice an extremely wrong act and added that what is shown in the video cannot be called a demonstration shooting, as mentioned in the official statement.
He added, however, that the straight shootings maybe understandable somehow, saying the shots fired by the captain between his legs posed the actual danger.
'Trust shooting' now target of Turkish military investigation - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
There is a video in the link...
This is crazy... holy .
brave soldiers tho.
The officer shown in the video was subsequently said to have carried out similar target practice during his time serving in the Akçay 6th Motorized Domestic Security Infantry Brigade in the southeastern province of Şırnak.
The video, shot with a cell phone, shows more than 15 soldiers gathered around a shooting target, some sitting, some standing and two holding the target from either side. Capt. Metin Gürcan from the Special Forces first addresses the soldiers, saying: If there is anyone without courage who would say I cannot stand [here] sir, he leaves.
None of the soldiers move. Gürcan then shoots at the target five times with his pistol, hitting it four times. Three of the shots are made between his legs with his back turned to the target. The soldiers are heard expressing worry while their superior is shooting backwards, but still nobody moves. The practice, described as a trust shoot, ends with no injuries.
Following the release of the video online, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül told the press Thursday that the chief of General Staff had started an investigation on the matter.
The General Staff released a statement shortly thereafter, stating that, There is no such target training in the shooting directives of the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK]. It then added: However, a shooting style called trust shoot was practiced by TSK Special Forces personnel at a demonstration years ago that the mentioned personnel [Gürcan] also attended and [the demonstration] was broadcast on television channels.
The statement ends with an announcement that an investigation into the captains behavior had been initiated.
An online search of the phrase güven atışı (trust shoot) turns up numerous photos and videos online showing Turkish military personnel engaged in such exercises.
The mentality and psychological factors that cause soldiers to act this way should be questioned, retired military judge Ümit Kardaş told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. Though he said he preferred not to comment on the matter before the investigation and any subsequent trial is concluded, he said questions such as Why do such events occur within the Armed Forces so often? and Why was this order obeyed? should be asked.
The video is reminiscent of an incident in 2009 when a soldier was disciplined by being forced to hold a hand grenade with its pin pulled out, Kardaş said. Four privates died in the incident, for which Lt. Mehmet Tümer was found responsible and sentenced to nine years and two months in prison.
Retired Gen. Nejat Eslen told the Daily News that soldiers in the lower ranks have the right to disobey an unlawful order from a superior. If soldiers believe an order they received is unlawful, it is within their rights to ask for it in writing, disobey it and report it to the superior officer, Eslen said. There cannot be such target practice, he said, characterizing the trust shoot as incompatible with logic, law and the traditions of the Armed Forces.
News channel CNNTürk solicited opinions on the issue from various experts Thursday. Political Science Professor Doğu Ergil told the channel that eastern and southeastern Turkey had lived under emergency law for years and although that period is now over, its legacy of trigger-happy psychology and language remains.
The region had a different law system Ergil said. The ones with the guns practiced politics too. They made their own rules. The way of the gun reigned supreme.
Sinan Ogam, the president of the Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Analyses, or TÜRKSAM, called Gürcans target practice an extremely wrong act and added that what is shown in the video cannot be called a demonstration shooting, as mentioned in the official statement.
He added, however, that the straight shootings maybe understandable somehow, saying the shots fired by the captain between his legs posed the actual danger.
'Trust shooting' now target of Turkish military investigation - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
There is a video in the link...
This is crazy... holy .
brave soldiers tho.
