What is survivability?

In this article, I would like to express to you from my own point of view, other concepts that we have started to hear frequently in recent days, such as survival, threat and economic liberation war, and the relationship between them.

The word "survivability (in Turkish beka)" has stuck in our memories as a concept that is frequently used during the election period. But when everyone tried to explain survival in their own way, they got confused. The meaning of the word perpetuity in the dictionary of the Turkish Language Institution is expressed as "permanence, immortality". Here, I will try to explain the word perpetuity as much as I can within the framework of international relations and political science, unlike its dictionary meaning. In addition to this, I will try to make you see the relationship between the "economic liberation war" and the concept of survival, which has been on the agenda recently, and what survival means concretely.

Beka is technically a word used in military literature. Those of you who have served in the military know that there is a training issue called survivability measures in military service. In the military, trainings such as protecting the unit against the enemy's air attacks and protecting it from the effects of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons were covered in the training of survivability measures. Its meaning and purpose are clear. These are trainings aimed at preventing the mass destruction of the military unit and preventing it from becoming unable to fight. The most important task of a military unit in war is not to be destroyed, that is, to ensure and maintain its survival.

It can be the survival of a person, a community or a country. The purpose is always the same; To be able to survive, to survive without being dispersed and destroyed. The way it is used frequently in recent days is the survival of the Republic of Turkey, so we are talking about the survival of a country as a subject. Since countries will not die because they are not living organisms, if we are talking about the survival of a country, we mean its destruction. Here, the word “payer” comes to mind immediately. Payidar is a word that means "the one who will live forever", "the one who will live forever", "the one who will live forever". Atatürk's famous "My humble body will surely be soil one day. But the Republic of Turkey will stand firm forever.” It is a good example of the local usage of the word 'paydar' in the word. It wouldn't be wrong if we say that permanence and immortality are nouns and payidar is adjectives within the scope of grammar.

Let's examine the concept of survival, which is often used in political terminology, without drowning in words. If there is a piece of land, a community living in these lands, and a will to ensure that this community coexists, we call this union the state for short. In fact, the state is a model for how to use the will of government, that is, sovereignty, within that community. There is an invisible agreement between the individuals in the community and the sovereign will, that is, the state. J.J.Rousseau calls it the social contract, and today we can see that contract concretely as the Constitution. In the constitutions, the form and basic principles of the state formed by that society, which we can now call a nation, are expressed. Constitutions contain common values ​​accepted by everyone living in that country. This acceptance is also an agreement. In a very general sense, the constitutions state that "we have decided that we want to live together according to these principles and we have assigned you to provide and protect this order, we collectively transfer our will, if you provide this, we accept your duties such as military service and paying taxes". are the texts

If we talk about our constitution; In the first three articles of the 1982 Constitution, which is still in effect, "1. The State of Turkey is a Republic", "The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state of law, respectful of human rights, loyal to Atatürk's nationalism, in the peace of society, national solidarity and understanding of justice." , “3. Its language is Turkish. Its flag is a red flag with a white crescent and a star, the shape of which is specified in the law. The national anthem is the National Anthem. The capital city is Ankara." the definition of the State of the Republic of Turkey has been made. In the following article, it is stated that these articles cannot be changed or even offered to be changed, and they are taken under protection.

What do these principles have to do with survivability? If we say that these issues enumerated in our Constitution are the expression of the "existence" of the Turkish State, we can say that the permanence of the described form and principles is ensured.

If we make it more concrete; We can say that whoever thinks and/or attempts to change or abolish the shape and basic principles of the Republic of Turkey poses a threat to the survival of the Republic of Turkey.

Well, those who try to abolish the Republican administration, those who want to change the language, capital, flag, anthem of the state, those who do not respect human rights, those who are not loyal to Atatürk's nationalism, those who try to abolish the democratic order, those who act against the principle of secularism, those who try to abolish the social state principle and the legal system of the Republic of Turkey. Tell the truth if we say it poses a threat to the survival of 

will we? Of course, this would be a very general assessment. This is not a proposition that is correct in its broad interpretation. That's the point in theory. However, in practice, there are details such as the legal organization of the threat, the use of force and violence, the attempt, the incomplete attempt.

In summary, those who act by using force and violence in order to destroy the state and the constitutional order of the state in Turkey are a threat to the survival of the Republic of Turkey. In fact, this issue is stated in article 309 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK); “Those who attempt to abolish the order stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, to replace this order, or to prevent the actual implementation of this order, by using force and violence, shall be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment.” expressed as.

We can generally classify threats as internal and external threats according to their source. In terms of internal threats, we can count terrorist organizations such as FETO, which tries to destroy the Constitutional order by attempting a coup, and PKK, which tries to destroy the order stipulated by the Constitution, and ISIS. There are also extreme right and left organizations that have chosen terrorism as a method, such as the DHKPC, which we have not yet mentioned as a threat to the constitutional order. Each of these terrorist organizations has aims to change the constitutional order and the form and basic principles of the state. For example, PKK wants to establish a separate state on a piece of land within the country, ISIS aims to destroy the democratic and secular order. FETO, on the other hand, wanted to completely abolish the constitutional order.

Explicitly expressing external threats like internal threats is a bit of a problem. Because concepts such as diplomacy and international relations come into play. However, we can consider foreign countries with openly hostile and hostile attitudes and behaviors in this group. We can define hostile behavior as a foreign country's support of a terrorist organization that is a source of threat to Turkey, and attempts to cause internal conflicts through proxy (proxy) within the country. We can also call it a hostile attitude towards economic attacks. However, specifying an external threat by naming the country clearly is not suitable for the language of international diplomacy. It is here that we can consider the concept of economic liberation war.

Citizens of a country do not pose a threat to the economic structure of their country. We talked about internal threats, for now there is no internal threat that will pose a big enough threat to affect the country economically. Internal threats may attack the country's economic structure and facilities, but this does not affect the overall economy of Turkey, which is among the top 20 economies in the world. At that time, we can say that the danger that is considered and mentioned as a threat even in the MGK and called the economic liberation war by the government is an external threat. If there is an external threat, everyone will ask the same question. Who or from whom does this external threat to our economy come from? So who or what is the source of this threat?

We made the definitions. Since the day it was founded, the Republic of Turkey has been constantly exposed to internal and external threats. For example, from 1945 to the early 1990s, the former Soviet Union was defined as a primary external threat. From time to time, there have been problems with Greece, Syria and Bulgaria, and the perception of threat from these countries has increased. Similarly, in the 1970s, internal turmoil increased to a high level, and regional terrorism intensified in the 1990s. The last example I will give is the attempt of a religious terrorist organization on July 15. These events are the embodiment of threats to the survival of Turkey. On the other hand, Turkey has been faced with serious economic crises almost every 20 years and has managed to get out of all of them somehow. Economics is a science and its parameters are very specific. It is not possible to explain the economic problems arising from administrative and structural weaknesses with concepts such as "war" that have no place in the economic literature. However, if such a situation is in question, and since it will not be possible to keep the citizens apart from a war in which their country is engaged, the public opinion of the country must be informed about who is the enemy, what war methods are used, and what is the content of the attacks. If this is not the case, it would be appropriate for an official to come out and explain that the word "war" is used as an analogy. Because “war” is a concept that will arouse deep concern, anxiety and fear for a country. Moreover, if there is a war, the country should mobilize and fight with all national power elements.

As a result, besides being the representative of thousands of years of state tradition, Turkey has 100 years of institutionalization experience as a modern state. There is, of course, a state mind stemming from this tradition and experience. National Security Policy Document (Red Book) prepared under the coordination of the National Security Council 

These threats are evaluated and updated at certain time intervals in the document we named. Policies are proposed and tasks are assigned to all units of the state, especially the security forces, at the ministerial level, in order to eliminate these threats. For example, TAF prepares Turkey's National Military Strategy (TÜMAS) document in accordance with the red book. It considers its education, presence, technology, and even the deployment locations of military units within this framework. Serious and corporate states include strategic think tanks and educational institutions in their work and draw road maps.

The purpose of this article; It was to introduce you to concepts such as survival, threat, economic liberation war that we have heard frequently in recent days. As it can be seen, the concepts in question are mostly high-level terms used in the country's security strategy studies. In my opinion, it is not very meaningful to say to a person on the street, "You are a threat to the survival of this country," because our political ideas do not match, and it does not make sense to wage wars whose sides, quality and quantity are not certain.