The turkish soldier, addition by thadeusz

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This addition to my first "Turkish" story has been written after the first one was published. I nevertheless feel that the comments made about the first part required this addition in order to let everybody understand my feelings wrt the present Turkish regime.
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I nevertheless told my parents that they should not let my brother go to Turkey for his military service. My father replied that this had been taken care of:
"As soon as your brother and sister reached the age of 18, they applied for full Belgian citizenship and abandoned Turkish citizenship. Your brother is now studying where he always dreamed to be sent."
This was said discreetly, just in case. In fact it meant that my brother had been admitted to the Belgian Officers School. If my chiefs had known that, it would have made me suspect of spying.

Shortly after that, while I was serving as a guard, the van in which I had been transported to the regiment came back. Once again, it was driven by that nasty Sergeant and in the back, a young man in Army fatigue was seated on the floor, attached as I had been. This young man had his beret on his head. One could see, despite the fact that he was still in the back of the SGT’s van, that he had fair hair which was strange for a Turk.

The SGT told me:
"I am SGT Bechir Kunt of the Military Police. I have a prisoner for your regiment. Let me see your Colonel, and quickly Private First Class."

I warned the Colonel who told me to let the SGT come to his office. But the SGT said that he could not leave his prisoner alone. Finally, the Colonel decided to come and see for himself.

The Colonel appeared immediately shocked when he saw once more the same SGT with a prisoner attached like I had been. The SGT told him:
"Sir, this is PVTE Mikhail Lukin. Despite his name he is a Turk but he wanted to avoid military service and escape to Russia where he has relatives. I have been ordered to deliver him to you personally because this man is now assigned to your regiment for his military service."
"SGT, does that mean that this man, still attached in your van, is a deserter ?"
"Colonel, he might have become one had he not been arrested at the boarder. But practically he is only a bad soldier of our Army."
"So, he is actually a soldier of MY regiment ?"
"Yes, Colonel."
"Do you realize that it is the second time you mishandle a soldier of MY regiment ?"
"Colonel, I never did that before !"
"SGT, you have a short memory. You mishandled one of my best soldiers. I send you now to the brig until another decision has been taken by the authorities."
The Colonel turned towards me and added:
"PFC Demir, this man is now under arrest. Bring him to the brig. Chain him in a cell in the way this new soldier is attached. GO NOW."
I saluted my chief and got hold of the SGT who was too bewildered to resist.

When I came back, the Colonel had ordered another soldier to free the man who was prisoner in the van. He asked him:
"What is your name ?"
"Mikhail Lukin, Sir."
"You should say, ‘COLONEL’ when you address me".
"I am sorry, Colonel, but I don’t know the Army rules yet."
"Lukin, that’s not a Turkish name !"
"No Colonel, it is a Russian name. That is my problem."
"Why your problem ?"
"Colonel, because my parents wanted me to accomplish my military service in Russia first."
"And then, are you Russian or Turk ?"
"Both Colonel."
"That’s similar to this soldier’s problem." The Colonel pointed his finger to me. "But this soldier solved it neatly by choosing Turkey first."
"That’s what I wanted to do since I want to stay later in Turkey. But my parents insisted and I obeyed my parents as a good son."
"Well, that places you in a bad situation here. You could be considered a deserter. I will examine your case, but there will be a punishment. Now, I will send you to the brig to let me have enough time to discuss your situation with a colleague."
The Colonel then turned towards me and said:
"PFC Demir, bring this soldier to the brig and lock him in a cell but don’t chain him."
"At your command, COLONEL" was my reply and then I got hold of the poor guy.

Two days later, I was again on guard duty. I was told to get hold of the poor Russian guy which the Colonel immediately called "Private Lukin". In fact Lukin did not know how to walk or how to salute the military way. I told him how to do that on the way to the Colonel’s office. There the Colonel told him his decision:
"Lukin, you are not a real deserter since you are present. But you tried to go to Russia as a soldier before joining our Army. I am convinced that you were sincere, but I also know that the Russians would not have let you go back to Turkey. I thus strongly suggest that, as a token of your good will, you don’t simply do your military service but you enlist now in this regiment. If you do that, there will be no penalty. Otherwise, there will be a regular judgment. PFC Demir will tell you what can happen then to those who refuse to serve. DISMISS."

I left the Colonel’s office with Lukin behind me and I took him to the mess hall where we could discuss peacefully. I told him what had happened to me and why I was now sentenced to life in the Army. I immediately added:
"Life in the Army is not so bad if you can go freely wherever you want."
"And you can do that ?"
"Not yet, but if I behave well, it will come."
"And you like your situation ?"
"In a way, yes. The only problem is that I cannot visit my parents. And that is forever."
"What do you advise me to do now ?"
"Enlist immediately."
"How long is the minimum enlistment ?"
"3 years, but you will be well dressed and well fed. You will have a room, well a bed in a common room. You will have all the uniforms for free. And you will be paid very decently."
"Well, I have no choice. I will go and tell the Colonel that I want to enlist."

A few minutes later we were called back in the Colonel’s office and before the big man had the opportunity, Lukin saluted him as well as he could and said:
"Colonel, I would like to enlist for three years in your regiment."
"In these conditions, your case is closed. You are now Private Lukin and you will start your instruction immediately under the supervision of PFC Demir."

It was the first time I served as a supervisor, which was for me a promotion. I let Lukin sign his enlistment form and provided him with all the necessary equipment. He then followed the usual path of all new enlistees, starting with a passage through the expert hands of the barber. After that, there remained nothing of his great fair mane.

The next day, the Colonel called me again in his office. He told me that a decision had been taken concerning SGT Kunt. He told me to bring him to his office in chains and he wanted me to listen to what he had to tell him. I obeyed this order and brought the SGT with ankle shackles and handcuffs to the Colonel’s office. The SGT was now in prisoner fatigues.

The Colonel told him that his behavior was despicable for a Turkish NCO.
"As a consequence of your behavior with young recruits, your superiors and I have agreed to demote you to simple Private."
The ex-SGT Kunt was obviously disturbed by the announcement the Colonel had made, but I was rather pleased after the brutal way he had treated me.
"How many years do you still have on your contract, Private Kunt ?" continued the Colonel.
"Four on a ten year enlistment, Colonel."
"We are going to add 10 years to that, Private, in order to give you enough time to go through the Recruit training as it is done in MY regiment. Do you agree with that, PVTE ?"
"Can I refuse, Colonel ?"
"YES, but in that case it will be 4 year as a demoted SGT who has to go through a painful judgment for mishandling the prisoners he has to transport. It could be worse than 10 more years, starting as a Private. Ask PFC Demir who is behind you, PVT Kunt."
"I understand Colonel. Where may I sign this extension of my contract ?"
That’s how the Colonel closed my case and that of Lukin, and probably of many others. I now had a great admiration for my Colonel.

I was told to lead Kunt to the office where he received his new uniform, as PVT of my regiment. He was then told to go to another room than mine and start his Basic training with recruits who had just started. Lukin was with another group of Recruits.

Lukin finished his Basic training as one of the best soldiers of his group. His parents did not want to speak with him anymore. We became close friends.

Kunt, on the contrary, was considered as a very bad soldier: he kept telling his NCO that in his former regiment, a police regiment, things were done differently and more efficiently. His SGT chose to send him to the brig several times in order to let him understand that he was now a Private in a fighting regiment, not a police one. Kunt finally accepted his new situation and started to behave better, that’s when the Colonel ordered him to restart his basic training. He then performed well, but could not resist making comments and did not finish his Basic training with honors.

A few months later, I was sent with many of my comrades, including Lukin, to Syria. Kunt was also deployed with us, but with another officer. We were ordered to fight the Kurds. I thought that it was a bad action decided by my government, but since I was a soldier now and forever, I decided to obey.

Kunt did not agree with this war and kept saying that it was "unconstitutional" because it had been decided by the President and not by the Parliament. His chiefs were patient, but after a few repetitions of these accusations against our President, the Colonel had no other choice than to send him far from the other soldiers because his sayings were attacking the morale of our troops. Kunt was sent, in chains, to Tokat and I had to accompany him as a member of the platoon taking him to the jail. I was present when he was tried and sentenced to life in prison, sentenced to hard labor without communication with the outside world until he died. That reminded me of something I had luckily been saved from !

So Kunt, who was a nasty Sergeant, and a bad Private, was severely punished for the only thing he did that was good: claiming that our President was illegally bypassing our Parliament. I agreed with him, but I thought better to remain quiet.

During the active part of our anti-kurds war, I fought as well as I could. It was my chosen job after all. I was wounded, but Lukin was luckily next to me and saved me. He was also wounded but only lightly.

I was sent to a military hospital where I was well treated and completely cured. I received a medal for my "good actions" and my Colonel told me that he had asked that I be promoted to Corporal as soon as my sentence made it possible. As usually in the Army, Lukin, my savior, got nothing.

When the end of his enlistment got near its end, my friend Lukin asked me if it would be a good idea for him to reenlist. He also wanted to know what I had in mind for my own end of enlistment. That’s when I told him that my enlistment would never end: it was part of the conditions to be freed from that dreadful prison and it's hard labor. Lukin was horrified when I told him all that and asked me if, in the case it would be possible, I would still reenlist knowing the harsh punishment that could be inflicted in case of bad mood of an officer. My answer was simple:
"Listen Lukin, I wanted to join the French Foreign Legion where the conditions are also very strict. I failed there, but I was forced to join our Army. I learned to live according to the rules. By doing so, I have a decent job and a more than decent pay. I have my food, lodging and clothing provided by the Army. My life here is now very comfortable after all. If I could reenlist, I surely would."

Lukin chose to reenlist. He signed for a five year contract and was automatically promoted to Corporal. He was now my immediate superior and he performed his job very well. We remained good friends.

I am now considered as an excellent and obedient soldier. As soon as I had 5 years of service, I was promoted to Corporal. I was now the equal in rank of my friend Lukin, but he had nearly two years of seniority: he thus remained my superior. My Colonel told me that five years later, I could be promoted to Master Corporal, provided I kept behaving perfectly. He added that unluckily the special conditions of my special Sentence forbade me to get any higher rank, even if I behaved perfectly. He added, as a consolation, that I would then be allowed to get married, but not to sleep outside the barracks. He also added that he would try to get all these restrictions lifted, but that provisionally, my life was in the barracks and as a true New Janissary. I thus had to behave according to the conditions imposed on these fighting slaves.

Before the end of the five years period my Colonel was arrested by a group of the Presidential guard. One of his "crimes" was the demotion of ex-SGT Kunt who had been rehabilitated and sent back to his "Police regiment", another "crime" was my promotion to Corporal and the way he treated "Lukin the deserter". Luckily, I was not arrested. We got another Colonel, Colonel Yavuz, who did not like me. On his second day as regimental commander he called me in his office and told me:
"Demir, I studied your file carefully. You are neither an enlisted man nor a soldier doing his military service. You are in fact a New Janissary. As such, you are not a free man and you will never be one, despite the promises made by my predecessor. The attempts he made to let you be released of some of the restrictions justifiably imposed on you are some of the reasons for his arrest and futur trial as a traitor to our President."
He looked at me for a while and checked whether I remained immobile and respectuous in the position of attention. He then went on:
"Demir, you are a Janissary and not a free man. You will never be a free man because of your first crime. I let you serve your country, as decided by a Judge, but not more. You don’t deserve to wear the ‘collar of appartenance’ the good soldiers wear during the day. To show to the others that you are only a Janissary, you will have to change your collar. You will from now on wear this one with a metallic plate on it. On this plate are your name, your matricule number and your status: JANISSARY. This new soldier collar must remain perfectly clean. You will wear it permanently, day and night. UNDERSTOOD ?"
"YES, Colonel. At your command, Colonel."
"Demir, you must notice that this is not an ornament like the first one you received. It also has a metallic ring placed in the back to show everybody that you are only a Janissary and that a leash can be fixed to your collar since you might deserve to be treated like a dog."

I had noticed that contrary to my first "soldier collar", the new one had a ring fixed in the back, probably to enable a free soldier to attach a leash to it and show to everybody that I was only a slave-fighter and not a free-fighter.

"Give me back your ‘collar of appartenance’: you don’t deserve it. I will permanently fix your Janissary collar on your neck, Demir."
I took off my glorious soldier collar, as if I wanted to clean it or to take a shower. I offered my neck to the Colonel who rapidly attached this Janissary collar on it, and I knew that it would be forever.

As a good soldier, I had obeyed this order, despite my regrets to be now singled out in such a demeaning way. I immediately started to think that it would be more difficult now to clean it, except if another soldier of my platoon accepted to help me, but things changed a little bit more for the worse.

The Colonel went on with his demeaning orders:
"My predecessor let you sleep in your own private little room. You must understand that I cannot accept that situation for a plain Janissary. You will from now on sleep with other soldiers in a common room, on a plain bunk like theirs. There will be no privacy for you since you are only a slave. You will also have your head completely shaved every morning. UNDERSTOOD."
"YES, COLONEL."

I even expected him to demote me to Private since I was only a slave in his eyes, but he added:
"You should never have been promoted to Corporal, but I am not going to demote you since you behaved well during the time you spent in my regiment. You even behaved very well during our fights against the Kurds. You will remain Corporal, but you will not be promoted Sergeant. Moreover you will have to exchange your khaki stripes for green ones since green stripes are less visible. Let me now see your Janissary collar."
I obeyed his order expecting him to place a leash on it, but he did not do it and simply said:
"Go now, and do your duty."
"At your command, Colonel," were my last words.

I saluted as I had been told, made an about turn and left the Colonel’s office well decided to show by my behavior that I was worth the honorable title of Janissary. I succeeded to refrain from crying but not for long.

Time has passed. My former friend Lukin is still good for me, but he is a Sergeant I respect. My roommates are friendly but they treat me as the Colonel wants it: they treat me as afighting slave, and a good fighter. I am theoretically their superior, but I don’t even try to give orders unless told to do so by SGT Lukin or by another of my chiefs.

I can now go regularly out of the Camp for a daylight walk in town or to the mosque. I can of course be told to stay in the barracks, even during my free time. I often drink tea in a bar, but never more alcohol. I am not allowed to go outside the town limits, except with a chief and as an active duty soldier. I must say that I really don’t care anymore. I am not married and I remain in the section commanded by Sergeant Lukin. I am his right hand as a plain Corporal. I still have one possible promotion: Master Corporal. I don’t really think that I will ever get it.

Our new Colonel is a good soldier but not a very kind man. He respects exactly the conditions imposed on me by my last sentence. I met a nice girl and she was ready to marry me, but the Colonel told me that if I got married, I would nevertheless have to be present in the barracks everyday, even during the week-ends or during my leaves, at 7 pm and I would have to sleep there until 5 am the next day. He even added that he required me, because of my sentence, to have my evening meal and my breakfast in the barracks. Any breach of these rules would result in an immediate demotion and transfer to the Tokat prison to be tried for breaking the conditions of my liberation from prison. I think that this is harsher than the initial decision made by my last Judge, but being only a soldier I can only obey these orders. My direct chief, SGT Lukin, is good for me, but he behaves as a real chief must behave with a Janissary.

SGT Lukin is married now and he has children. He invites me sometimes for lunch at his place and I play with his children, but I go back early to the barracks as foreseen in my special rules. It is obvious that I had to break up with the lady I wanted to be my wife.

Despite all these restrictions, I keep wearing my uniform proudly. I am very careful to have it perfectly clean and freshly ironed every day. I make sure that my boots are perfectly polished and that my Janissary collar is always shining. I take special care to clean what I call my dog tag. Sometimes, SGT Lukin orders me to clean his clothes and his boots: I always do it with great respect, knowing that my chief will soon be promoted to Master Sergeant.

I am happy, despite all these constraints. Some nights, while I sleep on my bunk in the same room as the other soldiers, I dream that the constraints have been removed, that I now have my own room and that I can again wear my khaki stripes. I also dream that I can be promoted to Sergeant. But I never dream of going back, outside Turkey, visiting my parents. In fact, I have no contact anymore with my family. In any case, when I wake up, I am fully back in the reality of my Janissary condition.

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