Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
"We saw his body while
washing it. There was a scar on his neck as if he had been hanged with a
clothesline. Both of his eyes had burst. Blood was coming from his
eyes. His nose was completely broken and filled with cotton. There was
such a large swelling and bruise on his chest it looked as if a tree had
been stuck there. His upper lip was almost as big as a palm. His right
foot was stitched." — Hikmet Yılmaz, elder brother of Ferhan Yılmaz,
evidently tortured to death in Silivri prison on April 10, 2022.
"There are thousands of cases like this. I spoke to his brother a
while ago.... There is ill-treatment and torture in all prisons,
systematically everywhere." — Sezgin Tanrıkulu, deputy of the main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), bianet.com. July 14, 2022.
"[W]e learned that the transferred prisoners told their
families, 'We are at risk here too. Do not make any more statements to
the press.'" — Monitoring Delegation of Prisons in the Marmara Region,
press conference, tihv.org.tr, April 15, 2022.
"Both of his hands have cuts and stitches.... His whole body is
bruised.... He can't see any more. They tortured him so much he has lost
his eyesight. They hit him so much in the head that his head shakes all
the time. His eyes start moving as if he had a stroke.... He has seven
stitches on one arm and six on the other...They put him in a cell where
there was feces of other prisoners. They told him to eat the feces. They
beat my son and hanged him twice. And then removed him from the rope.
He also hanged himself once... He said they made him do it... They put a
razor blade there and told him to cut himself. They waited there so he
had to cut himself." — Beyaz Çelik, mother of prisoner Halil Kasal, who
was tortured at Silivri Prison.
"I emphasize that there is no torture or ill-treatment in Turkish
prisons... Almost all of the allegations against prisons are
exaggeration, distortion and fiction... Such allegations were made by
terrorist organizations, circles that support terrorist organizations or
those who support them politically." — Turkey's Minister of Justice
Bekir Bozdağ, t24.com.tr, April 20, 2022.
"Prisoners are under torture. There are massive violations of
rights. Prisoners die, they are killed, but [authorities] say that they
committed suicide." — Fatma Kurtulan, MP of the HDP party and member of
the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, Yeni Yasam Gazetesi, April 20, 2022.
"[S]ometimes the prison guards show counter-reflexes by
complaining about the prisoners that they abuse, and the prisoners get
arbitrarily and illegally punished for the abuses from which they have
suffered.... These incidents are due to sentences arbitrarily and
unlawfully implemented in Turkey, and the widespread impunity policy for
state authorities who are perpetrators of crimes." — Mehdi Ozdemir,
attorney, board member of Diyarbakir Bar Association, to Gatestone,
April 23, 2022.
What makes this situation even worse is that the international
community, including the UN, has enabled the Turkish government to carry
out its policy of destruction of human rights with no consequences, but
many rewards.
