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me as if I was a fugitive and I was called to come before the military school commander İsmail Hakkı Tunaboylu. The military school commander who I commemorate with great respect, kindly asked where had I been. I told everything as clear as posibble and told him that I never used any leave during my two months of trainning and some of the people there had never appeared for exercises, and never even showed up at the detachment. As a result, I was assigned at the science battalion of reserve officer school, perhaps considering my profession. I wasn’t given any equipment other than a military uniform. The biggest problem at the reserve officer school was the lack of water at that date. I witnessed that there were no clean spot to step on, on the toilet floors of that modern school building. Some other friends who were engineers like me and I, were sent to military factories after 20 or 25 days. I left the group at Elmadağ Gunpowder Factory. While my peers were being trained at the reserve officer school for six months, I worked as an operation engineer at the factory. Six months later, I was dispatched to Science and Arts Laboratory in Ankara as a War Industrial Military Lieutanent which later was called Military Equipment Laboratory. The director at the Elmadağ Gunpowder Factory was a artillery colonel. The waste waters of the factory was drained to a stream before any purification or any other process to become harmless. One day, a headman of a nearby village had visited the director and asked for some precautions to be taken because the domestic animals which drink water from the stream either got heavily sick or died. They left with a promise to be done whatever is necessary. After a while, same people visited the factory director and complained that there were no precautions taken, they gave a very interesting answer to our director colonel after he replied “I gave orders to place signboards saying that it is forbidden to drink water from the stream on every hundred meters along the stream banks” the villagers were expelled from the factory after they objected saying “Mr. Director, our domestic animals do not know how to read or write” As my peers completed their trainning at the reserve officer school, we were decorated with reserve officer second lieutanent rank and I was notified that I was appointed to Science and Arts Laboratory in Ankara. I went to the laboratory where was between the War School and Quartermaster Corps School (today Gülhane Military Hospital) and which is called Military Equipment Laboratory today. At those times, the lack of houses to rent was at its peak in Ankara. As it was not possible to rent a house with a second lieutanent salary I sent my wife and my son (Hasan was 1 years old) to his father in Konya who was also my uncle. I was staying at a suitable room in physics laboratory, sleeping on a portable bed. The mission of the laboratory I worked in, was to carry out all the scientific inspections and analyses to every item that was purchased from troop boots to gunpowder (except foodstuffs). I was discharged from my military service that carried on until March 1947 as a war industrial lieutanent. I will mention some of my memories I find exciting during this period. - As there was no dinner service in the laboratory, I had been going to eat to Sıhhiye district of Ankara. While going there and coming back, I was walking through the fields and arriving to Army Military Academy, from the front side of Gendarme School. One night while I was walking back to the laboratory through the fields between the gendarme school and the laboratory, I was very scared to see a whole bunch of dogs running towards me howling and barking. However, I witnessed that the dogs never attacked me seeing the military uniform I was wearing. Another incident was that I had placed gunpowder samples into the test device in order to be tested. After a certain time, the power of the test device testing the samples, should have been unplugged. When I was going to dinner to officer’s club, I warned the sentry at the laboratory to unplug the device. Waiting for the rain to stop, I was a little late from dinner. The doors of the laboratory were always kept locked. Only the sentry was allowed to open it. After returning from dinner, even if I rang the laboratory door bell persistantly, nobody opened and so I went to the back door and I saw a light coming from one of the rooms. When I looked inside, I saw three soldiers including the sentry were playing cards. I knocked on the door asking them to open the door. When I got in, the first thing that I checked was whether the power plug of the test device is connected to power socket or not. It was a huge coincidence that even if the sentry hadn’t unplugged the power, the tested gunpowder sample hasn’t exploded. A third incident was, the testing the sample of aircraft fuel needed for the military field exercise which took place on the winter of 1947. To do this, the samples which were collected from the fuel tanks of the Mobil gas company at Beykoz Kavaklar district, had to tested. The samples mentioned were analyzed to be inconvinient according to the specifications. And because, inspite of the persistant demands from the laboratory manager, I didn’t give my approval report for the samples, then I was reported to be out on the leave, even if there was a whole month time for my military service to be completed yet. As a result, I was discharged from army completing my military service in the March 1947. I again started my assigment in Chlor-Alkali Factory that was belonged İzmit Paper Factory as an operations engineer. I had my wife and my son brought back to İzmit. As there were no free public houses, we had to stay at the management building of Chlor-Alkali factory. After the assignation of Adil AKTOLU to become the chief of operations at paper factory, who was the chief of operations in Chlor-Alkali factory, I was assigned to the vacant position. In 1950, my daughter Neşe was born. I was given an allowance of one of the public houses which the construction had just finished. After a short period of time, I was assigned to the position of the chief of operations in paper and chloride factory. This job of mine went on until June 21st, 1955. At that date, the paper factories were seperated from Sümerbank to form an solitary general directorate under the name Seka, I was appointed as the technical general manager from being the chief of operations. As a necessity of its establishment code, a college graduate had to be appointed as the general manager to Seka Directorate General, in accordance to a political thought, a high school graduate Enver ATAFIRAT was appointed to the job, and occupied the position until the military coup in 1960. Because of this unlawful assignment, the coup government, jailed Enver ATAFIRAT in İzmit. My assigment as the Assistant Technical General Manager was barely declared verbally and only after two months of delay, it was issued on gazette (official journal). I found out the reason of this delay, only after I resigned from Seka, by coindicence. The incident took place as: After I was appointed to the position mentioned, Celal EVİN (Etudes Instituiton) who regarded himself as more appropriate for the position, complained about me through DP (Democratic Party) to the upper authorities, saying that I had been a CHP (Republican People’s Party) member, by showing my picture which had been taken at the Chlor factory with İsmet İNÖNÜ when he was the President. After the upper authorities of DP had inspected me and found out that I wasn’t a member to any political party, my appointment was approved. In discordance to the conservative and statist policies of CHP, the liberal and impulsive policies of DP who came to the power in 1950, has created a liveliness in general, and the private sector has participated within the industrial investments which played an important role in the development of the country, however the low amount of exports had affected the income and expenditure accounts in balance of the foreign exchanges and finally the resources of the Central Bank of Turkey was depleted. By the foreign indebtments and increase in the emission, it was impossible for Turkey to pay back its foreign debts. Because the imports of even the most essential needs had become impossible, the industrial sector which was mostly dependent upon foreing supplies, fell in to a deep trouble. As a result of increase in the amount of foreign debts, the relations with the forign companies were strenghtened. In this period, it was told that around 400 companies in Germany, had gone bankrupt because they couldn’t collect their balances receivable from Turkey. So the German Government had to start debts liquidation by Hermes guarantee. This also caused a strong downfall in the reputation of Seka in by foreign companies. The essential needs which were imported just by a phone call without any LC application to the bank (like sifter or felt) before then, had become inacceptable without a LC. Trying different methods to pay foreign debts, had caused the amount of the TL to increase abroad and lead to depreciation. After all these events took place, the value of TL which was very stable and firm, was devaluated by the decision taken on August 4th, 1958, and the exchange rate of one dollar was increased to 9 TL from 3.83 TL. After this date, the TL could not be prevented from value losses. In the beginning of 1989, the exchange rate of dollar was increased to 9,000 TL. The fact that administration in Seka had become an extention of the government and directing each and every subject is identified according to the party’s desires, resulted in various corruptions. I shall give only few examples about this subject. - The remainder of the produced cigarette papers which did not meet the defined specificaitons, was put in to use as toilet papers. The price of a roll of toilet paper was 80 TL. The prices were determined as agreed on together with the Ministry of Industry. As the determined price was so low, the sales were halted awaiting the approval of the application to to ministry for increasing the price to a level that will prevent the loss. One day, as I heard that in spite of the directions for halting the sales, an amount of 80.000 rolls of toilet paper were delivered to somebody, and I asked the state of this sale to director general, I was given the answer that somebody close to DP needed a favour. The mention person had the chance to sell the paper bags he bought with a price increment of 100 % or to transfer this allotment to somebody else. - A second incident was an unlawful purchase of poplar woods from a poplar grove around Ankara that belonged to Ahmet Salih KORUR who was the undersecretary of prime ministry at that time. At that time, the delivery price to the factory depot field of a one meter long poplar log, cut and peeled was 400 TL, the poplar trees of Mr. Undersecretary was purchased at a price of 400 TL with the condition that Seka would undertake the services of cutting at the grove, peeling and transportation to its depot field. - A third subject is firewood imports from Canada. At the time when foreign currency stocks were down, the firewood imports that was going to be utilized at the paper factory with the 500.000 dollars provided by American government as monetary allowance alloted to Seka. About the utilization of this allotment, the invitation for the bids by issuing the articles and conditions about the purchase took place in Small Business magazine published in America.The bidding companies had to submit their sales prices to Seka according to the specifications. The mentioned matters were fulfilled by Seka and the interested companies were expected to bid. The tender letters were opened on the announced tender date in a meeting along with the presence of the companies who offered their bids. However when the the tender letter of the company Taschenrrecher Ağaoğlu, which was a partnership of Süreyya Ağaoğlu who were the sister of the minister of industries and somebody named Taschenrrecher was opened by general manager, because it didn’t contain tender guarantee letter and the prices were much more higher than the other companies’ prices, the participating companies were asked to renew their prices in ona week time because of the mentioned reasons above by the general manager (who is understood to be oredered to prefer the mentioned company at the end of the tender) despite the lowest price bidder should have been preferred. The minute records of the tender mentioned above had to be signed by myself as the assistant technical general manager and by Cemal SİLAHÇIOĞLU as the assistant administrative general manager. The other assitant general manager and I hadn’t given our signatures stating that the procedure took place was violating the tender laws and we may have faced with at least six months of prisonment. The director general told us that the minister would protect us against this situation. On the very same day, I applied verbally on the phone to General Directorate of Sümerbank and asked for my transfer to Sümerbank from Seka. The next day my transfer was approved. The reason I left Seka was issued on the daily Seka newspaper as being the inharmonious person to the general concordances and collaborations. I was appointed as the technical inspector and left for Ankara from İzmir. I had already sent my spouse and children to Konya. As I started my assignment in Ankara, my first duty was to carry out technical inspection in the Industrial Corporation of Leather and Shoe in Beykoz. While I was on duty at Gemlik Artificial Silk Factory as an inspector after Beykoz, we had gone there taking my daughter Neşe, who had just started pimary school. Neşe studied the primary school there. After that while I was on my way for an inspection duty in Sivas Cement Factory, I sent my spouse to her father’s house in Konya along with my daughter Neşe. There I acquainted the cement sector after my main profession which was Chlor-Alkali and Cellulose. As a result the cement sector had become my main subject. As I continued my job in the directorate of inspection, the Director General Mehmet AKIN invited me to his office. They wanted to appoint me as the Assistant Director General to Tehnical Issues, to Turkey Cement Industries Inc. whose the 44,9 percent its capital was owned by Sümerbank. I mentioned that it was not the right thing to accept this appointment because my whole knowledge about cement was only the inspection I had carried out in Sivas Cement Factory. As a result, I was assigned to administer the Balıkesir Cement Factory. It was compulsory in the factory to use the Zonguldak minarel coal. At that date the delivery price of the mineral coal which was 7.000 calory per one kilogram, to depot field of Balıkesir Cement Factory was around 260 TL per one ton. The price of Soma Lignite coal which was 4.500 calories per one kilogram under the same conditions was 45 TL per one ton. It was mandatory to use the mineral coal in Balıkesir Cement Factory where the production was operated with dry system, assuming that it would be hazardous to operate with lignite coal. I thought it would be advantageous to try operating with lignite coal, because at the end the cost of the clinker and accordingly cement, which was the main product of the company would be considerably low. I first made a trial using ten percent of lignite coal mixed with the usual coal. Afterwards, getting closely involved with this matter in person, I provided the possibility of operating with hundred percent of lignite coal. Probably, it had been realized before I reported to the directorate general about the subject, the assistant director general who arrived to inspect my disorderly behaviour, should have decided that I am capable enough and well quailified about cement production after observing the situaiton at its local, had my assignment for the position of the Technical Assistant Director General to Cement Industries Inc. after he arrived back at Ankara. When I was in Balıkesir Cement Factory, Ahmet KINIK the governer of Balıkesir at that time used to make meetings with upper level administrative people of the city, and discuss about the various matters regarding the city. During one of the meetings which I participated, the first secretary of the governor had stepped in. He told that one committee from one of the villages of Balıkesir had requested for a meeting with the governor. The meeting which was done by governer privately with the committee, which he later told us about, was very ineresting. It was quite interesting that the committee from the village told him that the villagers support CHP, and after raising some money they had a school constructed in the village and they asked for a teacher appointed and some equipment for the school were turned down by the governor who was a DP member. In my opinion, these kind of attitudes and behaviors were one of the main reasons of the military coup in 1960. On the other hand, I witnessed that the relations between the people in Balıkesir and businessmen, were quite civilized regardless of their political visions. I will refer to two subjects about this matter. - First of all, at those days when the the opposing treatments of government and the opposition were at their peak, the party members, businessmen, tradesman and etc, who met at the city club with opposite political opinions, were in such a sincere and intimate conversations with each other. - Second, there were no ticket sellers in the public busses. The passengers were travelling on the busses after the leave the ticket or appropriate amount of money to a certain place in the bus. The political uneasiness and troubles was at its limit in Ankara during the first months of 1960. Everyday in Kızılay, there were students’ demontrations and protests and military polices with bayonets were patrolling among the people on sidewalks. After a short time, the military coup in May 27th 1960 took place and the parliament was dissolved, while a committee under the presidency of Cemal GÜRSEL named National Solidarity Committee took over. DP was closed down and upper level staff who were the members of this party along with the persident Celal BAYAR and the prime minister Adnan MENDERES were arressted. A huge number of upper administrators were replaced. The ones who weren’t member to any party including me were kept in their assignments. It was quite interesting to see a clipboard attached to General Directorate building walls by a person Mehmet BOZMA who were trying to benefit from each and every opportunity. On this clipboard it was written “we do not want the director general with four cars and his accomplices”. The clipboard was taken down by a watchman and the employment contract of the person who attached it was cancelled by the call of board of directors. After a few months from the military coup of May 27th 1960, because the Director General of Turkey Cement Industries Inc. Selahattin AKYOL was appointed as the Director General of Sümerbank, Orhan ÜÇOK was appointed as the director general. Üçok’s period did not last long and and the he, who was a relative of Turhan FEYZİOĞLU a member of national solidarity committee, was sent to United States of America tohether with a comission to supervise the establishments of the Ereğli Iron and Steel Factory along with a high salary. I was appointed to the available position. However this appointment was not in my favour financial wise. As I was working on a daily wage of 120 TL per one day, but my monthly salary happened to be 1.750 TL. After being appointed as the director general, a person named Muzaffer YURDAKULER who introduced himself as a member of national solidarity committee called and asked me to reemploy the electrical technician Mehmet BOZMA with the highest salary possible who attached the clipboard on the walls of general directorate on the morning of May 27th, and was fired eventually, while I was with a guest of mine İhsan MOCAN (he afterwards was appointed as the Director general to Etibank), upon my reply to the caller saying: ‘it would be impossible to reemploy such a person whose employment contract was cancelled with the call of the board of directors, because of a possible negative impact in the general directorate’, the instruciton the above mentioned person who was a member of the national solidarity committee, tried to order me was deradfully odd. (Have we created the revolution for these?). The answer I’ve given to the member of the committee was: “We were told that the cause of the revolution was to revive the state governed by the rule of law instead of a government who had already lost is legitimation”. Upon this answer of mine the telephone was hung up to my face and my guest İhsan MOCAN was so scared that he ran away. As a result, the member of committee Muzaffer YURDAKULER must have complained about me, Cemal MADANOĞLU (another member of the committee) had called me and asked for the details about the matter, and after I told everything about the matter clearly, Cemal MADANOĞLU said: “Mr. Director general, we are soldiers, we sometimes talk inconsiderate, please excuse us. You do whatever the laws, regulations and rules require” and I was saved from being exiled to Yassıada. While my assignment as the director general continued, one of the interesting evets were the attitude of Fethi ÇELİKBAŞ who were appointed as the Minister of Industries at that time. In this period, the directors general affiliated to the ministry used to meet at the ministry once every fortnight. In one of those meetings, the minister Fethi ÇELİKBAŞ saying “you must learn a foreign language, I am a Galatasary High School graduate, I know French and I follow different foreign magazines” to us, the directors general who were knowledgeable of at least one foreign language. It was pretty clear that Mr. Minister hadn’t got a slightest idea about who the directors general were. Another important matter was that Mr. Çelikbaş’s verbal directions through the ministry undersecretariat in order to establish a cement factory in Ergani while there were legal actions taken against the directors general or assistant directors due to the instructions and orders executed to establish cement factories, during the times of directors general prior to my management, which were taken according to the political causes especially during the Democratic Party times. According to the result of the analyses carried out at the location, it was determined and reported to the ministry that it was unconvinient to establish a factory. This decision of ours which didn’t abide with Mr. Minister’s demands, had angered him and caused some dreary occations. The requested written order couldn’t be provided in spite of the persistent demands from the minister through the channel of the undersecretary. Three of the partners of the corporation (Sümerbank 44,9 percent, Emlak Kredi Bankası 44,9 percent and İş Bank 10,2 percent) were notified about the resulting situation. All three partners weren’t able declare their foresights to say “yes” or “no” about this matter, even if two months time were spent. I invited the assembly for an emergency board meeting by being the the director of board of directors. After the thorough meetings and negotiations took place, I chose to give my resignation because I didnt approve to establish a cement factory in Ergani according to the verbal instructions from the ministry. Cavit BORÇBAKAN who was appointed by the...... |