WILL TURKISH NAVY BE STEADY ON COURSE?
Human capital is the most valuable asset in all organizations as agreed by all and in today's rapid changing, information dominant environment in all domains, education as well as training of such resource is greatly invested and given utmost importance. Coupled with this phenomena, finding the true leaders and ensuring their timely appointments as well as their education in any organization may take up valuable resources and time over the years. It is also stressed that environment, in which leaders emerge or rather were raised, has great importance in acquiring respective leadership attributes. It is, on the other hand, a commonly accepted fact that especially the military organizations must be led by true leaders. However, history is full of military commanders, whom neither were not natural leaders, nor did not possess the necessary leadership traits, in fact, instead pretended to have been or acted so.
Similar to many other developed navies, Turkish Navy has had a unique advancement system and Commanders of Turkish Navy have become fully donned at every step of their career path before they made to the top post. Alike in all navies, an officer in Turkish Navy has had to follow a specific career pattern before he or she is promoted to be an admiral, presumably having gained the required knowledge and experience and possessed the right leadership skills. In fact, such knowledge, experience and skills have all been essential to be able to appropriately lead the Navy into the uncertain future, as retired admirals and former Commanders have been the living witnesses to such utterance.
It has been the geopolitical situation of Turkey, which always strengthened the need for strong leaders in Turkish Navy. Recent developments in the region have only reinforced this claim. Ever since 2011, Turkey has started confronting problems around its borders due to well-known political turmoils. It is no coincidence that many of those problems have originated from the countries Turkey has no land border with, such as Egypt, Ukraine and Libya. Namely, the Arab Spring, Russian invasion of Crimea, situation in Syria and Egypt and the latest tensions with Russian Federation have all pointed out that Turkey has desperately been in need of an effective Navy, ably deployable beyond its borders.
However, Turkish Navy was not adequately prepared for the paradigm shift such developments dictated, since it traditionally concentrated on defending its territorial waters and essentially
focused on any possible limited or all-out general war with Greek Navy in the Aegean Sea. But, still being grateful to its adroit, experienced and reformist leader Admiral Bülent BOSTANOĞLU, Turkish Navy was able to pass through such narrow straits safe and sound. In essence, his unique naval experience together with vast maritime knowledge and genuine leadership skills all converged to give him an upper hand to effectively lead the Turkish Navy to relatively benign waters.
In essence, his prudent and decisive actions enabled the swift and consistent adaptation of Turkish Navy to ever-changing circumstances in its surrounding seas and beyond and played key role in coping with the recent internal and external drains of focus and energy. But, it would be appropriate here to take note of the fact that Turkish Navy commenced to actively deal with the problems around surrounding seas first in Admiral Uğur Yiğit’s, later in admiral Murat BİLGEL's tenures. In that respect, having ensured a major commitment to NATO’s Libya operation, which encompassed tasking of 6 ships, Turkish Navy seemed to have put in great efforts to maintain its highest readiness level and expand its operational capacity by providing more assets to major international exercises.
Admiral Bostanoglu, during his tenure, followed on that legacy, but further elevated the status of Turkish Navy in all aspects. More specifically, having dodged the well-known problem areas with Greece in the Aegean Sea and acted in the spirit of Turkish foreign policy, Turkish Navy was observed to be more active especially in the Eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, having maintained the active commitment to ongoing counter piracy operations off the coasts of Somalia and supported the robust measures in countering illegal migration, of which Turkey is desperately in need, Turkish Navy gained invaluable experience in military operations other than war.
Admiral Bostanoglu has always been in favor of the utilization of the Navy in support of the foreign policy. His determination in that regard was more than just following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Admirals Yiğit and Bilgel, whom played essential roles in the initiation of Turkish Maritime Task Group deployments, Mediterranean Sea in 2010, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea in 2011. It is worthwhile to remember that during these deployments, the Task Group conducted many fruitful port visits, which was a clear indication that a Navy can be used as an effective instrument of foreign policy in further improving relations and strengthening ties with other.
But, it is particularly incumbent upon all of us to take note of Admiral Bostanoglu's exemplary
and strong leadership in the deployment of Turkish Maritime Task Group in 2014 around Africa. The deployment then coincided with the Crimean crisis and his adamant position was unusually and harshly criticized by a cadre of retired admirals, whom disagreed with him on the notion that the Navy should be kept in home waters, where there might be the need, not far from the shores. But, he rightly opposed that the Navy had the capacity and the will to achieve both. His historic stance and comprehensive approach in both the preparations and execution paved the way for a huge achievement. Having decided and acted so, he not only proved the effective use of Navy in establishing and further improving relations with other nations but also took charge in presenting a huge opportunity for the planning and conduct of historically seamless challenging missile firings off the coasts of South Africa, which were made possible for the first time in the history of Turkish Navy.
In the meanwhile, during his tenure, Turkish Navy has continued to be highly controversial in public due to nation-wide popular lawsuits. Therefore, besides leading the Navy through such a turbulent period replete with challenges and crises, Admiral BOSTANOĞLU also successfully managed to cope with the trauma of tragic so-called, BALYOZ and ERGENEKON cases. Owing to his sincere and affectionate not only vacant sayings, but also tangible acts, he admirably won the hearts and minds of all affected from these cases. In sum, despite all allegations and condemnations, Admiral BOSTANOGLU has so far succeded in further sharpening the readiness edge of the Turkish Navy, as well as sustaining the momentum necessary for the continuing reforms to modernize Turkish Navy’s operational capability, while doing utmost in his capacity for the morale and well-being of his people.
In the meantime, in accordance with customary practice, it is anticipated that incumbent Fleet Commander, Admiral Veysel KĂśsele is to relieve Bostanoglu in 2016. However, it is wondered whether he is the right candidate, whom will continue to skillfully lead the Turkish Navy through ongoing current turbulent times, considering his respectively limited knowledge and experience gained on board auxiliary ships and not mainstream HQ operational posts, contrary to that of Admiral Bostanoglu, acquired on board destroyers and operational HQ and command posts, which enabled his ascension to higher ranks, as well as having paved the way for his exemplary achievements. Having taken into account of Admiral Kosele's career path, up until 2011, when he was promoted to Vice Admiral, he was never deemed as a candidate to be a Commander of the Turkish Navy, thus was appointed to relatively secondary HQ and command posts early in his flag-rank career.
Moreover, during his tenure as the Fleet Commander, the fact that he still occupies much of his time with and on board ships, to be more exact, dwelling on daily issues and minor details, rather than visionary perspectives, as if he was settled to make up for the vacuum stemming
from his unfitting career path, raises suspicions that, if appointed as the next Chief of the Turkish Navy, he will not be able to meet his strategic level obligations. Time will eventually unleash whether the next commander of Turkish Navy, of which her high operational tempo is under close scrutiny of western nations, chiefly of the US, will be able to continue the attained acceleration, gained during Admiral Bostanoglu's tenure.
In fact, after his fellow colleagues, whom possessed the required knowledge and experience and were seen as candidates to be Commanders of Turkish Navy, were sidelined, Admiral Kรถsele was appointed to be the Commander of Turkish Fleet, having benefited from his favorable relations with the incumbent political authorities and bureaucracy. However, whether or not he will display a similar performance of Admiral Bostanoglu, compared to that of his peers will be known for sure in the coming years. On the other hand, being himself the victim of an ongoing legal suit, he may feel obligated to follow the developments with regards to respective law processes concerning his status, resulting in his degraded concentration in office.
Admiral Kรถsele is also known to look after the well-being of his inner circle and play key roles in their promotion as well as rewarding appointments, having settled himself on an approach not fitting in merit-based considerations and expectations. It is also possible that bearing in mind that he surely is to become the next Commander of Turkish Navy, he might have already started making critical decisions, which might affect the future of the Navy. In that case, he might probably be experiencing disagreements and contending with Admiral Bostanoglu, whom clearly has a different mindset and perspective than Admiral Kรถsele. This stand-off in a way has seemed to manifest itself especially after Turkey shot down Russian aircraft in Syria, since it is evaluated that Turkish Navy is still far off from pursuing an effective, clear and consistent policy in the Eastern Med., most likely stemming from the divergences of opinion between the Navy and Fleet Command HQs.
Conclusively, in recent years, Turkish Navy has taken big strides and come to the forefront in international arena, having further polished upon its shining image. This positive move, however, accidentally coincided with one of the most severe internal power struggles in Turkish political history, in which its negative effects undesirably materialized in most government offices and institutions. Turkish Navy, ably led by Admiral Bostanoglu, managed to stay out of such struggles and always look ahead. However, it raises suspicions, whether Admiral Kosele, whom is seen to succeed Admiral Bostanoglu with certainty, at least as of now, will be able to continue the change he will have inherited from Admiral Bostanoglu, since he has tucked in an unusual career path and thus has to cope with the apparent lack of experience it puts on his shoulders.
Unexpected retirement or rather expelling of seasoned admirals following upon unjust legal battles created an evident experience vacuum within the Turkish Navy, however, Admiral Bostanoglu was deftly able to overcome such havoc with his own extensive knowledge and experience gained over the years.Having still not completely recovered from the effects of such a turbulent period, Turkish Navy is still desperately in need of a adept and strong leadership. It could evidently be expected that such leaders continue to be at the helm, only if merit-based promotion and appointment system is valued, spirit and principles of Ataturk are preserved, both of which clearly have paved the way for the survival of Turkish Navy during such difficult periods.
It is undeniably a fact that Turkish Navy faces many tough choices, spanning from the policies to be adopted and the plans to implemented in the wake of current crises in its surrounding seas to the sustenance of its current fleet, as well as the dynamic adaptation of its future fleet projections. They all require immediate solutions. Most above all, they all necessitate a decisive, experienced and visionary leader, whom is ready to challenge the status quo and, most importantly, not affected by nor leaning to any political proposition. Stakes are high for the Turkish Navy. Its choices for its next Chief and later on, if that might be Admiral Kosele, his leadership in coping with the numerous challenges will be closely monitored by its credible strategic partner, the US.