In the Name of Collective Turkish Consciousness
By Marcus A. Templar
On April 24 of this year, the Turkish government and, strangely enough the Australian government, observed the Battle of Gallipoili. What is very interesting, however, is that the Campaign of Gallipoli did not take place on April 24, 1915. The designation of April 24 as the 100th anniversary of “Battle of Gallipoli” cannot be construed otherwise except that Turkey is desecrating the memory of those killed when the Turks committed atrocities against humanity. The Campaign of Gallipoli started on April 25, 1915 and lasted until January 9, 1916.
The Young Turk revolution of 1908 under the name Committee of Union and Progress or CUP, a political group within the Ottoman Army which evolved into a political party representing nationalist views, imposed its own government on the Turkish Sultan resulting in CUP being responsible for all events between 1908 and the end of WW I. In reality, the same party under name Republican People’s Party ruled Turkey until 1950 when its monopoly ended.
WW I ended with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire when the Allied forces entered Istanbul (Constantinople). The occupying forces arrested all leading members of CUP on charges of complicity in the Armenian genocide in Anatolia during the war. Among those arrested was Ziya Gokalp, the theoretician of Turkism and Kemalism.
Following several months in prison, the leaders of CUP were tried by a military tribunal. Being found guilty, some of the accused were condemned to death in absentia including fugitives: Talaat Pasha, former Grand Vizir; Enver Efendi, former War Minister; Cemal Efendi, former Navy Minister; and Dr. Nazim Efendi, former Minister of Education; plus members of the General Council of the Committee of Union & Progress. Others were sent to internal exile by the order of the Sultan Mehmet VI. In the summer of 1919 the British occupation forces of Constantinople sent them to Malta. Ziya Gokalp, Ahmet Emin Yalman and their companions were released in 1921 as part of a deal in exchange for British prisoners of war.
What actually happened on April 24, 1915 was the beginning of the Armenian Genocide or, according to others, the Armenian Holocaust. Thus the question that arises is: Did Turkey and Australia celebrate the killings of about 1.5 million people? In fact, both countries, Turkey and Australia, celebrated the killings of much more than that. If we add the systematic killings of Pontian Greeks, Assyrians, Yazidis and a few others, we reach 3.5 million people who perished under the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress, the party of Kemal Ataturk.
Thus, regardless that the Turks refuse to acknowledge the genocides that its own people inflicted on their minorities, the fact is that the documents of the trial on the complicity of members and officials of the CUP still exist in the British archives, proving genocides did occur at the hands of the Turks. All this in the name of Collective Turkish Consciousness.
BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Marcus Alexander Templar joined the United States Army in 1982. After his initial Basic Training, he attended a 20-month Advanced Individual Training (AIT) where as a Signal Intelligence Voice Interceptor (Czech) he was assigned to the 314th Army Security Agency Battalion/525th Company, Operations Platoon.
In 1984, he was reassigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Operations Company/138th Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence Battalion as Voice Interceptor in Czech.
In 1989, he was assigned to the 85th Training Division (Custer Division) as a Certified Military Intelligence and Armor Observer/Controller, training selected Military Intelligence and Armor units in live training environment to increase tactical proficiency at platoon through brigade level.
In 1991, he was attached to Task Force Badger, Panama, as the Inventory/Budget Officer.
In 1993, he was assigned to the 4th Reserve Forces Intelligence School as a Certified Instructor of Serbo-Croatian and Spanish responsible for providing foreign language instruction from the beginning level to the intermediate level.
In 1998, he was chosen to lead a team of Linguists as the Contributory Support Liaison Officer supporting the Stabilization Force and Operations Nimble Lion, Allied Force, Joint Guard, Joint Forge and Kosovo Force heading successful transcription operations and performed language and intelligence analysis for the National Security Agency.
In 2002, as volunteer in support of the War on Terror he was selected as the Document Exploitation Mission Manager of Eastern European and Central Asian Languages for the Defense Intelligence Agency. In that position, he supported Operations Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle supervised and performed tasks involving the acquisition, evaluation, intelligence analysis, analysis dissemination. To accomplish the above tasks, he used foreign languages, intelligence and threat information having pertinence to research, combat and equipment developments, concepts, doctrine and doctrinal developments along with translating and analyzing documents realizing Intelligence potential of acquired documents and multimedia information.
In 2004, attached to the Field Operating Base – Europe he managed and supported internal administrative and personnel program for the Defense Intelligence Agency Overseas Operating Base, supporting 18 detachments throughout US European Command Theater of Operations.
In 2005, he held the position of Order of Battle Senior Analyst at the Joint Analysis Center, European Command, in which he was responsible for analyzing military forces and their capabilities, building threat models, and developed Course of Action models. He further introduced and incorporated knowledge of critical foreign languages providing greatly enhanced capabilities within Order of Battle.
In 2005, as Foreign Disclosures Officer of the Headquarters, Military Infrastructure Office of the Defense Intelligence Agency, approved or denied as final authority the disclosure of classified military information in accordance with provisions of the National Disclosure Policy.
In 2006, as Superintendent, Maritime Operations of the European Command he managed and supported U.S. Navy maritime mission of NATO and U.S. coastal and offshore defense as a tactical as well as a strategic national defense force. Later in 2006, Mr. Templar was appointed as a Foreign Disclosures Officer at the U.S. National Center for Medical Intelligence, Fort Detrick, MD.
Retired in 2008 from the U.S. Army, Marcus Templar served the U.S. Intelligence Community in a civilian capacity as Principal Subject Matter Expert specializing in All-source Counter-IED Intelligence Analysis responding to requests from Combatant Commands for IED related issues, primarily in the African Command and Central Command Theaters of Operation. In addition, he developed courses on subjects of Intelligence.
Education
He holds a BA from Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois ) in the Social Sciences and Humanities, a Master’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago, Illinois ) in Human Resource Development, and a second Master’s in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University (Washington, DC) specializing in the southern Balkans and Turkey. He is a Certified Translator/Interpreter in Serbo-Croatian.
His academic research includes the political ideology of Bulgarian intellectuals after the Commune of Paris and the effect of their ideology to the establishment, development, and activities of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) aka VMRO. The research also examines the organization’s activities in order to create a communist regime of Bulgarians in Macedonia at least 20 years before the founding of the USSR.
More specifically, his work analyzes the relationship and interaction among members and factions of the organization with contemporary political, pan-Slavic movements and governments, as well as the organization’s political and terrorist activities. Academically he is intrinsically interested in matters of national security, public governmental policy, and strategy.
Continued Education and Training
Army Pre-Commission Course, Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course, Business Law, Counter-Terrorism Analysis Course, Physical Security, Russia, Central Europe & Central Asia Orientation Course, Battalion Vertical Battlefield Operations System, Battle Focused Instructor Training Course, Small Group Instruction Training Course, Advanced Electric Power Systems Course, Foreign Disclosures Officer Course, Connection Visualizer, Counter-Improvised Explosive Devises Training Course.
Skills and Expertise
Government, Public Policy, Foreign Policy, National Security, Homeland Security, Physical Security, Command, Electronic Warfare, Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), Defense, Leadership, Military Experience, Military Operations, Special Operations, Force Protection, Security Operations. Strategic Culture, Strategic Planning, Operational Planning, Tactical Planning, Weapons, Government Contracting, Information Assurance, Emergency Management, Growth Strategist, Intelligence Analysis, Order of Battle, Resource Management, Intelligence, Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, Counterinsurgency, NATO, Balkans, Turkey.
Associations and Memberships
He is a member of the Greek Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) of the UK’s Political Studies Association (PSA), National Intelligence Education Foundation of the USA, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, National Intelligence University Alumni Association, National Military Intelligence Association of the USA. He is also a member of the Exclusive Unclassified Professional Network for Intelligence and National Security Professionals “Intelligence Community” of the United States.
