Читать книгу City of the Lost - Will Adams - Страница 17

II

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‘Riots, Prime Minister?’ asked General Yilmaz.

‘You know, I imagine, that the public service unions have called for a Day of Action this Friday to protest against the new wage and pension cuts.’ It was why he’d gone to the Academy that afternoon: his son’s concert was on Friday night, and so there was a chance that duty would keep Baştürk from it. ‘Most of the other major unions have declared their support. And now various opposition parties have endorsed it too. There will be large marches and rallies here in Ankara and in Istanbul, and smaller ones all across the country. And they keep revising the estimates of attendees up. Because it’s not only about pensions and the economy any more. It’s about the bombs as well. People see us as ineffective. They see us as weak. So there’ll be plenty of trouble-makers out to take advantage: anarchists, Marxists, criminal gangs, everyone with a grudge or a fondness for mayhem.’

‘Then cancel the rallies.’

‘On what grounds? We’re supposed to be the party of the people, and the people are suffering. Deny them this opportunity to vent and it will only make things worse. Anyway, that’s not the issue right now. The issue is that, what with everything else they’re dealing with, the police are likely to be under extreme strain that day. Our friend the Minister insists that this proves how under-resourced he is, how he needs more officers. But it’s only one day, and we’re all having to make do with less.’

Yilmaz looked unhappy as he saw where this was heading. ‘My men are soldiers,’ he said. ‘They aren’t trained to police marches. You know that.’

‘Yes. But they are trained to protect strategic sites, correct? And to provide personal protection to important figures? A great many police officers are currently employed on such duties. The Minister assures me that, if your troops were to take over various such tasks for the day, he could put enough additional officers on the streets to make the difference.’

Yilmaz frowned. ‘Are you telling me you want this done, Prime Minister? Or are you telling me that you want me to draw up contingency plans in case it needs doing?’

‘The latter. I don’t like this any more than you do. But we need to be ready, in case.’

‘As you wish, Prime Minister. I’ll see to it myself.’

‘Thank you, General.’ Baştürk allowed himself a wry smile. ‘If only my cabinet colleagues were as helpful as you are.’

‘Are they not?’

‘They want my job.’ He let out a heavy sigh. His ministers were all potential rivals, so he couldn’t talk of this to them; and he hated to worry his wife or his old friends with his woes, so he rarely got the opportunity to unburden himself. ‘Let’s face it, I only got this job because the last guy went so fast that none of the others were ready or quite strong enough to seize it for themselves. So they compromised on me as a kind of caretaker, because they knew I’d be easiest to get out later on.’

‘I’m sure that’s not true, Prime Minister.’

‘We’ll get on better, General, if you don’t humour or flatter me.’ Then he smiled. ‘Or not to excess, at least.’

‘Forgive me, Prime Minister,’ said Yilmaz. ‘I find it hard with politicians to know what constitutes excess.’

Baştürk laughed a little too loudly. The Chief of the General Staff made for refreshingly candid company, but he was also in mild awe of him, of his uniform and his war service, and he very much wanted him to like him. But he quickly turned serious again. ‘I’m not under any illusions, you know. I can’t fire any of my main rivals without sparking a civil war in the party. My government wouldn’t last a week. I wouldn’t last a week. I don’t have the support. Nor can I go to the people. They think I’m competent and likeable enough, but they don’t respect me, they don’t love me, they wouldn’t miss me.’ He looked up for Yilmaz’s opinion of his analysis. The General nodded fractionally. He felt himself droop a little, for it was only human to want such a bleak assessment rejected. ‘I have a few months at the most to get done the things I want done. Maybe not even that. Sometimes I think I can hear the footsteps behind me. So if you should happen to hear anything …’

‘If I hear anything, I will of course report it to the proper authorities.’

Baştürk gave a strained smile. ‘The proper authorities are the ones that scare me.’ He glanced meaningfully at the door. ‘Our recent friend is a very ambitious man. In my more suspicious moments, I can’t help but wonder if he’s not tolerating or even encouraging a certain level of disorder simply to undermine me.’

Yilmaz frowned. ‘Surely he’d only be undermining himself.’

‘Except that in every interview he gives he insists that his problem is lack of powers and men. Yet every time we give him more of either, he uses them to bed himself further in, win himself more allies. When I think of all the information he now has access to … On each one of us.’

Yilmaz pursed his lips. Then he said: ‘You are not the only person seeking to do the best they can for the institution they are privileged to lead, Prime Minister. I don’t have to remind you of the modern history of the army in Turkey. Four coups in fifty years. Five, by some measures. Over three hundred officers and their associates recently convicted of attempting another. Those incidents have tarnished our reputation badly. Some would say disgraced it. As you know, the reason I was offered my current position – and the reason I accepted – was to make sure that nothing of that nature could ever happen again. That has to be my overriding purpose. If it should be suspected for one moment that the army was once again involved in deciding who should and shouldn’t lead Turkey, that we were taking sides …’

Baştürk sighed. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You’re right. Of course you’re right.’

‘But if I can find a way to help without overstepping …’ added Yilmaz.

‘Thank you.’ He shook his head despondently. ‘You don’t know what this job is like. No one does. Not until you sit at this desk for yourself.’

‘Look on the bright side. You may not have it for much longer.’

Baştürk laughed a second time, albeit more ruefully this time. ‘Thank you, General. I needed that.’

City of the Lost

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