Çetin Üllasuli - The Conductor of Evil

Çetin Üllasuli was once a name celebrated across the lands of Kassala as a stalwart hero of democracy, whose military prowess not only saved countless lives, but who achieved victory after victory in the face of total defeat. Now, he is remembered as a despot responsible for the most heinous of massacres ever to occur in Cinuan history, for which his name lives on in infamy. Çetin Batuhan Üllasuli, born in 2224 in the city of Zawilah, was born in humble origins, the son of 2nd generation Cinuan settlers. At the time, Zawilah served as the capital of the independent republic of Kassala, part of the international United Nations of Cinu. Cinu of the early 23rd Century was a vastly different place to the modern day. At the height of the UNC, in 2049, Cinu was home to over 200 independent territories and states. The United Nations of Cinu was at many times, ruled over by a council of between 5 - 8 ‘great powers’, nations with significantly higher military power and economical status than the others, of which Kassala was one.
Üllasuli joined the Kassalan Army in 2242 and attended the Khalid ibn al-Walid Military Academy as well as the War College in Zawilah. Between 2245 and 2250, he served in various garrisons with different battalions of the light infantry of the Kassalan Army. In 2255, the United Nations of Cinu, for reasons well beyond the scope of this book - but readers are advised to study the history of the Lordanian Economic Collapse of ‘53 - collapsed into petty squabbles and land disputes. Countless numbers of Cinuans were displaced from their homes during this period, known as the Cinu Unification Wars.
The Unification Wars took place between 2255 and 2264, and is divided into two stages, the Civil War (2255-2260) and the Union War (2260 - 2264). In the Civil War, the 200+ Cinuan States were overran by their neighbours, as many regions fell to unrest, hardship, and military conflict in response to major economic collapse. As a result, the larger powers were unable to keep the peace, and instead resorted to military occupation. The largest of these states were; Kassala, which controlled the Tamarin Basin and the Three Seas; Mular, the modern day capital region, controlled Al-Mular, and the defensible Sadhak Basin; Erfoud, which had control over various parts of northern Cinu, as well as the Bahari ya Kaskazini, a large saltwater arctic sea; and Bersket, the dominant naval power on Cinu's Southern Ocean. The fluidity of the conflict meant that states could be allies one day, and enemies the next.
Upon the outbreak of the war, Üllasuli was promoted to first lieutenant and granted command of the 3rd Infantry Brigade in time for the first Battle of the South Wadi. Invading forces were attempting to cross into Kassalan territory, but were repelled by Üllasuli’s superior tactics. A month later he was promoted again to Captain, and then to Major. After leading his corps to victory in the Battle for the Buhayra in 2256, he was given command of the Second Army, which began to lead offensives into the Ilakah Deserts that winter.
At the very end of 2259, Üllasuli was promoted to serve as the Kassalan Chief of Staff, and by 2257 had become the Commander of the Kassalan Armed Forces, one of the youngest military commanders on Cinu and a desperate response to a lack of manpower. Indeed, his military prowess during this time is hard to understate, as was his growing adoration by the Kassalan people. Even this author was, at a time, enamoured by the victories this man had brought our country at a time of complete distrust in governments. 
In the meantime, political actions within the First Lordanian Republic, which was the larger interplanetary government that Cinu was a part of, meant that vital aid and assistance was unable to reach the planet until 2260. The Unitarian Party was founded in response to these failings, and achieved a large amount of support across the Lordanian Cluster. They advocated for a strong national government as opposed to the decentralised and largely corrupt Republic that had allowed its economy to tank.
In the final stages of the Civil part of the Unification War, Üllasuli’s army paraded through the streets of Zawilah in support of the Unitarian Party. While military parades in support of any political party would, in a normal regime, be extremely unusual, the continuous war weariness, combined with an overwhelming public support to end the war, supporters saw the Zawilahan Military Parade as a celebration of the cessation of violence. Opposition to the parade claimed it was undemocratic to show support for a party none had voted for, and saw it as an attempt to influence the election outcome, leading to a protracted civil unrest campaign through much of 2260. However, this did little to change the result, and all across Cinu people came to vote in the First Lordanian Republic's elections. Due to the violence across the planet, many voting booths were established and protected by the various militaries of Cinu, many of which were firm supporters of the Unitarian message. A bad omen of things to come.
Upon election of the Unitarian Party across Lordania, conflict sprung up again, leading to the final stage of the Unification Wars. The war had yet to be won by any side, and the now-leading Unitarians had a strong interest in retaining control over its member worlds. This time, Üllasuli was backed by the might of the Lordanian Republic, who sent manpower and supplies to help unify Cinu. The major cities of Cinu were garrisoned and rebuilt by Lordanian infrastructure, and its armies were bolstered by various off-world forces. Nations would accept their place as a unified Cinuan state, or they would die for their independence. 
Üllasuli proved a capable opponent of the Tarazani and the Gauri states, both of whom had yet to surrender to the Unitarians, in defence and through counter-attack. The final offensive by the Gauri in 2262 saw major advances on Zawilah as the Mularan Army commander ignored Üllasuli's instructions to defend in depth and instead allowed his men to be slaughtered. This was repulsed by the Lordanian garrisons, and Üllasuli was able to push them back to their capital city of New Baghdad.
As the last pushes by non-Unitarian states came, Üllasuli was able to launch vital counter offensives, with the new Unitarian resources and the assistance of the Lordanians. Marching troops into the various major cities of the planet, the Unitarians were able to obtain complete control over Cinu, with any remaining resistance forces largely being concentrated in wasteland and deserts, of little threat to anyone. After the war ended Üllasuli was made Commander of the Cinuan Armed Forces, the first unified force on the planet. At this point in his career, Üllasuli was regarded as “the most accomplished tactician of the war, one of Cinu’s greatest heroes of democracy”, and was directly responsible for ending the violence. Between 2263 and 2264, countless other Unitarian officials were elected to positions of power within the various surviving nations of Cinu. While many of these elections were fair, it was clear in some elections that the Unitarians wouldn’t accept defeat, and with military support, who was really going to complain?
In 2265, the Unitarian Party, now in control of every planet in the Lordanian Cluster, revealed their true intent, reorganising into the People's Republic of Lordania, a one-party, soon-to-be-fascist state. In response to this, numerous surviving political figures went underground, attempting to form resistance and guerilla networks to oppose the Unitarians. Üllasuli was approached by many of these figures, but instead chose to throw his support behind the PRL. As leader of the armed forces of Cinu, he was directly responsible for the retaliatory attacks that ended in the massacres of innocent lives, many of which would be later called war crimes.
In response to these heinous actions, the various resistance groups across Cinu allied themselves with interplanetary resistance groups to create the Majlis Alhuriya, a secret society and resistance group. They were assisted by The Brotherhood, an interplanetary resistance group. This led to a large-scale uprising known as the Glorious Revolution. Support of local peoples across Cinu was key in ensuring the Alhuriya were able to establish political roots, calling themselves the legitimate governments of the varying regions, and a true successor to the United Nations of Cinu.
While the government was preparing to respond, potentially even cutting back on the scale of violence and turning over responsible parties to the people, Üllasuli chose instead to petition to the Consul of the PRL directly, who granted him supreme command over Cinu until the emergency was over. By this action, Üllasuli directly destroyed the last potential for peaceful democracy on Cinu, turning into a dictator. Choosing to call himself Conductor, his position was that he was simply defending the people and the Republic.
In 2279, after two years of fighting, the Consul and the rest of the Unitarian leadership were killed after a suicide dive by a Brotherhood ship. This completely plunged the Unitarians into disarray. On Cinu, this was the cause of much celebration and a renewed vigor to fight, where the Alhuriya took advantage of the chaos to seize several vital cities. By the end of the year, the People's Republic had been disbanded, and control of Cinu was split between the Alhuriya, and Üllasuli, whose position was becoming more and more unstable, controlling only the major city of Al-Mular and its spaceport. Finally, in December of 2279, Üllasuli surrendered control of the city to a combined Alhuriya and Brotherhood army, and was taken into custody.

After his surrender, he was taken into custody and held in Zawilah. Many activists attempted to break into his prison in an attempt to murder him, which led to him being taken off world. It took until 2284 for an official government, the Cinuan Union, to be founded, and it's first acts were to issue posthumous pardons for all people executed by the state, the recognition of atrocities and the trials of those responsible.

The trial of Çetin Üllasuli was only one of many people charged and sentenced at the Beacon Trials of 2285. By the end of the trial, five hundred and fifty-six were given a timed sentence, thirty-two were sentenced to life imprisonment, and forty-seven were executed. Amongst those sentenced to life imprisonment was Üllasuli. When it came time to decide where they would serve time, Cinu argued in favour of imprisoning them on their planet, whereas Tyannani and the Brotherhood argued in favour of imprisoning them in a former Unitarian prison, Nar Draedon Prison. Cinu argued that such a prison was controversial even to the Unitarians, with one prisoner loudly exclaiming during the court they would rather hang than be sent there. Finally, an agreement was reached that Üllasuli and those convicted would serve time on their home planets.

He is currently serving out his sentence in Ghubaysh Prison, alongside several other Unitarian collaborators. Ever since his arrest, he has refused to speak to anyone except his captors, making post-arrest documentation nearly impossible.

— Amir Al-Malham