WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: ASCERTAINMENT OF DAMAGE AFTER POLL

After months of political turmoil and corruption scandals, Turkey’s most controversial local elections are finally over. These local elections have been the toughest, the most polarizing and dividing in the country’s political history. PM Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) declared a 46-percent win, but ensuing results indicated that AKP won 43-percent of the vote. Erdogan didn’t wait to make his balcony speech until results have been verified by the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey (aka YSK) and stated that the opponents “will pay!”

Not so surprisingly, Erdogan’s ruling party wasn’t the only one to call election results a victory. Three other opposition parties; Republican People’s Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) also declared the local elections a success based on their gains and overall performance. These four parties won about 95-percent of the vote. Other political parties lost voters to major players of the game due mainly to the nature of this highly polarized election. 

The 2014 local elections have been peculiar in many regards. So unique that I believe an analysis and ascertainment of damage is indispensable for various reasons. Such an analysis will shed light on the fate of upcoming elections in Turkey. 

Local elections have never been as important and vital (if not more) as general elections in modern Turkish history like it was this time. After all, people would simply vote to decide who is going to pick up their trash. However, embattled Erdogan’s extraordinary reaction to graft probes, which erupted only two months before the election, his following bellicose and polarizing rhetoric as well as excessive use of ostensibly nationalist arguments changed the face of local elections. For this reason, Erdogan did not hesitate to opt for a strategy of dividing the country into loyalists and traitors. Such rhetoric has become Erdogan’s first and foremost tactic in an effort to thwart the corruption probes and secure the loyalty of his supporters. Erdogan ratcheted up the pressure and stakes so that all of his slogans created a sense of ‘consistency’ and ‘fixed perception’ among followers. Campaign slogans such as “foreign powers,” “dirty international media,” “blood lobby,” “vampires,” “blood suckers,” “ravenous  (opponents),” “(bloodsucking) leeches,” “viruses,” “Second War of Independence,” “interest lobbies,” “international masterminds,” “parallel state,” “no surrender,” “pawns of international networks,” “traitors,” “spies,” “global assassination attempt,” “Hashashins (an ancient group of assassins),” “fuddled (opponents),” “coup supporters,”  “hollow saint,” “fake prophet,” and “those who worship people” helped shape the minds of AK party followers and other undecided yet religiously inspired and nationalistically oriented voters. When someone dared to criticize Erdogan’s handling of the corruption probes, pro-AKP media, AKP Trolls (AK Party’s paid army of social media users), and some loyal supporters utilized the same set of virulent verbal attacks crafted by Erdogan himself to block criticism, divert attention, and defame and silence opponents.

Erdogan’s second yet highly influential tactic was to use the ballot box as a mechanism to get acquitted from the corruption accusations and bribe allegations and to divert attention from leaked tapes that allegedly showed members of the government, including Erdogan himself and his son, laundering millions of dollars. Immediately after disabling the judiciary and the police he kicked off his election campaign with the abovementioned slogans and told his followers through AKP-controlled media that the “National Will” (referring to people who will vote for him in the upcoming municipal elections) will acquit his government. Critics and opposition parties, however, stressed that people who are implicated in corruption and theft can only be cleared at the court, not at the ballot box. This, however, did not stop Erdogan to turn local polls into some sort o referendum to decide if claims of corruption are approved by public or not. As I mentioned at the beginning, when Erdogan’s party got 43-percent of the votes, he didn’t lose time to make his balcony speech along with close family members and other government members who were accused of corruption. In his speech he said “our people gave a clear message” and thanked citizens for “giving support to new Turkey’s Independence War.” His comments followed by a promise that his opponents “will pay” and that they [government] will “enter their [followers of the Hizmet movement and critics] dens.” Before the election, PM Erdogan invited every government official, prosecutor, judge, and social group member, who criticized his rhetoric and the way he handled graft probes, to form a political party and challenge him at the ballot box instead. This attitude continued after the elections when he invited Hasim Kilic, Turkey’s top judge, to take off his (judge) gown and start a political party when Kilic accused PM Erdogan and his government of committing “a corruption of conscience” against justice. 

Erdogan’s use of similar tactics, when Gezi riots erupted just several months ago, had already increased the divide between his religious, conservative supporters and seculars, liberals, Alawis, Kurds, and nationalists in the country in a way that undermined social cohesion. Now, with his reaction to corruption cases and putting the blame on another religious group called the Hizmet (aka Gulen) movement, the largest and most influential spiritual group in Turkey which transcends the borders of Turkey with its schools and other social institutions, Erdogan’s towering us-against-them discourse has even divided Muslims in the country with distinct lines for the first time in modern Turkish history. His incessant chastising efforts of the largest and most influential spiritual group, which didn’t want to side with an Islamist government that is allegedly corrupted, created such a threatening and alienating environment that even surpassed those inflicted upon the movement by secularist Kemalist regime for the past few decades. Erdogan labeled this spiritual group as “Hashashins,” “viruses,” “parallel state,” “pawns of international networks,” “malignant tumor,” “blood suckers,” and told his supporters that they (his government) will “break their hands,” “enter their dens,” and “crush them.” Fethullah Gulen himself stated that “what they are seeing today is 10 times worse than what they saw during the military coups,” adding that this time they faced “similar treatment [as seen during the military coups] but at the hands of civilians who they think follow the same faith as them.” Erdogan’s government purged thousands of police officers and prosecutors who are involved in the graft investigations claiming they are all members of the Gulen Movement and “part of a global assassination attempt” against his government. Businesses close to Gulen Movement have been harrassed by the Department of Treasury with unnecessary investigations. Members of the Gulen Movement have been invited to leave the movement’s institutions and join them [AK Party] and asked to disobey their “elder brothers and sisters.” Erdogan asked all Turkish embassies to convince foreign countries to close the Turkish Schools operated by the Gulen Movement. He even called some of the presidents, including President Obama, himself. These requests have, of course, been ignored by Turkish ambassadors and foreign Presidents. All university preparation institutions called ‘dershanes’ and study centers in Turkey, majority of which belongs to Gulen Movement, have been closed. In addition, Erdogan’s AK Party encouraged all the other Islamic groups to support the government and sign a declaration against the Gulen Movement. Some of the religious groups accepted the invitation and blamed the Hizmet Movement for being anti-government and for mixing religion with politics not realizing that they themselves are signing off on a political declaration to show that they are siding with the government! These are things that have never been attempted even by the secularist military and civilian elites before. 

Erdogan’s tactics to win the local elections were so dividing and polarizing that it has even divided neighborhoods and families. There are a lot of families in which some members support AKP and some are actively volunteer in the non-profit or for-profit institutions of the Gulen Movement. Erdogan’s strategies gave rise to arguments among family members and created resentment, hostility, bitterness, and social disharmony among fathers, sons, moms, daughters, and son-in-laws, etc. In the same line, daily newspaper Hürriyet, which has a mainstream, liberal, nationalist and secularist outlook, recently published an open letter to PM Erdogan stating "we expect you to not discriminate between citizens and institutions as the prime minister of 76 million people." The letter added "whatever percentage of votes you get, it should be your and all of our duty after the elections to defuse the dangerous polarization and the tension that has spread throughout the whole country." 

This election has also been unique in the history of modern Turkish democracy in terms of the amount of election abnormalities that have been reported by people.  Amid Internet crackdowns and Twitter bans before, during, and after the election, people found alternate ways to access the social media in an effort to voice their opinions as well as to post pictures of hundreds of burned ballot boxes and votes that belonged to opposition parties and to share altered lists comparing what they have submitted to the Supreme Electoral Council and what has been released to the public. In Ankara where the competition was stiff, Interior Minister visited the Supreme Electoral Council with his men with no explanations to the public, which then followed by AKP’s sudden lead in the city. These are just a few of the abnormalities that have been reported. In most major cities there were power outages during official vote counts. When asked for an explanation, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources said a cat that entered a power distribution unit was the cause of controversial power blackouts that affected 35 cities throughout the day. Interestingly enough, a government insider named ‘fuatavni’, who became a Twitter phenomena in a short period of time reaching over 800,000 followers, provided constant stream of information regarding how Erdogan and his government is allegedly planning to sabotage the election. Right before the election, Fuat Avni warned public and opposition parties that Erdogan allegedly ordered his advisors to organize a group of people to alter the counts before they are submitted to the Supreme Electoral Council, distribute already-stamped ballots to their supporters, cause power blackouts, and bribe ballot box officials who are close their worldview. When similar abnormalities have been reported following the elections, Fuat Avni told his followers that he did his part by revealing plans, but nobody took him seriously. 

Now that Turkey’s most polarizing elections have passed, the controversy, debates, and Twitter bans still continue to divide an already divided people. It is not hard to see that the Turkish politics and democratic life are certainly at a critical stage. Can a government be victorious at the ballot box and claim to be acquitted from corruption probes? Can a municipal election be claimed a “War of Independence” against government’s opponents? For Erdogan, the answer is ‘yes.’ I guess we will have to wait and see what the time will say as the ultimate judge. After all, people can be swayed, misled, or convinced, but the truth always wins.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: UNDERSTANDING THE CONFLICT – IMPACT ON TURKEY’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Today, I would like to change the course of my “what is happening in Turkey” articles from internal politics to an international spectrum and put the spotlight on how recent developments are impacting Turkey’s foreign relations as well as its image in the world community. Turkey is facing a paradigm shift in its foreign relations. Once with an objective to have a policy of zero problems with its neighbors, Turkey is now at a point where there are no neighbors or former allies without a problem due to Erdogan’s authoritarian practices and bellicose rhetoric over massive corruption and bribery scandal.

Turkey already has a negative image in the international arena concerning its records of freedom of expression, government corruption, freedom of press, and human rights. As I was writing thIS article, The European Parliament (AP) approved a blistering report on March 12, 2014 criticizing Turkey for impediments in the areas of “fundamental freedoms, independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression and others.” EP’s report came following the recent developments in Turkey with regard to Erdogan’s and his government’s involvement in high-level corruption, money laundering with Iran, tender fraud at massive scales, the immediate removal of the police officers and public prosecutors in charge of the investigations, and passing of new laws aiming at obstructing the investigations just to name a few. It is ironic that AK Party owed its initial success 12 years ago to its party program that prioritized the fight against corruption. This strategy proved successful when they got the majority votes at a turbulent time when the oligarchy was trying to close AK Party down.

Erdogan’s authoritarian practices and angry rhetoric are not only polarizing people in Turkey, but also causing conflicts with other governments. Unfortunately, this is not just limited to the European Union (EU), which has expectations for further democratic reforms from Turkey as a candidate to join the Union. As a reaction to the graft probe, Erdogan didn’t lose time to blame internal and external circles to be behind the “plot” and named Israel, the United States, and Germany for orchestrating a “judicial coup” against his government and he accused the Hizmet movement without evidence for being part of the efforts. He even directly targeted the US ambassador Ricciardone accusing him of engagement in the actions and threatened him publicly to send him back. Following his remarks, the pro-government media (turns out majority secretly owned by Erdogan himself) orchestrated verbal attacks on the ambassador.

Erdogan’s accusations and outcry was an attempt to divert attention from probes, manipulate public opinion and keep his blind followers intact. This was the main reason as to why he resorted to a nationalistic rhetoric at the outset and blamed “foreign powers” and “interest lobbies” for plotting a “coup” against his government referring to probe investigations. This wasn’t the only time Erdogan used such rhetoric against foreign states. When GEZI protests took place just a couple months before graft probes in December, Erdogan had once again blamed internal and external circles for being behind the protests.

When his support base and the pro-AKP media started resonating with the same message all across the board and supported his attempts to reshuffle the judiciary, it was time for Erdogan to send the Foreign Minister, Davutoglu, to the United States of America in an effort to make up and visited Germany to meet with Angela Merkel for the same reason. However, these image-saving trips did not bring about any changes to already-broken relationships. Erdogan had already created tensions with the European Union and the United States when he discredited the EU a little while ago in his speeches, threatened to join the Shanghai Five rather than the EU, and decided to purchase missile defense systems from China despite criticism. 

The leaked wiretaps also indicated that Erdogan and his close circle have involved with money laundering and gold smuggling with Iran in an effort to break sanctions over Iran. There is now new evidence that Erdogan ordered the Intelligence Agency to smuggle weapons into Syria and developed relationships with Al-Qaeda, which disturbs the United States of America to a great extent. Erdogan defended the Iranian businessman Reza Zerrab, who bribed the ministers and their sons, when he was arrested and had him released shortly after by putting pressure on the judiciary and making the ‘necessary’ amendments to the law. He then paid a visit to Iran where he called Iran “his second home.”

His support for Iran confused many in the Middle East. The majority of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa are Muslim countries with primarily Sunni populations who have historical tensions with Shiite Iran. Yet another confusion was that although Erdogan openly condemned the bloodshed the Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad is inflicting on his own people, he developed these strong economic and political ties with Iran and Russia which proactively supported Assad regime against the West and other Sunni countries mainly Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This destroyed not only Turkey’s image among Muslim communities but also Erdogan’s very own image as a charismatic, Muslim leader who initially won a dramatic victory against the oligarchy with people’s support 12 years ago.

I believe Erdogan’s biggest mistake came into play when he couldn’t control his anger and ordered Turkish ambassadors to “tell the truth” abroad that Hizmet movement, the only and the most influential religious, non-political social group who didn’t commit to Erdogan’s way, is part of the “judicial coup” against his government in collaboration with “foreign interest lobbies.” Most ambassadors expressed displeasure over such request because this unprofessional attitude would coincide with the traditions of a democratic and powerful country with a long history.

According to recent news, Erdogan also called the officials of foreign countries himself in an effort to have them close the private schools operated by the Hizmet movement in their countries. No country has ever paid attention to such a request as this is an obvious attempt to intervene with their internal affairs. No democratic county in the world would close schools operated by private and non-profit organizations because the leader of their home country, who happens to be under investigation, wanted so.

Obama had stopped calling Erdogan for a long time until recently due mainly to his engagement with Al-Qaeda . Turns out, Erdogan also called President Obama about a week ago and told him that “he has to take the necessary stance” against the Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen, who currently resides in the USA. Erdogan complained about the Hizmet movement and asked Obama to turn in Gulen to him! Erdogan later told the public that Obama “got his message!”. However, in a recent briefing, the White House clearly said “the response attributed to President Obama with regard to Mr. Gulen is not accurate.” It is not hard to realize that this third world country image Erdogan depicts tarnishes Turkey’s image in the international forum as a strong and respected country.

In my conclusion, once seen as a role model for emerging democracies in the Middle East, the recent tumultuous developments surrounding graft probes against PM Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party have the potential to lead to a reassessment of Turkey’s role as a leading figure in the region.  Such an image can, in turn, inflict irreparable damage on the credibility of Turkey in the international realm of politics unless the Turkish people stop the nonsense at the ballot box and  hold everyone responsible accountable.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: UNDERSTANDING THE CONFLICT - CLASH or SURVIVAL STRUGGLE?

It is now very obvious to the world community that something is very wrong with the way PM Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP), famously known as AKP, is handling the ongoing graft probes against government. As I summarized in my previous articles, the probes involved three ministers and their sons as well as an Iranian businessman who is close to PM Erdogan.

Under normal circumstances in a democracy where the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary powers are separated and work in harmony in an equitable and balanced way a government should not be scared of being acquitted at the court. It is upsetting to witness that Erdogan and his government chose to declare an “independence war” against a scapegoat that they themselves created the moment prosecutors started their investigations and found millions of dollars hidden in shoe boxes and steel vaults. As a reaction to the probes, PM Erdogan and his ministers immediately called the operations a “plot” against their government without any reference to or explanation about vast amount of money found at private homes and relationships with an Iranian businessman who is involved in money laundering and gold smuggling in an effort to break sanctions on Iran.

When one of Erdogan’s ministers resigned a few weeks later due to public outcry he had told the press that the PM himself should also consider resigning as nothing has been done without his consent. As the twitter and media wars intensified more evidence and wiretaps have been released to the media or to the courts, all pointing to Erdogan and his son. Alleged collaboration with Al Qaeda in Iraq, arms smuggling, raising funds from firms for tenders and using these funds to purchase media outlets and to pool money in his son’s foundation to be used as future investments are among the few to name.

For this reason it is not hard to understand why Erdogan delivers extremely angry speeches. He first blamed the “foreign powers” and “interest lobbies” as well as the Hizmet (Service) movement, the only religious affiliated organization who didn’t commit to Erdogan’s new ways, for being behind the “plot”. I summarized before all of his accusations and the terms he coined to justify the purges of police officers and prosecutors who were involved in the probes.

Unfortunately, Erdogan’s response shows weakness and panic. He is beaming with anger in all of his speeches and marginalizing his supporters on a daily basis right before the upcoming elections in early March. Polls show dramatic decreases in AK Party’s votes in all major cities. This is very threatening to the ruling party. They know very well that if they lose ground in these elections, they will lose power and it will get more difficult to obstruct the probes and to reshuffle the judiciary as they want. Currently not a day goes by in Turkey in which we hear about new profiling efforts to identify alleged Hizmet followers in government offices and to discharge them with no evidence.

When Turkey woke up to the probes on Dec 17, some people thought the most powerful political ruling party in the region and the most influential social movement are clashing over power. Erdogan’s and the ruling party’s statements supported these views because they all referred to the probes as attempts to destroy the government and to take the power away from them. As the details of the ongoing probes became more evident public opinion has changed. Erdogan’s angry rhetoric, authoritarian practices that followed (reshuffling of the judiciary, censorship laws, profiling people in public offices, etc.), and lack of reasoning contributed to this mind shift.

Hizmet movement, on the other hand, is neat and clear in its explanations. Its assertions have never been refuted by the government so far. Most were not even answered by the government to this day. On the contrary, most, if not all, claims of the pro-AKP media have been disproved with evidence. All Erdogan did during his speeches was to liken the members of the movement and its charismatic leader, Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic scholar who promotes dialog among different cultures and religions, to “Hashishins” (ancient assassins who used drugs), “viruses”, “pawns of foreign powers”, “traitors”, and “fake prophet” just to name a few.

The representatives of the Hizmet movement including Gulen himself denied any involvement with any “plot” against the government. They find it quite interesting that the same government members including PM Erdogan himself were speaking very highly of the movement’s activities in the fields of health, aid, service, and education just three months before the probes. Erdogan even participated in the movement’s annual International Turkish Olympiad in June 2013 and invited Gulen, who is in exile, to Turkey saying “let’s end this longing!”

Hizmet’s first reaction to government took place in early November when government suddenly decided to close all private prep schools and study centers in Turkey of which about twenty percent is operated by the movement. Just two months after this development the graft probes broke out and Hizmet members were blamed for masterminding the “plot” in collaboration with the “interest lobbies.”

So, one wonders if these two powers are clashing over power as Erdogan claims? I believe it is obvious by now that it has never been about who controls power. For Hizmet movement it seems like it is a “struggle to survive” a witch-hunt initiated by government in an effort to obstruct ongoing probes. Hizmet doesn’t want to be treated as a scapegoat and wants to secure his image as the most influential social network, which promotes peace and service to all humanity. Even for Erdogan, this is just a survival struggle. He is in dire need of a defense strategy in order to disperse public opinion from probes as well as to secure the votes of his supporters before the elections in March. In the meantime, the sons and daughters of most AK Party deputies and followers are still attending either the Hizmet’s or other private owners’ prep schools to this very day to prepare for the nationwide college entrance examinations, which will be held in June.

Next: What is Happening in Turkey: Understanding the Conflict – Impact on Turkey’s Relations

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: UNDERSTANDING THE CONFLICT – RESHUFFLING THE JUDICIARY

In the wake of first graft investigation against itself going public, AK Party government reassigned 24 police chiefs, including all the police chiefs leading the investigations on behalf of the public prosecution service. Public prosecutors who started the graft probe were discharged and new prosecutors, who also voted to formally charge the suspects, have been assigned to ongoing investigations without any request from the existing prosecutors. Re-shuffling attempts of the judiciary continued in the following days. In less than two months, AK Party government reassigned about 7,000 police chiefs and officers in major cities, most of which are from the organized crime division in charge of investigating corruption, bribery, and money laundering among other things. In addition, nearly 1,000 judges and prosecutors have faced the same consequence.

Many people still interpret these actions as an attempt to obstruct the graft probe as all of these nearly 8,000 people were reassigned with no proof of joining a “global assassination attempt against the government,” or a “coup,” or with no solid evidence of collaborating with “the interest lobby,” or forming a “parallel state” within the state. PM Erdogan’s remarks never went beyond accusations but successfully crafted into AK Party’s propaganda strategies on Twitter and in the pro-AKP news and reports. 

The interference of Erdogan’s government with the judiciary system wasn’t the only strategy to win the fight against a ‘ghost’ “parallel state.” Immediately after the discharges in the judicial system, AK Party fired 800 reporters from the national TV station along with its general director for being part of the “parallel state!”

Interestingly, many of the discharges in the judiciary system have been carried out by then Interior Minister Guler whose son has also been charged along with the sons of Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Urban Planning and Development (aka Environment) Minister Erdogan Bayraktar. Before stepping down, Guler also removed Huseyin Capkin, Head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Police Force, from his post and replaced by the mayor of Aksaray, who has no policing experience whatsoever. Later on, Erdogan passed a bylaw stating that the police are obliged to inform their superior officers of ongoing investigations meaning that Guler as the interior minister would be informed by the police services that his son was being investigated by the police.

As this was happening, the government shocked by a new development. During his resignation broadcast on Dec 25, Environment Minister Bayraktar had directly accused the PM Erdogan saying; “for the sake of the well-being of this nation and country, I believe that the prime minister should also resign” saying “…the zoning plans that are in the investigation file were confirmed and made with the approval of the prime minister.” However, as a recent development, Bayraktar has withdrawn his resignation and apologized from Erdogan with no reference to his former comments.

Erdogan and AK Party government continue to surprise the Turkish public with a new attempt every day to obstruct the probes and to divert public attention away from corruption allegations. His response to the corruption probe is considered by many citizens as well as by the Western world evidence of his authoritarian tendencies. His intense and aggressive language and angry rhetoric in front of public is dividing people more and more every day and marginalizing AK Party followers into extremes making them believe any critic of the government’s actions is part of a ‘sinister’ “global assassination attempt” to destroy the PM Erdogan and his ruling party. It must be just for this reason that anytime someone criticizes Erdogan or when something is considered by Erdogan followers and the AKP media as an ‘attack’, their first reaction is usually to say “we will not let you to victimize Erdogan.”

Many believe Erdogan is acting in this way on purpose to divert public attention from graft probe, drain that energy into other channels, and secure his followers’ commitment in the upcoming elections in March and thereafter by exploiting nationalist sentiments with arguments such as “second independence war,” “international masterminds,” and “foreign powers”. Now everyone wonders! Is Erdogan just angry that his leadership and actions are being questioned or is he running a successful crowd control operation to divert attention from corruption scandal by making a convenient scapegoat or is it both?

Next: What is Happening in Turkey: Understanding the Conflict – Clash or Survival Struggle?

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: UNDERSTANDING THE CONFLICT – ANGER or CROWD CONTROL?

Everyone riveted to the recent unexpected and shocking corruption and bribery news in Turkey. No one had ever expected that the most powerful political leader in the country, even of the Middle East, PM Erdogan, and his Islamist ruling party would be rocked by such massive grant probes and the following scandals, which involved the closest circle to Erdogan including his son, ministers, their sons, and businessmen. Police seized $4.5m in cash that was stuffed into shoe boxes and $5m in cash stuffed in a bookshelf in Halkbank CEO Aslan’s house, while more than $1m in cash was discovered in the home of Interior Minister Guler’s son, Baris Guler hidden in seven steel vaults. The corruption scandal also exposed government’s ‘gas-for-gold’ scheme with Iran in an effort to break sanctions. The relationship between Reza Zarrab, a well-known Iranian gold trader for money laundering and gold smuggling, and AK Party and evidence for bribes being given to overcome sanctions worsened the situation.

When a corruption scandal breaks out in a democratic state of law such as Turkey, many would expect to see the leaders and anyone involved in allegations to trust the country’s justice system and let judges, prosecutors, and police force do their job with the hopes of being acquitted. For instance, Princess Cristina of Spanish royal family, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos, is currently facing tax fraud and money laundering charges. Cristina appeared on court today to testify in fraud probe. One would expect to see a royal king or a family to be overprotective of one of the family members and hide his or her from public prosecution. Rather, Princess Cristina chose to appear at court and testify.

What happened in Turkey and the way Erdogan and his ruling party reacted to the probes are unique. I believe it is so unique that one day it will be part of lectures in the political science departments of most universities and would become the subject of dissertation studies all around the world. Contrary to what is demanded from a democratically elected government, Erdogan’s and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s reactions to probes have been fierce. Erdogan immediately called the investigation an ‘international plot’ to overthrow his government orchestrated by ‘external’ (America, Israel, Germany, and the interest lobby) and ‘internal’ forces (the big industries namely the Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association aka TÜSİAD as well as the Hizmet Movement – a faith inspired community inspired by Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen who advocates dialogue among people from all walks of life to build a better world and a spiritual form of Islam that is open to science). 

His arguments intensified day after day and were quickly appropriated by his followers and pro-AKP media which are comprised of nearly 17 newspapers, 7 TV stations and more than 80 columnists; a big power in a small country such as Turkey. In the following days, Erdogan went on to develop a plethora of arguments to support his agenda and used expressions such as “dirty coalition,” “international masterminds,” “parallel state,”  “pawn of international networks,” “traitors,” “global assassination attempt,” “breaking of hands,” “entering their dens,” “crushing them,” “second war of independence,”  “dirty international media,” “blood lobby,” “no surrender,” “Hashashin,” (an ancient group of assassins) “parallel structure,” “pineapple republic,” “unlawful organization,”  “gang,” “coup supporters,” “spies,”  “viruses,”  “false scholar,” “hollow saint,” “fake prophet,” and “those who worship people”…

It took PM Erdogan about two months to come up with all these comments in an effort to fight his new “independence war” against the corruption probe (or “global assassination attempt” according to him) yet he still can’t manage to offer any proof of his conspiracy allegations or show any signs of cooperation with the judicial system. On the contrary, his government continues to make attempts to render the judiciary dysfunctional. Besides, considering that 30% to 50% of citizens voted for AKP in the previous elections and that majority of which appropriates Erdogan’s arguments on Twitter and on the streets against their neighbors and other voters, one can imagine the level of stress as well as the divide it creates among people of Turkey just before the elections in March 2014.

Next: What is Happening in Turkey: Understanding the Conflict – Reshuffling the Judiciary

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: IN A NUTSHELL

What is happening in Turkey recently, in a nutshell, is that Erdogan’s AK Party in general and some of the ministers, their sons, and some Turkish and Iranian businessmen in particular are facing serious corruption and bribery allegations. Police found millions of dollars hidden in shoe boxes in their homes along with tapes and pictures as evidence to bribery. As a reaction to the graft probe, Erdogan and his ruling AK Party are calling this legal process a ‘dirty operation’ against his government and accusing foreign powers (mainly America and Israel) and the followers of the Hizmet Movement (the only religious non-political group who didn’t side with the government) to be behind the “plot” against government. This defense mechanism is then used as an excuse to government’s immediate response to obstruct the graft probe by appointing new prosecutors to the case, discharging police officers who are involved with the case, and changing regulations so that the police officers are required to report the undercover investigations to their superiors including the Interior Minister whose name along with his son are part of the investigations.

In fact, as I was writing this article, in a new press conference the PM Erdogan reiterated that all that is happening to them (referring to the graft probe) right now is a “global assassination” attempt against his government. Murat Belge of Turkish Radikal Newspaper defines the way government is reacting to the graft probe as ‘firing tear gas’ on crowds to disperse people’s attention from reality and to defuse the game players (prosecutors, police officers, and anyone else who wants government to be acquitted rather than ward off the investigation, UT). Erdogan’s son, Bilal Erdogan, was subpoenaed by the Chief Prosecutor to give testimony as a suspect as part of an ongoing investigation, however, he did not show up to make a statement to the public prosecution.

AK Party followers and the pro-government media intensified their verbal attacks towards the prosecutors, the police officers, journalists, and the members of the Hizmet movement after every investigation. Most considers Erdogan’s over reaction a form of authoritarian overreach. Seems like Turkish voters are once again being kept busy with a nationalist uproar so that they wouldn't have the time as well as the intention and the courage to ask questions to the government in regards to millions of dollars kept in private homes and money laundering and gold smuggling with Iran in light of International sanctions.

I will continue with more details about what is happening in Turkey including the twitter wars that ensued between the supporters of AK Party and pro-AKP media and the rest of Turkey.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN TURKEY: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST TO UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT

Let me provide you with a few examples to unprecedented nature of things in Turkey. The most powerful countries attacked Turks’ land land during World War I as a joint force and dissolved their army, but Turks formed an army out of villagers and students and got their freedom back. After the establishment of the new secular regime, ordinary citizens were banned from practicing their religion in the original language but they changed it when the ruling elites, Kemalists, thought these ‘illeterate’ people were vulnerable at a time when they were all uneducated and at their weakest. Then came the coups in 1960, in which the then Prime Minister, Adnan Menderes was hung by military junta unjustly, and in 1971. These were followed by the 1980 Military coup d’état in an effort to restore order and to end the armed conflict between right-wing and left-wing groups. There is now strong evidence that the military was actively adopting a strategy back then and was manipulating both groups to create instability in order to overthrow the government and to gain power. The violence between the two groups abruptly stopped the day after the coup in a surprising way!

During those traumatic days, people moved Turgut Ozal and his Motherland Party to victory during elections despite pressure from the military. Ozal then became the leading figure in transforming the social and economic outlook of the nation. Ozal died of a suspicious heart attack in 1993 before he had a chance to resolve the Kurdish issue. 1993 was a dark, bloody year in modern Turkish history. Just two months before Ozal’s death, the General Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie, Esref Bitlis, was murdered in an airplane crash. Commander Bitlis had met with the foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq, and Syria to discuss Ozal’s plans to bring peace to the region. He was also investigating the tragic death of a famous journalist, Ugur Mumcu, who was murdered by car bomb just three weeks before Bitlis’ death. Mumcu was about to report evidence to the media that the leader of the Kurdish terrorist separatist movement, Abdullah Ocalan, (now in custody) was in fact collaborating with the deep state and had ties with some people from the National Intelligence Agency.

Mumcu’s death was followed by the killing of 33 unarmed military recruits in an ambush in Bingol in an attempt to destroy any peace attempts. A few months after this tragic incident, two more Gendarmerie commanders, Bahtiyar Aydin and Cem Ersever, were murdered.  Ersever played a critical role in the formation of JITEM, an illegal intelligence unit within the gendarmerie. Before his death, Major Ersever was confessing about some unexplained murders and abductions.  He also said he would talk about a ‘stakeholders gang’ found in the government and military circles who doesn’t want terrorism to end.

Turgut Ozal is still well respected and loved by many today because of all he did for his country. Turkish people trusted him and gave their support amidst a military coup despite pressure from the military junta and Ozal used this credit very well to serve his country and his people in the best possible way. Tens of thousands of people swarmed into Ankara, the capital city, in tears when he died and even more attended the state burial ceremony in Istanbul to show respect.

A similar chance was given to Suleyman Demirel after PM Menderes was hung by military junta in 1960. Turkish people made him the youngest-ever Prime Minister in Turkish history. He went through though times as well. He had to resign after the military memorandum of 1971, but elected PM for three more times in the following years by citizens as a reaction to juntas. He was banned from active politics for ten years following the coup d’état of 1980, but re-elected by people one more time as a Deputy of Isparta in 1987 and as PM once again in 1991. After the sudden death of Turgut Ozal, he became the ninth President in 1993 during those dark and bloody years that followed. In contrary to Ozal, though, he couldn’t be people’s hero like Menderes and Ozal. Unfortunately, he depleted all the support and trust the Turkish people gave him when he chose to side with the military junta, called Ergenekon, during his presidency years. The Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization, and the generals who are involved in attempting to create chaos and undermine stability with the hopes of triggering coups at least four times have been brought to justice after 2007 when AK Party and Erdogan was at the center of the political stage. Demirel lost all of his credibility in the eyes of the people due to his blatant support for the generals and the Ergenekon during the legal process.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Erbakan, who played a critical role in Turkish politics along with Suleyman Demirel, Turgut Ozal, Tansu Ciller, current President Abdullah Gul and current PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan just to name a few. He was the most critical figure during the troubled times of 1997 and was at the center of the conflict between the military and his Islamist Welfare Party. It is crucial to understand the dynamics of conflict of the time to be able to answer what is happening in Turkey today, which involves the most victorious Islamist political party, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), in modern Turkish history and his charismatic leader, Tayyip Erdogan and the Hizmet (Service) Movement, which is the most successful and the only worldwide non-political civic initiative Turkish people have ever produced so far.

Next: What is Happening in Turkey in a Nutshell…