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.