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
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