Those who infiltrate the state

Hüseyin Gülerce

The guardianship regime was in control of the country for over a century. It did not want to share its power with anybody. There was only one option left: to intimidate, to repress, to brutalize and to make others submit.

To achieve this, it laid the groundwork through provocations and psychological warfare tactics; it created chaotic environments; in the aftermath, they conducted coups and committed murders that have yet to be resolved. They intimidated and repressed people of all backgrounds. They targeted symbolic names from different segments of the society, from different ethnic and religious communities. To intimidate politicians, they even executed a prime minister and ministers. To intimidate the press, they murdered leading journalists and writers. They plotted İzmir’s Menemen incident in which an army officer was killed by allegedly reactionaryist opponents of the Kemalist government as they claimed to oppress dissidents during the single-party regime in the 1920s and ‘30s. In addition, they planned the murder of İskilipli Atıf Hoca, the Başbağlar massacre of Sunnis and the Dersim, Sivas Madımak and Maraş massacres of Alevis. Unionists were shot to death, members of the judiciary were assassinated, attacks were conducted against the Council of State, commanders, generals and high-ranking military officers were killed. To intimidate minorities, Üzeyir Garih (from the Jewish community) and Hrant Dink were murdered; to intimidate businessmen, Özdemir Sabancı (son of a prominent businessman, Sakıp Sabancı, whose family is among the top two richest families in Turkey) was killed. These murders were all committed through terrorist organizations, some leftist, some right-wing and others. In the meantime, they exploited the resources of this nation through the mechanism they had set up within the state.

Why do those who do not take these events into account and do not address these problems make frequent reference to the Gülen movement? Let me answer first why this was not noticed before.

1. The media used to cover up the truth, hide the reality from people and serve as the protector of the regime I mentioned above. This media submitted to the guardianship while promoting the freedom of speech and professional ethics. The same media also violated the honor and dignity of its members during the Feb. 28 process. 2. There was a judicial mentality response to the demands of the coup makers and junta makers believing that the interests of the state should be given priority. 3. The guardianship infiltrated elements of the state, the intelligence and security units and all other critical institutions. Critical actors were installed in political posts to control specific spaces and realms. 4. Nobody held them accountable so far for what they did.

What has happened today? What has changed so that people are speaking up courageously?

Something that the guardianship would never have expected would happen. For the first time in 150 years, they are being held accountable. Everything I mentioned in the four items above is not valid anymore. There is an alternative media to the conventional one. The judiciary is able to hold everybody to account. The gangs within the state are now fear prosecution. The nation is stunned, but it is experiencing a process of awakening. In a referendum held on Sept. 12, 2010 on the 30th anniversary of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup, 58 percent of the people endorsed democratization. And most importantly a political administration is in power able to hold the gangs within the state accountable.

However, the guardianship is resisting. Those who drafted an anti-reactionarysm plan to destroy and eliminate the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Fethullah Gülen are now expecting much to come out of a row between the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the judiciary, which was provoked by the lack of carefulness by a prosecutor. They are trying to accomplish what they could not by plans to form chaos through sedition. They have been arguing that the Gülen movement is seizing the state to become a partner in the administration.

I do not know whether there are still some men of conscience who will listen to them, but in democracies, people are all equal citizens. They do not seize their own state. If they deserve it and are eligible, they are picked for certain positions. In this country, every citizen is eligible to assume a position within the state apparatus if the process is in consistency with the law. Otherwise, it would mean that you defend the right of some to seize the state.

But we should not forget those who did infiltrate state positions. Recently, an indictment on retired Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ was accepted by the court. Let us read an excerpt from this indictment. “The Ergenekon armed terrorist organization infiltrated a number of state institutions. One of the institutions that the members of this organization infiltrated was Turkish Armed Forces [TSK].”

Why are people not writing about this instead of raising arguments on the alleged infiltration of the Gülen community without presenting any evidence or documents?

Published on Today's Zaman, 16 February 2012, Thursday