The Taraf daily published a document on Wednesday prepared by the National Security Council (MGK) on Aug. 25, 2004, persuading the government to implement a series of measures to curb the activities of the Gülen movement. It advises the government to adopt legal measures that would impose harsh penalties on Gülen-affiliated institutions.
The two-page document was signed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, then-President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Cabinet members, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök, Land Forces Commander Aytaç Yalman, Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek, Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına and Gen. Şener Eruygur.
The document, identified as MGK decision No. 481, asked the government to develop an action plan to pursue the MGK's recommendations and instructed the Prime Ministry Monitoring Council (BTK) to coordinate the ministries and monitor whether the steps were being implemented.
The MGK decision urges the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) to closely monitor and report on the activities of the Gülen movement at home and abroad. It advises the government to instruct the Interior Ministry and Ministry of Education to investigate and monitor schools affiliated with the Gülen movement and report their activities to the BTK.
The document states that the government must ensure that the financial activity of Gülen-affiliated businesspeople be monitored thorough the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK). The MGK wanted the Ministry of Education to investigate Gülen schools as well.
It also asks then-Foreign Minister Gül to cancel his earlier instructions to Turkish missions abroad to help the network of National View (Millî Görüş) and Gülen schools.
The document also comments on the psychological aspects of an operation against the Gülen movement, describing the use of defamation tactics.
The MGK is the top state body created by the 1960 military coup. It was seen as a shadow government while the military was in power. Furthermore, it ruled the country directly from 1980 to 1983 before transferring power to the civilian government.
Yet the military became part of the executive branch through the MGK, joining the president and a committee of ministers. It became the final authority in decisions on a wide range of issues, including law, the economy, education, rights and freedoms. Though its decisions were expressed as advice on paper, they behaved as direct orders to the government.
The document has sparked outrage in Turkey, with opposition parties criticizing the government for lying to the Turkish people while intellectuals have slammed the government for endorsing an MGK decision that is seen as a plot against the country's citizens.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, said the document exposed the government's two-faced politics. Kılıçdaroğlu explained that the government has defied its stated policies and values, stressing that Erdoğan signed the document while proclaiming entirely different principles to the Turkish people. “The main rule for a politician should be telling the truth to his or her people. A politician should be after the truth,” he added.
The deputy chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) parliamentary group, Oktay Vural, said that if the document is authentic, the Feb. 28 period has continued into the AK Party's time in power.
The Feb. 28 military intervention, called a “postmodern coup” because it was carried out without the use of arms, occurred when military generals confronted a civilian coalition government at an MGK meeting on Feb. 28, 1997, which resulted in the forced resignation of the government led by a now-defunct religious-minded party. The period following Feb. 28 was characterized by mass human rights violations in Turkey, and conservative groups were put under immense pressure.
Vural said the AK Party emerged as a result of that period, stressing that “it appears the AK Party is maintaining that Feb. 28 process.” He also said the government needs to explain itself in the light of this leak.
Democrat Party (DP) leader Gültekin Uysal also accused the government of duplicity, calling on prosecutors to investigate the MGK document.
Yalçın Akdoğan, an AK Party deputy and close aide to Erdoğan, admitted that the document is authentic but denied that the government implemented the MGK decision. “The MGK decision of 2004 was considered null and void. No Cabinet decision was taken on that, and no steps were taken whatsoever,” Akdoğan wrote on Twitter.
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said the government had never enacted the actions suggested against the Gülen movement and its manifestations.
However, Arınç claimed he cannot confirm or deny the report because he was not at the meeting. He added that he felt no need to dig into the matter because the prime minister and other officials might make a statement later in the day.
Arınç stressed that not a single document endorsed by the MGK had been acted upon in the past 10 years and that the government has not done anything against “religious people or groups.” He noted that even if such a decision was taken by the MGK, it was a recommendation to the government and that the “government had not realized it.”
“As someone who witnessed that, I can say that this was not implemented,” Arınç concluded, referring to the document.
The parliament speaker, Cemil Çiçek, whose signature as a Cabinet member was on the leaked MGK document, said he was not the only one who signed it. “If a signature was required, everyone must have put their signature on it. On a matter related to the MGK, I cannot sign a document alone,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı ruled out the possibility that the government was working to finish off the Gülen movement, saying that the government had shown resistance to such plans during difficult times.
Published on Today's Zaman, 28 November 2013, Thursday
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