Constructs

Hasan Kanbolat

I do not like conspiracy theories. So, my goal with this column is certainly not to create any new conspiracy theories. It is just to try some broader thinking.

The war in Syria has entered into its fourth year. The civil war in Syria was not organized to actually see one of the sides win. Instead, the continuation of this war was based on the plan that it would eventually cause the collapse of Syria's political, military, economic and human resources. The aim at hand was the creation of a broken country. Many of the regional capitals -- including, of course, Ankara -- were made to believe they would be stronger regional leaders in the wake of this brief conflict. It was a war they were assured would be over in just a few months. But Ankara was misled (as were other countries). In the meantime, the civil war in Syria gets even dirtier. Surrounding countries are regressing due to what's unfolding in Syria. And most notable of all is that, along with this Syrian war, the perception of political Islam and Islam as a religion continues to get even worse.

When we analyze Syria, we need to think about how Turkey might be part of a whole different construct. When the era of military tutelage began to come to an end in Turkey, the dynamics of the country's economic, political and social life began to be determined by religious communities based throughout Anatolia. And it was the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that acted as the joint spokesperson for these communities. And now Turkey has been pulled into a war between the Hizmet movement, the strongest civil society organization since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and one which exists even outside the borders of the country -- and the AK Party, which of course has the backing of other important religious communities and structures. This clash is unleashing destructive forces on both sides in this situation. Who will emerge as victor in this war? Is what we are witnessing a war resembling that which is unfolding in Syria, in which no one wins? Are we being dragged into a wholly different kind of Turkey? Is Turkish society being turned against political Islam through purposeful exposure to corrupt leadership?

Who are the candidates to fill the empty spaces left as a result of this damage to the Hizmet movement and other religious communities? Will it be Masonic structures taking positions of power in the order of military tutelage that will oversee the economic, political and social arenas of a new Turkey? And who will fill the vacuum of belief that will arise out of the damage done by the Anatolia-based religious communities' attacks on one another? Will it be groups sympathetic to the Iranian revolution? Is space being cleared for groups or organizations that are not rooted in Anatolia?

Are the deep-state bureaucrats left over from the era of military tutelage now looking towards the prime ministerial offices? Is the union between the AK Party and the state pushing bureaucracy to behave with political instincts and politics to behave with bureaucratic instincts? Every step being taken now is reminiscent of those templates left over from the interim periods, templates that have been gathering dust on the shelves for a while now. Is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan being pushed to act wrongly? Could there be some within his most trusted inner circle who are actually misdirecting him on purpose, prepared in the meantime to grab the power vacuum that opens up as a result? Could steps that include bringing Ergenekon back onto the stage, further polarization, manufactured street clashes, the shutting down of Twitter -- in short, indefensible damage to Turkey's image abroad -- all be parts of a larger scenario?

If these have all been intentional steps, what could come next? The start of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist acts in large cities? A Turkish military operation abroad -- using the Süleyman Şah tomb in Syria as a pretext -- while a simultaneous wide-reaching operation is launched inside Turkey against the Hizmet movement? Could the aim be to have Turkey appear a hero outside the country's borders, while inside the borders, multitudes of arrests take place as the Hizmet movement is painted as a terror organization? Similar operations have taken place in the past. When in 1955 the Democrat Party (DP) began to be damaged economically and politically, the deep state set off a bomb in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's home in Thessaloniki. And then, as a result of this purposeful incitement of the Turkish people, the events of Sept. 6-7 took place.

As I noted at the start of this column, I am trying to think broadly, outside of only cause and effect. I am just asking questions that have come to mind lately. These might seem like crazy questions, but they are perhaps ones that you too should keep in mind.

Published on Today's Zaman, 26 March 2014, Wednesday