Embattled PM's way of evading allegations, protests: inventing lobbies

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems to have a peculiar way of handling -- or circumventing, to be more precise -- allegations, protests against him, the government: to accuse those who utter allegations against him, as in an ongoing graft probe, of being part of a lobby group or plot against the government, usually with backers abroad.

Confronted with serious charges of corruption in the government revealed by the graft probe made public on Dec. 17 last year, Erdoğan immediately described the investigation as a coup attempt against the government in an effort to cement supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) together in the face of corruption allegations.

The prime minister has put the blame on a “parallel structure,” a clear reference to sympathizers of the Hizmet (Service) movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. “The nation first and then the judiciary will call [members of the parallel structure] to account for this [Dec. 17] coup attempt,” Erdoğan said in his parliamentary group meeting in the past week.

Instead of letting prosecutors work on the corruption allegations or offering reasonable explanations for tapes leaked that reveal alleged wide-scale corruption in the government, Erdoğan has crafted an international conspiracy theory to explain the corruption scandal in which Hizmet sympathizers -- which the prime minister claims to be nested within the state -- are accused of being “domestic collaborators.”

A deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) enumerated in a recent parliamentary question 20 different “lobbies,” that prime minister has so far referred to in an attempt to divert people's attention and to get around allegations that purportedly worked to push the government out of office. “What is the reason for you to accuse so far 20 imaginary lobby groups including 'robot' [lobby]?” Umut Oran, CHP deputy chairman, said in his question.

Interest-rate lobby, Jewish lobby, stock exchange lobby, capital lobby, media lobby, blood lobby, lobby of those who miss darkness (the reference is to those days when military tutelage, powerful business, media groups had the possibility of imposing their will on the government in Turkey), lobby of losers, alcoholic beverages lobby, porn lobby, potatoes lobby, white beans lobby, preacher lobby, lobby of those who can not get backing of people, pineapple lobby, war lobby, terrorism lobby, chaos lobby and robot lobby are those enumerated on Oran's list of Erdoğan's lobbies.

Here are explanations for some of the lobbies Erdoğan has so far referred to, most commonly since the days of wide-ranging Gezi Park protests that rocked Turkey at the beginning of last summer.

Interest rate lobby: During the Gezi Park protests that, after Erdoğan's insulting, dismissive discourse towards protesters, turned into an anti-government protests all over the country, Erdoğan blamed a so-called interest-rate lobby for protests, implying that foreign countries and powerful financial institutions were, along with local collaborators, plotting against the government.

Chaos lobby: Right after the corruption probe was made public on Dec. 17, Erdoğan, seemingly to divert people's attention from corruption, put the blame on a certain chaos lobby group that purportedly worked to unseat the government by false accusations of corruption.

Porn lobby: Erdoğan did not use this term himself, but he lambasted demonstrators against a draconian bill aiming to censor Internet content as defenders of immorality, referring to an article in a pro-government daily that said the opposition against the bill is administered by a “porn lobby.”

Preacher lobby: Erdoğan's reference is to Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar who has been an inspiration for the faith-based Hizmet movement. Following the graft probe, Erdoğan blamed Hizmet, though implicitly, and accused them of treason, claiming that some sympathizers of Gülen “nested” in the judiciary and the police force cooperated with some transatlantic foreign powers to produce “false” accusations against the government.

Robot lobby: In the ruling party's parliamentary group meeting in the past week, the prime minister accused a “robot lobby” of attacking the government over Twitter by messages. “They established the robot lobby over the social media attacks with tweets,” the prime minister said.

The expression “robot lobby” was uttered by the prime minister at a time when a voice recording allegedly featuring Erdoğan and his son, Bilal, had been leaked onto the Internet. According to the recording, Erdoğan instructed Bilal, on the morning of Dec. 17 -- the day the graft probe was made public by prosecutors -- to get rid of the money at the family house.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 02 March 2014, Sunday