“…that’s why we are called brothers”

Muhammed Çetin is a Turkish parliamentarian who recently resigned from the ruling AK Party in protest against what he calls Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s policy of protecting the corrupt and reshuffling judges and police chiefs investigating corruption cases.

Back in December 2013, the world was rocked with allegations of corruption and money laundering against some Turkish ministers and their sons, a central banker and an Iranian gold dealer accused of executing shaky oil deals worth $107 billion. Arrests were made and a taped conversation between Erdogan and his son Bilal on how to conceal the bribe money was also circulated on Internet. Erdogan termed the tape fake and blamed the followers of faith-based Hizmet Movement, inspired by popular scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen-for hatching conspiracies against him. Earlier, Erdogan had enjoyed the support of Hizmet Movement.

Çetin is a close associate of Gülen and an authority on Hizmet Movement. He has done his doctoral thesis on the movement and taught sociology at American universities before joining the Turkish parliament in 2011. He was in Pakistan last week on the invitation of Rumi Forum Pakistan.

TNS talked to him on the current situation in Turkey, the allegations against Hizmet movement, the status of corruption cases against dignitaries, freedom of expression in the country, future of Erdogan and other pertinent issues.

The News on Sunday: What are the major reasons behind your resignation? Secondly is it true that only Hizmet Movement is opposing Erdogan government?

Muhammed Çetin: If you ask for the foremost reason it was the disregard for the rule of law shown by the PM that prompted me to resign. Instead of asking the police officers, prosecutors and judges to probe these cases he started reshuffling them just to disturb them. When a new judge arrives he has to understand the case from the beginning and by the time he gets an understanding of what is happening he is replaced. The same is the case with police chiefs and prosecutors who are experts in handling corruption, money-laundering and smuggling cases. These have been assigned trivial duties such as looking after the stationery department of police, managing traffic or doing office duties. Coming to the second part of the question I would like to clarify that Hizmet does not have any political agenda and it is not doing anything out of vengeance. So far 13 deputies (Turkish term for parliamentarians) from AK party have resigned and not all associate with Hizmet Movement. Erdogan is losing popularity and more deputies are going to resign. As per existing laws in Turkey a parliamentarian can retain his seat as an independent deputy after resigning from his party. The group of independents is becoming strong and can play important role.

TNS: You say things are getting worse but recent surveys show Erdogan is still popular? What do you have to say on this?

MC: There are surveys which show he is popular but one major reason for this is that the mass media is mostly under government control. Apart from state-owned media, a large number of private media organisations are also being controlled by the government which does not allow any criticism to go on air. One thing that I want to focus on is that corruption charges are too serious and severe to be pushed under the carpet. Allegations include selling Iranian oil despite sanctions imposed on the country and sending the proceeds back to Iran in the shape of gold via Dubai. They did this to circumvent international money-transfer sanctions on Iran.

The image of Turkey is tarnished by these acts and if the guilty are not brought to the book it will be seen by the world as a smuggling and money laundering hub. We are concerned more about the future of country and its people than targetting one particular person, his aides and family members accumulating illegally earned money. It’s the wrong message that the world is getting about our country that we are worried about. These are not mere allegations; the police have recovered millions of euros, dollars etc stashed in cars, suitcases and even shoe-boxes in possession of the accused.

TNS: If the state of affairs is so bad in Turkey then what is holding it together? Where does the resilience come from?

MC: No doubt things have gotten worse but those involved in such acts are few. The nation on the whole is not corrupt. The people of Turkey love education and will scale new heights with the help of quality education they pursue. I am sure the AK party will see a dip by 10 to 15 per cent in local government elections scheduled for next month and may get knocked out in the next general elections. The police officers and judges are professional and mostly committed and that’s why they have to be changed by the PM. He got a law passed in the assembly to get powers to appoint and remove judges etc. Due to such measures the common people have started calling him Khalifa Ruay Zameen (Caliph on the face of earth).

TNS: If we compare Pakistan and Turkey, we see similarities such as rulers’ desire to control judiciary and hide corruption. Do you think the same?

MC: (Laughing). True, and that’s why we are called brothers. I would say Pakistan and Turkey are just like two brothers living in two houses. Here I would add that Turkish people like to see Pakistan progress and grow. The affinity is not only at the state level but at personal level. The Turkish want to see Pakistanis excel and make their contribution in this regard. For example there are organisations like Rumi Forum which manage Pak-Turk schools across the country, facilitate national and international dialogues, interact with media and academia and strive for promotion of literary, educational and cultural activities in Pakistan.

Published on The News on Sunday, 2 March 2014