Erdoğan pushes further polarization, hatred in Turkey in post-election era

Despite the fact that the local elections -- which saw fierce competition between the ruling party and opposition parties -- are over, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has kept ratcheting up his bellicose rhetoric consisting of slander, insults and harsh language, which he had used in election rallies against the opposition, provoking further polarization and inciting fear and hatred in the public.

In a speech to the parliamentary group of the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) on Tuesday, Erdoğan effectively declared war against his opponents, saying that he would never forget what the opposition parties and their supporters have done to topple his government since corruption scandals were exposed on Dec. 17, 2013.

Erdoğan lashed out at his rivals among which he also cited the "parallel structure," a reference to the faith-based Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and threatened to take action against critical media outlets, slamming them for running what he says “provocative headlines.”

"We will not forgive these kinds of vile acts, this treason," Erdoğan vowed.

“We will never forget how the opposition parties cooperated with traitors and acted as contractors for these traitors,” he added, stressing that he cannot move on as if nothing happened during the election campaign period.

“I'm saying this in clear terms: Nobody will get away with this [treachery],” Erdoğan stated, adding that “treason, espionage, intelligence and immorality will not go unpunished.”

Responding to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli's earlier remarks on Tuesday, Erdoğan said, even this morning the MHP chairman came out and still insulted him ferociously.

“You have to address people in a way they could intelligently understand. From now on, we'll do so,” Erdoğan underlined, signaling that he will use harsher rhetoric against opponents.

The Turkish prime minister called on Bahçeli and other party leaders including the Republican People's Party (CHP) and pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to apologize to people after their failure in the elections.

Recalling the Gezi Park demonstrations last summer, Erdoğan said those who are uneasy about a strong and growing Turkey, economically and diplomatically, wanted to disrupt Turkey's domestic political stability, peace and democracy. He accused his opponents of employing every means available, from terrorism, vandalism, fascism and racism to hatred and discrimination.

Erdoğan also accused his opponents of the leaking of a recording of top security officials discussing possible military action in Syria onto the video-sharing site YouTube. He accused the anonymous posters of revealing scandalous conversations among senior government officials, businesspeople to his political enemies as well as the so-called parallel structure.

Attacking the critical media that reported these leaks, Erdoğan said the analysis and comments about these recordings were immoral.

“They manipulated [public] with polls,” he said, adding that the opposition tried to provoke voters since March 30 using anti-government news agencies and distorting the elections results.

“They still call me ‘dictator' as if they have no shame,” Erdoğan said of critics in the media, asking them to question the failure of opposition parties in elections if they have the courage to do so.

He said the Turkish people saw the real intention behind the Gezi Park events just as in the case of the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 corruption investigations, which Erdoğan describes as coup attempts. “The nation gave us a vote of confidence and confirmed our policies,” Erdoğan noted.

Witch hunt looms on horizon

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also vowed to launch a massive operation against what he calls the parallel structure, saying that the elections results have given him a mandate to go after elements of this structure.

“The nation gave us a mandate to root out this structure that clearly targeted Turkey's future and whose treason to the motherland, espionage and intelligence activity have been confirmed,” Erdoğan said, stressing that he will not hesitate to go after this structure.

Erdoğan has kept repeating the same accusations during the election campaign period for the last three months, yet he has failed to produce a single piece of evidence to back up such claims nor asked a prosecutor's office to launch an investigation into these claims.

The opposition parties say Erdoğan wants to distract the public's attention away from corruption scandals and created a parallel structure lie to create an artificial enemy, adding that Erdoğan acts as if he has not been running the country as the prime minister of Turkey for the past 12 years.

Erdoğan noted that the fight with the parallel structure will be within laws and democracy, yet he underlined that those responsible for leaks will not be tried in the court of law run by parallel structure but rather in “the court of the nation.” He did not elaborate on what the “court of nation” means and what courts in Turkey are in fact allegedly run by the so-called parallel structure.

The Turkish prime minister also vowed not to remain indifferent to the espionage activities of the parallel structure in the international arena. He confirmed that he raised the issue of the parallel structure, among other issues, when he met with Azerbaijani officials last week during his first post-election trip abroad to Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey.

“This matter will be on our agenda in international platforms,” Erdoğan said, promising to go after global connections of the structure.

The government's attempts to shut down Turkish schools abroad that are affiliated with the Hizmet movement have been severely criticized by opposition members, intellectuals, celebrities and diplomats.

The CHP parliamentary group deputy chairman, Engin Altay, said it is unacceptable to take a negative approach towards educational institutions that represent Turkey, its culture and values abroad and that do not receive any financial support from the government.

The faith-based Hizmet movement administers a wide network of schools and more than 2,000 educational establishments in more than 120 countries around the world. These schools provide education to thousands of students and are well known for their achievements in the International Science Olympiads.

Oktay Öztürk, deputy chairman of the MHP, said he is against the shutting down of Turkish schools overseas, which have become an international brand. He described the prime minister's orders to close down such schools and the Foreign Ministry's action in accordance with his orders as unfortunate. “Erdoğan should control his temper and review his decision about the schools,” Öztürk said.

Former Foreign Minister Yaşar Yakış also criticized the government's attempt, saying such schools have always been a "source of pride" for Turkey and that closing them down would be a big mistake.

The attempt to shut down the schools comes at a time when the Hizmet movement is being subjected to a smear campaign by the government, whose prime minister and many high-level officials are implicated in a sweeping corruption scandal that became public on Dec. 17 last year.

Former Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay also expressed his concerns over the closure of Turkish schools overseas, saying government leaders including Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu have visited these schools and boasted about the quality of the education provided.

Erdoğan also said his government will crack on what he called “illegal economic activities” of the structure. He called on public to inform state officials about any person suspected of belonging to the "parallel structure,” a move that sparked fears of a witch hunt among critics.

Early on Tuesday, police raided several addresses in the southern province of Adana as part of an investigation into allegations of illegal wiretapping by six police officers and two police chiefs. Pro-government newspapers cast the Adana investigation as the beginning of an operation against the parallel structure.

The government has already reshuffled some 13,000 public officials, mostly in the police and judiciary, and tightened control over the Internet and judiciary in response to the massive corruption scandal.

Published on Today's Zaman, 08 April 2014, Tuesday