Plot!

Ali Bulaç

Those who believe that the ongoing crisis in Turkey is a clash between the government and the Hizmet movement are focusing on only a part of the big picture.

If you take a look at the big picture, you will see that we are currently facing a fairly worrisome situation that goes beyond a government-Hizmet row.

Things are slowly being clarified. The key term to describe the ongoing process is “plot.” The remark by the prime minister's chief advisor Yalçın Akdoğan, who argued that a plot has been staged against the military, reveals that what we are observing is actually the tip of a huge iceberg; I am making this argument because this remark led to discussions on holding retrials in the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases; the retrial may include more than 40,000 cases. It should also be noted that some suspects in these cases have already been released. The Ergenekon suspects, for instance, were released shortly after Akdoğan's remark was made, despite the fact that they had been charged with attempting to stage a coup.

Turkey is a country that was ruled under a tutelage regime when the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) maintained control of the state. There are domestic and international dimensions to this tutelage. In early 21st century, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power thanks to the proper international conjecture and alliance and consensus between almost all religious communities. The AK Party is therefore a coalition and an umbrella party that is able to represent different tendencies and groups under the same roof. Turkey has made swift progress, showing a striking performance in the economy and integration with the world. However, things started to change in 2011; I dedicated my previous four columns to the external factors of this decline. Of course, external factors are not sufficient to explain it; domestic factors are also important to consider, as they might be determinative. Akdoğan's “plot” remark was a sign that the state was reviving its ancient reflex. I do not think that AK Party figures understand this; they are just following the current debate on the Hizmet-government row; they are simply asked to evaluate the process from this perspective.

The state is something that does not trust anybody else and that assumes inherent power. Depending on the conditions of the time, it relies on a different ideology or group to protect itself. But in essence, it exists for itself; those who assume the role of protecting it believe that they seized control of it, but then realize that they are just guardians. The state does not reconcile with anybody; it may take action against a communist, a worker, a Kurd, a Turk, a leftist, a rightist or an Islamist. The only thing that can control the state is law. Those who are eager to assume a role of protecting the state avoid legal assurances. The state has its own mechanisms, methods and tactics which may be used when necessary. Interestingly, even nationalists who promote the idea of the supremacy of the state and subscribe to state ideology have been severely victimized by state practices in the past. The state may use nationalists against leftists, Sunnis against Alevis, secularists against religious people, to protect itself. And now, it is pitting religious people against each other. The core center takes the vital decisions in this country; the center controls the bureaucratic structure, directly or indirectly. They would introduce communism if they considered it the best option; and maybe they will even consider shariah law as a mode of government in Turkey. Would you have thought that people who defined themselves as Islamist would defend interest-based banking system?

The state itself is a community; it exists to sustain its rule and to protect its privileges. You may eliminate a community; those who destroy it replace the former community; but eventually, they will also be destroyed.

Published on Today's Zaman, 14 April 2014, Monday