Erdoğanists' double discourse

İhsan Yılmaz

Some members of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government, Justice and Development Party (AKP) members and their staunch supporters in the media have increasingly been using double discourse and the discrepancy between what they say in English and Turkish is widening.

While they use anti-Western, anti-EU, anti-US or anti-Semitic language in Turkish, they continue to claim in English that they are allies of the West, the US, the EU, NATO and so on.

They forget the fact that what they say in Turkish is instantly translated into English and it is idiotic to blame Today's Zaman for this since there are more than 300 representatives of the foreign media in İstanbul alone who talk to people every day, watch TV, have the news translated for them, etc. Some of them already know Turkish or employ Turkish-speaking staff anyway. Moreover, there are thousands of foreign companies and their employees closely monitor what is going on. Furthermore, hundreds of foreign embassies and consulates have been closely watching the developments.

The Erdoğanists even claim that Today's Zaman is a traitor and launched two outlets to “inform” the outside world in English: the Turkey Agenda web portal and an English version of the Sabah daily. You can see the double discourse in the Sabah daily as well. While the English version enthusiastically publishes statements by Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç saying he has been working very hard to normalize relations with Israel, that Turkish aid flotillas will receive permission from the Israeli authorities to help the Palestinians, etc., in the Turkish Sabah one cannot find such pro-Western, pro-Israeli stories. The Erdoğan media (the Sabah, Akşam, Akit, Yeni Şafak, Star, Türkiye and Takvim newspapers) keep publishing fabricated news about how Western powers are jealous of Erdoğan and have been trying to topple him via either the Gezi youth or their other puppet, the Hizmet movement, etc.

It was the state and the Erdoğan-controlled Anadolu news agency that disseminated news to its subscribers saying Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay had clarified that by saying “interest lobby,” Erdoğan actually means the Jewish lobby. Atalay later denied saying this, but why would a strictly AKP-controlled news agency fabricate such a story? The fact that Erdoğan recently insulted a protester by calling him “Israeli semen” is proof of their mentality.

Several Today's Zaman columnists, including myself, have been receiving all sorts of messages from Erdoğan's supporters accusing us of being servants of Jews and Americans. But when Erdoğanists talk to Westerners they shy away from honesty. What is more, they even claim that the Hizmet movement is anti-secular, etc. For instance, Osman Can, a deputy chair of the AKP, wrote in The Financial Times that the Hizmet movement is anti-secular. In Turkey, however, they have been saying in Turkish that Hizmet is controlled by the Americans. For instance, Deputy Prime Minister Arınç stated publicly that Fethullah Gülen is being controlled by a “superior mind,” implying the Americans, etc.

A few days ago, we witnessed another manifestation of this double discourse. It is even a form of a confession by a not-very-smart supporter of Erdoğan. Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, a columnist in Erdoğan's Sabah newspaper, wrote in Al-Monitor in English that the judges who decided to arrest Israeli military officers in the Mavi Marmara case are supporters of the Hizmet movement who want to ruin Erdoğan's relations with Israel. He even wrote that Erdoğan cannot criticize the court since he may lose some votes. This is a very clear confession of the fact that Erdoğan is a Machiavellian who uses anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, anti-Western, anti-EU and anti-US rhetoric to solidify his electoral power base but is not honest enough to say these things in English to the related parties. This has indeed been his game. While on the one hand he uses this anti-Western, etc., rhetoric to get the votes of the rural, conservative and uneducated masses, on the other he has actually been serving the interests of the US, etc.

However, this game has its limits for not only Erdoğan but for the US as well.

Published on Today's Zaman, 30 May 2014, Friday

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