October 27, 2015

Trustee at Koza İpek: The dictator must have gone crazy

Mümtazer Türköne

This is just insane; nothing else. Only a person who lost mental abilities and who should be taken under protection can take such an action. A person who fears of losing everything if he/she steps down Sunday, a dictator who supposes he/she can do anything can take such a decision considering that this is the last chance for using the trump cards.

There is no way back: after appointing a trustee for İpek-Koza Group, the dictator must mobilize all the power he has, cancel the elections and shut down all opposition parties, as well as appointing board members for all holdings and business conglomerates. There should be nobody left to oppose him; thousands of people should be locked in stadiums; death penalty should be reintroduced; constitution should be suspended; laws should be abolished; there should be no light other than those in the palace. Otherwise, those who are behind this ruling and decision including the bureaucrats, prosecutors and the judges will have to face hundreds of years in prison.

You appoint a trustee for one of the largest companies in Turkey, meaning that you assume responsibility for billions of dollars; it is either Turkey will move to a dicta regime where you will have protection and promotion or you will be held accountable before law. The initial reports indicate that the decision was taken under article 133 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The reason for the exercise of this article must be reference to the espionage offenses under articles 328-337 under Turkish Criminal Code.

There is something special about article 133; despite reintroduction of the reasonable doubt clause in the Criminal Code, this article is exercised in the presence of strong doubt. Thus, a criminal offense must be detected to rely on this article. The strong doubt is about the relationship between the detected crime and the company, not about the crime itself. In addition, the appointment of the trustee should be necessary to reveal the material facts. The decision reveals no detection of crime, no connection between the company and the offense is not necessary to reveal the facts.

A court decision requires a series of preparatory steps which include involvement of some state institution. All acts that serve as basis for appointment of a trustee are grave offenses. You cannot justify this decision by reference to law; you cannot defend it. As long as you remain connected to the world, a lot of people will be affected by this. Obviously, just how Mustafa Varank was proud of his role in removing seven TV stations from Türksat platform, there are some who do this as a struggle for a dicta. There is one fundamental problem in this style: there will be election on Sunday; and we are supposed to expect that the people will be pleased with this. Or is there a consideration of postponing the elections or not recognizing the results? Even if this is the case, it is not done so blatantly.

Intoxication by power? Is this an operation of revenge out of concern that they would not be able to do it after the election? No matter how you name it, there is no reason there; it is pure madness. It is pure madness exclusive to the palaces which do not calculate the end. Politicians will get away with it; but how about the bureaucrats? The whole case is being repeated. Davutoğlu tries to carry out a campaign that is full of slip of tongue. He tries to create a legitimate framework by reference to majority government. He tries to mobilize the party, his staff and the voters so that he gets the result he wants in the ballot boxes. But like a prank joke, the other follows and ruins everything.

Davutoğlu must be informed of the appointment of a trustee only after the decision was publicized. How do you think he reacted to it? You should expect more cases of slip of tongue. Before 7 June, we were expecting arrest of some 120 journalists in an operation; that operation was postponed because of fears that that may hurt the party’s image. Obviously, the case will be repeated. The executioners in the pro-government media must be placing pressure for operation against Zaman daily and STV as well.

The palace is mad, hearing these voices. How about the others? What would Davutoğlu and his team do about the election they were expecting to win? Nobody should be worried; Turkey is not a country that will submit to such madness. Thank God for that.

Published on Today's Zaman, 26 October 2015, Monday

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