So the Turkish government indicted 86 people earlier this week for various nefarious plots involving Ergenekon, the secret far-right secular nationalist group linked to the military.
The timing of this is sort of interesting, since Turkey’s Supreme Court (which is dominated by secularists) is expected to deliver a decision soon proclaiming the ruling AKP party unconstitutional. (The secularist charge against AKP is that it’s really a religious party, which the Turkish constitution forbids. AKP supporters respond that it’s just like a Christian Democratic party in western or central Europe.)
Beyond that, I don’t have much to say: I find Turkish politics fascinating but I don’t pretend I understand them. If any of our readers have much to add, I’d love to hear it.
Feed: A Fistful of Euros
July 16th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Public Prosecutor claimed that this Ergenekon organization was in fact a 600+ years old secret religious order named Agarta (or something like that)! Outrageous. It’s a fictitious enemy of the state. In fact it’s just a rubric for all the people they want to harrass. While the USA and the EU are cheering for the AKP as the “Champion of Democracy”, Turkey is becoming an authoritarian democracy (!), a police state. One must not forget that Hitler was democratically elected, too.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Baris,
Turkey was until recently only semi-democratic - military coups and authoritarian governments tend to do that. In many ways Turkey is becoming more deomcratic, not less, under the current government.
The problem with Turkey seems to be that many people who claim to be Western secularists don’t actually believe in democracy and the rule of law. As soon as their guys lose and keep losing, they reach for their guns.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
So this is a moribund government striking at enemies while it still can? In other words, they’ll be released in a few weeks and the issue can be ignored?
July 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
There’s a lot going on under the surface here. But the general outlines are clear.
The secularist elite is worried about losing power. Some of them are corrupt and some of them are genuinely worried about Islamism, but regardless, they aren’t willing to tolerate the AKP in power, regardless of whether the people vote them in democratically.
So they are using the head scarf issue as a fig leaf to put the AKP out of business and prevent its leadership from being involved in politics for five years. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either a judicial coup d’etat and crime against democracy or a regrettable overreaching to prevent an Islamist takeover.
The AKP leadership has seen this movie before and isn’t willing to roll over this time, like it did for previous coups, party banning (see Welfare party), and email coups. So it is striking back using its control over the police forces. Does this sort of conspiracy exist? Absolutely. The components of the deep state still exist and are almost certainly planning a military coup if necessary. Are the people arrested guilty of plotting a coup? Hard to tell - some of them are almost surely involved, but the list is long and includes people like journalists, etc.
The big wild card is Europe and the US. If both of them condemn the (assumed to be forthcoming) banning of the AKP, then it might not happen. If they weasel out or worse, support authoritarian secularists, then things could degenerate quickly.
The AKP has a very broad amount of support, more so than the secularists, as shown in voting results. It also controls or has the sympathy of more of the power centers: poltical, social, and economic, than it did in previous military coups. If the secularists go too far in trying to overthrow the efforts of the majority, it could lead to armed conflict.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Yes. yes and yes. I agree with on most accounts. Yet the point I was trying to make is that, when the public prosecutor who is running the case makes the claim (yes he did, its official) that the conspiracists are members of a (I repeat) 600 year old never heard before secret religious cult, things begin to go weird. It’s like blaming the Templars to attempt a coup in France or something. It’s misinformation. It’s myth making. It’s very dangerous, and very handy when you don’t want people to speak up. You can just point your finger to any opposition and claim that he is a member of a secret cult. Therefore it damages credibility of the justice system and the rule of law, both of which we need in our struggle against militarism and authoritarianism.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Hitler wasn’t elected democratically, he was appointed by a senile president. The Nazis never had a majority in parlament. Hitler was a compromise candidate, whose party had the same origins and supporters as Turkey’s “Ergenekon” groups.
I find that it funny that “Baris” brings us this old, tired Nazi myth as well as a lot of conspiracy theories about secret religious orders
July 16th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Off, please read my comments above again and more slowly.
I am not bringing up stuff about secret religious orders. The STATE PROSECUTOR who is prosecuting these Ergenekon people is bringing it up in his OFFICIAL CHARGES versus these people. And I am saying above that I dont buy his story and this bullshit is damaging the justice system and the rule of law.
Please read carefully before commenting.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Baris,
I find the whole idea of banning parties for attempting to legalize head scarves vastly more damaging to the justice system and the rule of law than random mutterings by the state prosecutor, but clearly YMMV.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
We are in total agreement about banning parties. I am just saying that two wrongs doesn’t make a right. Democracy must win but it MUST win clean. My main concern is people loosing faith in rule of law during this process. Democracy cannot and should not fight the dirty war of its opponents. Otherwise it is blemished.