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Partly because of the approaching March 2009 local polls, domestic political tension is increasing in the country. The prime minister, perhaps because he is frustrated with the reports of some pollsters claiming that there is a sharp decrease – as much as 15 percentage points – in the public support for his party, or is upset with accusations that he has given up his reformist mindset and has become a conservative trying to mend fences with the establishment – that is, the claims that “he came like an Obama but became some sort of a Bush” – has become very aggressive.
He is yelling at everyone – even those people who were very close to him and indeed have been his die-hard compatriots until today in the struggle against the “conservative secularist Kemalists” – and in that aggressive mode has even gone to the extent of providing legitimacy for people taking justice in their hands saying that people fed up with violent Kurdish demonstrations may take their own defensive measures, though he would not approve it.
Corruption hurting AKP
Corruption claims against Şaban Dişli and Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, the two deputy chairmen of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and their subsequent resignation from their positions as well as from the Party Executive and allegations of corruption in several AKP-held municipalities were frustrating developments for the premier and his party as well. Yet, as the elections approach it would be just normal perhaps to see a radical increase in those claims.
Already, there are claims that main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, parliamentary group deputy chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu – who is believed to have forced the two AKP deputy to chairmen step down with the verified corruption claims he brought against them, though unlike the Şaban Dişli case, in the resignation of Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, disagreements between him and Erdoğan on the Kurdish policy is believed to have played a greater role than the corruption claims – has completed “research” into some other very important corruption cases and would reveal them one by one as the election date approaches.
Partly because of the approaching local elections and their fear that they may lose some of their strongholds – like Diyarbakır, Batman and Tunceli towns in southeastern Anatolia – the Social Democracy Party, or DTP, has started provoking people – with the lie that life-time imprisoned separatist chieftain Abdullah Öcalan of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was beaten up by prison guards – not only in southeast but in some big western Turkish cities, particularly Istanbul, into a civil disobedience campaign and some violent demonstrations.
As if these were not enough, the chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals has launched an investigation against the AKP, on grounds that it received financial assistance from the Germany-based Deniz Feneri or Lighthouse, Islamist charity foundation. If the prosecutor can verify the claims that AKP indeed received money from Deniz Feneri, under the existing laws prohibiting Turkish political parties from receiving assistance from foreign individuals, organizations or states, the party could face yet another closure case at the Constitutional Court.
Inquiry against Gülen
But, mental retention is apparently a contagious condition. Not only is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffering from it Ğ as the symptoms of the condition were demonstrated in the premier’s "love or leave" statement in Van or his attempt to legitimize the lynching culture when he said in Istanbul that though he would not approve of it, people may take defensive measures Ğ but Defense Minister Gönül has as well started to show some symptoms of this serious condition.
Minister Gönül was in Brussels on Nov. 10 and attended a commemoration of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the Turkish Embassy there. While one would expect a former governor, veteran politician and a six-year defense minister to stay away from making controversial remarks that could be exploited by enemies of Turkey, Gönül delivered a statement at the commemoration that was so unfortunate for him.
He, with that statement, provided ammunition to those at home and abroad who hate Atatürk and the Turkish Republic. The result: The words of the minister were considered by the Greek media as a confession by Turkey that atrocities were committed against Greeks, Armenians and other minorities in the early years of the Turkish RepublicÉ
What did the minister say? "If today in the Aegean Greeks continued to live, if in many parts of Turkey Armenians continued to live, could Turkey be the same state? Even today, in the struggle continuing in the southeast, in this nation building, we cannot reject the contributions of those who consider themselves aggrievedÉ particularly those who consider themselves aggrieved because of their relocation!"
To symbolize the continued grief of the nation over the loss of Atatürk, flags around the country were lowered to half-mast between 9:05 a.m. and sundown. At ceremonies at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Atatürk, and elsewhere in the country, the president and leading politicians delivered lofty speeches vowing allegiance to the memory of the founder and the principles on which he erected the Turkish Republic.
Among those delivering commemorative speeches, applauding and cheering so loudly they lost their voices to make sure everyone heard how good a Kemalist he is, were those who could not understand the message of "nationalism" of the great leader in his famous, "Happy is he who says I am a Turk," quote, or the, "From Diyarbakır, Van, Erzurum, Trabzon, Thrace or Macedonia, they are all sons of the same nation; veins of the same gem... " line.
There were other people who could not understand why secularism was introduced to the country. Atatürk was not against Islam or any other religion. On the contrary, he said: "Religion is a necessary institution. The continuation of a nation that does not have a religion is impossible. However, I must stress that the exploitation of religion definitely, must not be allowed. Those exploiting religion for the benefit of some, are disgusting people."
Furthermore, to understand Atatürk, one has to grasp the true meaning of his words. "Liberty and independence are my character," he had said. More? "This nation has not lived without her independence. She will not and cannot live without it. Liberty or death!" This was the firm belief that carried the Turkish nation to victory and liberty in the War of Liberation, despite the poverty, lack of resources and a poorly armed military.
“He came like Obama, but turned into some sort of Bush,” said one of the Islamist pundits in revealing the fight, which apparently continued discreetly for some time, in the Islamist and neo-liberal powerbase of the AKP. Joining the battle, a neo-liberal pundit commented that Erdoğan himself has started liquidating the AKP, and has started converting the party into an “etatist” one. Another did not stop there and accused the prime minister of “betraying the hopes” of Kurds, liberals, Islamists and democrats by aligning himself and the government with the military and the nationalists, and adopting a language even fascists would not dare use in today’s Turkey.
Not only the etatists, secularists, Kemalists, nationalists and patriots are criticizing the prime minister, but the Islamists, neo-liberals and Kurdish nationalists have joined in the “bashing Erdoğan” campaign. Indeed, the Islamists and neo-liberals are attacking the premier far more fiercely than the traditional opposition.
Irrespective of whether it was a product of the Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s “corruption vendetta” campaign against the ruling party, or the differences between Erdoğan and himself over the way the Kurdish issue was handled, the resignation of Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat from both the number two position in the AKP administration and membership of the powerful party executive, it was a public manifestation and perhaps the visible tip of the iceberg, of problems within the AKP and in its powerbase.
That is, in analyzing the departure of Fırat from the number two position and his replacement by Abdülkadir Aksu, also a Kurd but who has spent time as a governor and interior minister in many governments and always in harmony with the establishment, it might be useful to try to find an answer to the question, “Why has Erdoğan become a target of attacks in the allegiant media?” and to take a retrospective look to find when this parting may have begun.
Turning point
The Oct. 3 ambush in broad daylight of the separatist gang on the border military outpost in Aktütün, in the Şemdinli area of the Hakkari province, killing 15 soldiers and sending strong shockwaves across the nation, could perhaps be the landmark date, while others might prefer to think of the June summit of Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, Land Forces commander at the time, and Erdoğan as the “turning point.” Within days of that meeting, Başbuğ became the top commander, 10 days later the AKP was “salvaged” by the Constitutional Court, partly because of Başbuğ’s character, since then the military has not publicly criticized the government.
But, the most important development was the strong support the prime minister gave to the military when he endorsed a rather harsh statement by Başbuğ against the allegiant media alleging that intelligence deficiency was the main reason behind the Aktütün ambush and its losses. A second important development was the rather harshly-worded statement issued by the Prime Ministry denying reports in the allegiant media regarding the first-ever participation of top commanders in a cabinet meeting, and the briefing they gave to ministers. That was the first time that the AKP government publicly and in rather offensive language, declared the allegiant media reports on the briefing “totally wrong and unfounded.”
Thus, in a way the prime minister provided a strong government shield to the military at a time when it was under attack by the media, which until that date were so loyal to the government. Then Erdoğan was placed at the bulls eye of neo-liberal media outlets, while the Islamist media still withheld strong criticism of the premier.
Had Turkey managed to overcome its economic problems; solved the immense unemployment problem; had overcome the schooling problem of our kids; achieved a high level of per capita income admired by the world and had the country faced a shrinking young population problem, perhaps like some European countries, Turkey should think of providing some incentives to encourage people to have babies. The situation in Turkey, however, is not at all comparable with, let’s say, the situation in some Nordic countries.
For the past six years, whenever he finds an opportunity to express his most valuable ideas about population growth, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan starts preaching that families must have at least three kids.
The premier is implying that the state could provide support to families with at least three kids… What support? Sacks of coal, rice, flour, sugar, beans as well as books, notebooks, pencils and such…
The prime minister wants votes of people, distributes coal, rice, flour and such… He wants more babies, intends to distribute flour, coal and such items… What is he doing? Intentionally creating a beggar society! Vote for the ruling AKP, get sacks of coal, have three or more babies, get free sugar, rice, books and notebooks.
Well, if we can teach our people how to read and write, and sufficiently encourage them to write in those notebooks at least from time the difficulties they are facing, perhaps the notebooks distributed may serve a purpose and illuminate the future generations about how we managed to create a conservative beggar society, unable to produce anything but babies and surviving on donations from others or from the state.
Those who accept remarks of the prime minister as if they are some divine order, are of course asking “Are you not aware that if we do not have three or more kids our future will be very bleak?”
More kids, more problems!Yes, indeed, those members of this society who have three, four, five or more kids are in very dire problems and with the latest deforms the AKP government has introduced to the social security system of the country and the worsening economic situation, their situation will be far worst tomorrow. Furthermore, due to the appalling situation of our education system, more kids will mean more illiterate people in our society.
Turkey has a population of around 70 million. How many families does that make? If we assume that a family has four or five members on average, that makes around 16 million families. If we accept the confession of the prime minister that currently through the social assistance fund and other state or municipal agencies, some two million families are receiving coal donations, that means one in every eight families is being turned into beggars by this government.