Photocopy agenda

I wish good health to the prime minister. It was great seeing his photographs playing with his grandchild and marking the "Fathers’ Day" on Sunday. It was good that he took some time off from politics and spent with his family. Playing with his grandchild may not just help Erdoğan’s psychology, but rather than seeing an angry, frustrated, stubborn Erdoğan image, seeing a fatherly figure playing affectionately with his grandchild may help improve the national psychology so depressed among many other reasons with the "tangentially passing" economic crisis; political-judicial polarization between the secularist and Islamist poles and most lately the alleged "military" plot to stop the advance of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the Islamist Fethullan Gülen brotherhood organization. Contrary to what the prime minister said over the weekend, however, it was with the successful staging of the film "Aggrieved", scripted and co-produced by the Erdoğan, Abdullah Gül and Bülent Arınç Company that over the past seven years not only the AKP rule in the country managed to be sustained but at the same time apart from the parliamentary majority and the seat of government some other prominent "castles" of the secular and democratic republic, such as the key bureaucratic and judicial positions and the presidency, could have been taken over by political Islam.

The plot of the "Aggrieved" film is the propaganda that the AKP ideology was wanted by the nation but despite the expressed national political will there were some anti-democratic elements in the country not only rejecting "a Muslim government, Muslim bureaucrats or a Muslim president" in this predominantly Muslim country, but trying to smash the AKP and thus political Islam at every opportunity. The establishment and rise, as well as its success to escape from road accidents only with some minor bruises are all successful results of the expert performance of the "Aggrieved" film. Naturally, there are some sub-plots, like how to create a "green" capital; how to counter siphoning of millions of Euros from the Islamist Lighthouse e.V. charity fund; the alleged Ergenekon probe and trial; how to "cut to size" the powerful military; "discovery" of a photocopy document that might help put behind bars some active officers and curtail potential military opposition to "AKP reforms" to make Turkey a "more Islamist country"; polarization in the nation as well as in the media and of course in the labor, businessmen groups, NGOs and elsewhere.

Culture of the aggrieved

If after seven years of governance with an overwhelming parliamentary majority and with a domesticated parliamentary opposition like the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, of Deniz Baykal still trying to play the role of "aggrieved" and with the help of that role trying to stage a battle with the modern, secular, democratic republic, is there anything abnormal for some people fearing from a "secret agenda" or a "secret plan" being implemented in salami style?

Despite the legendary Ergenekon performance of some collaborators of the AKP (not only in the media but in the state establishment as well) it is a fact that "tangentially passing" economic crisis, skyrocketing unemployment, collapsing businesses, and of course skillful corruption and misuse of office performance at both local and central administration levels are just some of the factors that have brought the AKP into a state of political fatigue, as demonstrated in the March local polls. This political fatigue may as well be the underlying reason behind the AKP jumping on the alleged "military coup plot" photocopy "document" despite the awareness that the high probability that the alleged "document" could be proven a fake.

Behaving like a beggar who found a "treasure" in trash or trying to survive by spreading around the fear that the AKP was faced with an imminent coup threat and for the sake of its own political survival continuing to play the role of the "aggrieved" are not what is expected from a government confident of itself. If proven to be "authentic" military will definitely punish the coup plotters. But, if proven to be a fake, what will be the grave consequences for the Gülen brotherhood gang in state offices, particularly in police intelligence, and of course the political administration involved in such dirty tricks?