Turkey is a secular, democratic, social state founded by the Turkish Army under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The ruling party, that is, the AKP, stands convicted by the highest court in Turkey of being the center of anti-secular activities, that is, undermining the secular state. Undermining the secular state established by Atatürk is a serious crime. Some would consider subverting the founding principles, that is, the constitution, treasonous. Surely the Turkish Army, an appropriate defender of the Atatürk legacy, would. But strange things are happening in the secular Republic of Turkey.
The convicted anti-secular government, the AKP, has launched an enormous campaign to discredit the followers of Atatürk, of which there are millions, as well as the Turkish Army. Hundreds of people opposed to the policies of the anti-secular ruling party—journalists, writers, university professors, rectors, generals and other military officers—have been jailed under an extra-judicial scam called Ergenekon. In effect, anyone who is vocally opposed to this convicted-by-law anti-secular government, the AKP, is subject to imprisonment. Clearly, this anti-secular government intends to eliminate any and all political oppositon and to emasculate the Turkish Army. But their destructive plan is laughably transparent, replete with testimony of secret witnesses, forged documents, illegally wiretapped conversations, and severe human and judicial rights violations. It also stinks of foreign collusion and has all the earmarks of a typical CIA subversion scheme. (Read Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner and The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein for the grim details about the antics of the CIA.)
It is also tragic. Many lives have been, and continue to be, destroyed by the trumped-up schemes of the convicted anti-secular ruling party. The latest fiasco entails a so-called leaked so-called 4-page plan allegedly prepared by a junior army officer, to both overthrow the anti-secular ruling party and destroy the Fethullar Gülen movement in Turkey. Four whole pages! Imagine an army plan so skimpy? I can’t. Neither can the army who has disavowed its involvement in the hoax. And rightly so. The so-called plan is a photocopy, has no provenance, and is widely considered a forgery. But the country is paralyzed by this nonsense. Running about like headless chickens, the TV pundits endlessly produce verbal gas on the subject. Really want to know where the 4-pager came from? The smart money says try Langley, Virginia or Feto’s CIA safe “estate” at 1857 Mt. Eaton Road in leafy Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Feto’s abode was featured in a gauzy Sunday supplement article this summer by Hurriyet entitled “Fethullah Gülen’in Amerika’daki evi”… roadmap included. May Allah bless the American taxpayers for this subversion.
But who cares about these details? Much more important is the fact that secular Turks have the right to defend their secular constitution and their secular state from any power, foreign or domestic, that seeks to subvert same. The anti-secular ruling party has been convicted of doing that very thing by conducting anti-secular unconstitutional activities against the state. So why is not the anti-secular AKP to be resisted? To be called to order? To be charged? To be tried? To be banished?
And why, for all these years, have Turks memorized Atatürk’s Speech to the Turkish Youth? Do they know? One wonders given their behavior. What a great shame, for Atatürk gave his people the right, indeed the duty, to save the Turkish Republic from “those who hold power of government within the country.” In his later Bursa speech on 5 February 1933, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave his own people the right to overthrow himself! Stupendous!
Could it be any clearer? Why such reluctance to see the problem? And the solution. It’s so terribly simple, isn’t it? Why can’t we again boldly fill the streets with our outrage? Turkey has a legacy like no other country, that is, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Suddenly we ignore that and act like sheep. How many of us are so stupid?
Aziz Nesin, a wise, funny Turk, once answered that question. He estimated that 60% of us Turks are stupid. Predictably a fire storm resulted. How dare he call us stupid! Fine him! Jail him! Ban him! Burn him!
Nesin responded with an apology. I’m sorry, he wrote, I made a mistake—90% of the Turks are stupid! By today’s standards it seems a serious underestimate.
Cem Ryan, Ph.D.
İstanbul