But no tangible action has so far been taken against those gangs to deter them from threatening the country’s internal security. “Our fight against gangs in particular and all threats in general targeting our national security, spoiling the peaceful lives of our citizens, will continue,” Erdoğan said during the same speech.
Prior to the early national elections Erdoğan in a June 22 speech was citing incidents such as Ümraniye as the reflection of events proving the existence of “deep Turkey.”
“Gangs are being protected. We want the state to launch a clean-hands operation, as has been done in Italy,” Erdoğan said (Kanal A, June 19, 2007).
Erdoğan was referring to a police seizure of a huge amount of hand grenades, explosives and pistols during an operation staged early last month at a shanty house in İstanbul’s Ümraniye district.
In addition to the arrest of retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin and retired non-commissioned officer Oktay Yıldırım, who allegedly owned the bombs, several more people have recently been detained including a journalist, an author and a former member of the police’s special operations unit.
In a related development, a recent probe into the ultra-nationalist Association for the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB) has revealed that members of the gang had called on the military to take over the government if the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) received 50 percent of the vote in Sunday’s elections. (The AK Party received 46.6 percent.)
The VKGB was uncovered through a counterterrorism police operation and 19 of its members were detained on numerous charges, including involvement in political provocation. Members include retired army officials, and the group seems to have links to army members who are currently still in the military.
Members of the group were detained after an extensive operation, including 14 months of wiretapping and monitoring phone conversations. According to records of a phone conversation between senior member Salih Zeki Balaban and retired army officer Nazım Kabakçı, Balaban told Kabakçı of having joined a meeting at the headquarters of the General Staff.
He said: “I am really down. Despite the fact that we have been fighting these [people] for four years, this AK Party will win the elections. If they near 50 percent, you won’t be able to correct this ever again.” In response Kabakçı said, “Then a takeover would be inevitable.” His words were supported by Balaban, who said, “A coup is needed.” (Today’s Zaman, July 28, 2007).
The Office of the Chief of General Staff, for its part, denied in a statement released on July 28 that meetings were held at General Staff headquarters by a person whose telephone was bugged.
Media reports quoting security officials may not be true as the General Staff denied the latest military-linked gang reports. But the General Staff also has a serious responsibility in clearing itself from the implications of gang-related incidents in a transparent fashion to satisfy the public.
It is no secret, for example, that serial numbers on the bombs seized during the Ümraniye raid were found out to match those of bombs thrown last year at Cumhuriyet daily, which is close to the military (Cumhuriyet, July 26, 2007).
Earlier reports revealed that those bombs were made by the state-owned Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK) and without permission from the military they cannot be taken.
Similarly, in another operation organized by police, the lodgings of the High Court of Appeals was found to be run by a gang leader.
Prosecutor Kemal Şahin, in an article published in Radikal İki, a supplement of the Radikal daily, urged people not to remain indifferent to wrongdoings within the judiciary.
He, however, also stated that for a clean-hands operation to be launched against the judiciary, those hands should also be clean. (Radikal İki, July 29, 2007).
As readers will observe, it is no secret that Turkey has been engulfed by gangs.
But what has so far been lacking is the strong will that should have emerged from those ruling the nation in the fight against gangs instead of complaining about the grave consequences of the existence of gangs threatening economic, social and political normalization of the country.
The AK Party has received a solid mandate from the public to eradicate gangs so that unlawful acts encouraged by “Deep Turkey” ( in the words of Erdoğan) should also come to an end.
The serious fight against gangs will prove that political authorities in Turkey can both rule and govern.
