The Turkish judiciary has clearly assumed a mission to hamper any sort of democratic expansion and the promotion of individual rights and freedoms, and is putting the brakes on the country's development momentum in a very ruthless and coarse manner. The cost of the judiciary's brazenness in initiating the closure process for a ruling political party that arrived in power seven months ago by winning every other vote in a fairly and democratically held election will, undoubtedly, not be limited to sacrificing 2008.
Although it is yet unknown what sort of course the case will follow, the size of the bill we'll receive thanks to the case is already known. What is not included in this bill we will be obliged to pay as a nation: losing the political stability Turkey has achieved after long years; ruining the EU membership perspective, which we thought had become state policy; the economic crises to be triggered by a lack of confidence caused by political instability; and that one of our greatest sources of pride and confidence -- direct and indirect foreign capital investment -- will hesitate over whether to come to our country and even may start seeking ways to speedily leave Turkey. The current course, which will impact the lives and standards of living of each and every Turkish citizen individually and collectively, is apparently of no concern to the biased judges who have undersigned this onerous bill by approaching the issue with ideological blinders.
The greatest blow to be incurred will surely be the death of Turkish democracy, which will be the heaviest bill we will be saddled with in the event of a closure that will be tried in the social conscience, even though the judges are doing their utmost to make such a decision appear as legal as possible in terms of formalities. Our democracy has already received a heavy blow from which it will not be able to easily recover. But I don't think that this reality is of any concern to the judges, either, just as they don't care one iota about what liberal democrats write, say, think or create. The only thing they pay attention to is the fascist-leaning oligarchic elites who manipulate and encourage them in this direction.
The current judicial mechanism is sacred, unaccountable, unquestionable and uncriticizable according to this unbridled but influential minority, which controls it and which fears the public like a ghost. The public will, which represents the hoi polloi (and which you can simply call the periphery), is an obligation to be put up with, imposed on them by the damned democracy.
That's why the masses which carried the AK Party to power are defined by this segment as "boneheaded ignorant hordes," "the people who scratch their belly" and "jugheads." This is a country where literate people, ignorant of democracy, attempt to put forward daring judgments such as "Why is the vote of a mountain shepherd equal to mine?" as if the meaning of democracy was not "equality," "justice" and "one person, one vote."
It has now become quite open and clear that this sort of reasoning and the current judicial mechanism, which disregards justice by acting in line with this reasoning, constitute a great threat to Turkish democracy. If the latest judicial intervention, tantamount to a coup staged against the legislative and executive powers, which derive their legitimacy directly from the public will, cannot be contained, Turkey may soon find itself, faster than it can imagine, in a dictatorship of fascist judges.
The voluntary collaborators of a likely dictatorship of judges already exist. A fascist segment of the society is already waiting on alert like a unit of reserve soldiers. They favor any coup against the democratic political realm, whoever the stagers may be, and favor narrowing down the pluralist and participative political field, whichever way and whoever those who would narrow it down may be. That same segment of society is shamelessly voicing its view that it would not be ethical to pass constitutional amendments to make it more difficult to shut down political parties since the closure case of the AK Party is under way. They know, as all of us do, that the laws on capital punishment and many other articles of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) were amended while in effect. Is it not natural that laws are amended while they are still in effect? So I'm really at a loss to understand which part of such an amendment would be unethical and why.
What is now incumbent on the ruling AK Party is to hold fast to the democratic reforms it has neglected over the last three years, to go to the bitter end by expediting the struggle for democracy it has initiated, and to take new steps toward change and reform everyday instead of making compromises in order to become integrated into the anti-democratic system. The last thing the AK Party should lend its ears to is the voice of the oligarchic elite who are arrogantly belittling and humiliating the will of ordinary public.
As the AK Party, this repressive segment of society should know very well that the sole owner of sovereignty - the people -- is watching everything closely and is perfectly aware of everything. This awareness of people has so far foiled many anti-democratic and fascist plots from this despotic elite. I hope it will also render the judicial strike ineffective and that our democracy will emerge from this trouble having gained more strength. If we sum up everything, the latest judicial blow will either terminate our democracy, or it will have caused our democracy to gain a greater power from this process. The strike that doesn't kill ultimately strengthens one.
