They roared about ending “tribal administration and the aga tradition,” but instead they replaced all the tribes with a single tribe, which they ruled, and replaced all the agas with their own agas.
They replaced all the former bizarre agas with new agas in the bureaucracy, judiciary, press, bar associations, labor unions and universities. The new agas established a totalitarian and authoritarian status quo on a rotten foundation.
They were confident in their agas until the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won in the July 22, 2007 elections. That is because until then they could use the power of fear, execute the prime minister after a coup, dissolve Parliament, overthrow the government and create a new one. They had cosmic men and cosmic politicians. Whenever they felt challenged, they could incite a new wave of fear. Fears such as “communism will come and eat you,” “if reactionaryism comes, you’ll be confined to darkness,” and “separatist traitors will divide your nation,” were just some of the fears that were fabricated.
These fears included their own men, plans, provocations and murders by unidentified gunmen. They also invented terror agas. They used terror agas to divide and polarize the nation and to sow seeds of enmity between people. They prepared the cruelest plans against those identified as secular. When Uğur Mumcu, Abdi İpekçi, Doğan Öz and Çetin Emeç were being brutally killed and when the Council of State was being raided and judges were being gunned down, agas showed their phony reactions and cried crocodile tears.
Somewhere along the line, they stumbled. On April 27, 2007, the General Staff interfered in the presidential elections by publishing an e-memorandum. The next day something unprecedented occurred: The government did not give a hoot about the memorandum. It adopted such a determined and bold attitude that the agas were taken aback. But the real shock came three months later. In the July 22 elections, the AK Party became the ruling power again, winning 47 percent of the vote. This was a major breaking point for the agas. The foundation of the status quo started to crack. The agas became infuriated, and the more furious they became the more they panicked and the more they panicked the more they messed up.
Something else happened as well. The Ergenekon investigation started. Those with immunities lost their immunity. Retired generals and active military officers were being arrested, commanders were being summoned to give testimony and active admirals were being interrogated. The agas became extremely confused. What was going on? Where were the agas in the media? The agas in the judiciary and the ones in the labor unions? Where were the five horsemen of the apocalypse that appeared during the Feb. 28, 1997 process?
They had been replaced by the alternative media. There was a new type of media. One that exposed lies, smear campaigns, distortions and efforts to dilute the truth. The courage in particular of the Taraf daily complicated their plans and caused them to lose sleep. This was the first time they had encountered such a challenge. If it wasn’t for Taraf, how else were we going to learn about the coup plans, the Cage Action Plan and the Sledgehammer plan?
There was another development. Brave security officials, brave prosecutors and brave judges took the stage. This was another first. Fear had been replaced by courage. And there was one other very important development. The tormented hearts of the Alevis, Sunnis, Kurds and the secular segment found courage to take action. They realized the games agas were playing and they started to speak out.
Finally there is a strong democratic society outcry against the agas of the republic. It is for this reason the Feb. 17 judicial blow on democracy will backfire, just like the April 27 blow. Any attack by the agas against the mind, conscience and law will be useless. They are not going to be able to turn this last corner.
That is because now instead of those who want democracy, the agas are afraid. The ruling power they are facing is not like previous ones they could intimidate. Another incident like that in Şemdinli will never happen again. They are not going to be able to expel others like they did Ferhat Sarıkaya. There is no chance that this match will end in a tie. The status quo will lose and democracy will win.
