Their stance on issues related to Turkey seems to stem from two reasons: First, as they are unversed and illiterate in Turkey and issues related to Turkish people (most of them cannot even speak or read Turkish), they are spoon-fed by certain sectors and defenders of the status quo -- “white Turks” -- so they are readily beguiled; second, although they are aware of events in Turkey, to explain them fully would work against their own ideologies and vested interests, so they maliciously attack all efforts and people in Turkey whose actions they deem to be to their detriment. So these people, while seemingly for Turkey and Turks or claiming neutrality, are in fact working against them.I am reminded of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” which demonstrates how things are not always as they seem. For the armchair pundits in New York and Washington, as in “Macbeth,” few things are what they seem to be at first glance in Turkey. In their visions, they see gallant, honorable soldiers. But among those soldiers are those who plan to plant bombs in mosques and kill peacefully worshipping congregations, to kill ethno-religious community leaders and their followers, to plant drugs and guns in students’ accommodations and frame them as armed terrorists, to bomb and kill groups of elementary school children visiting museums, to assassinate ministers and civil society members, to appropriate foreign investments and businesses, even to shoot down their own jet fighter and instigate a war-like situation in Europe, all the while blaming the government, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and other civil society and faith-inspired communities and thus preparing conditions for a Baath-type totalitarian society and repressive regime. Such soldiers are as “honorable” as Macbeth turns out to be.
In the play, the improbable prophesies of the witches come true as a direct result of Macbeth’s own actions. Here and now, the accusations, trials and arrests, no matter how improbable they at first appeared are turning out to be true. “Macbeth” is set in a dark and shadowy world influenced by the supernatural. Likewise, the pundits labor behind the scenes with media smoke and mirrors to create a setting in which it seems Turkey could be heading toward some kind of Islamist dictatorship. However, it is the pundits who are serving a world where unseen forces are at work, and nothing is what it seems.
With the witches, Shakespeare introduces apparently all-knowing creatures with an influence on life. They represent the layers of reality: the concrete and material world, then a parallel ethereal world inhabited by such creatures. The witches resemble the all-knowing pundits who exist beside, underneath and above Turkey and Turkish people. So we must ask how much of what they see and hear is as it seems. Is it not exactly like that in our own lives, that there are outside forces which sometimes conspire against us? However, the play ultimately teaches that Macbeth is responsible for his own demise. So our apprehended king-makers and coup lovers have made their own choices, swayed by their inner and outer witches. Neither the AK Party nor any faith-inspired community was at work to prepare their demise.
The junta within the judiciary and military see themselves as untouchable and therefore planned and carried out all their schemes and crimes without reservation. However, when Macbeth saw Birnam Wood advancing to the castle, it was really the arrival of his own demise. After the extrajudicial killings of 17,000 people in the Southeast, the junta’s own Birnam Wood -- those judges and prosecutors who listen to their uncorrupted conscience -- are walking to the “cosmic rooms” and offices of the junta officers to recapture the rule of the civilian authorities.
To foreign pundits, the coup lovers and junta in Turkey may look like a flower but they hide a serpent underneath. The ongoing trials and arrests in Turkey highlight once more how some foreign pundits deal with issues with ignorance, bias and arrogance, and that they should not always be so sure of their opinions. Turkish readers may not always be so sure of the pundits’ goodwill. Everything the coup plotters and junta have done has an underlying and sinister motivation. Their discourse and actions vacillate between terror and destruction and are against the good and the interests of Turkey and the region. Their plots have many levels and are crafted with complexity. They demonstrate with startling clarity to their captive Turkish audience that all is not what it seems.
