Turkey has been in the spotlight for a while. But even on technical issues like the economy, the Western perspective takes a manipulative stance. For instance, Turkey's high current account deficit is frequently mentioned, but the declining ratio of the total external debt to the gross national product (GNP) is ignored. However, such a comparison shows that the funds transferred from abroad are being used effectively; in other words, they support further growth by generating income greater than their cost. When it comes to politics, the misperception is graver, because the Western perspective is even more ideologically influenced in this area. It is even difficult to ascribe their slanted political analysis to mere ignorance of the situation. If such ignorance has become systemic, it is only possible to explain this by ill intention.
Two important articles on Turkey were published in the British media last week. The Economist argued that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has become an authoritarian party, that Turkish media managers fired columnists who oppose the government and that dissident journalists were held in detention for lengthy periods. We cannot possibly identify the source that the author of the article was relying on, but we also cannot accept this lie at face value because this is not what is happening in Turkey. Compared to earlier periods, the AK Party is neither more authoritarian nor more democratic. Because they are aware that their anti-AK Party stance has eroded their share in the market, some media bosses have made a move toward magazine journalism. Those journalists who are unjustly held in custody are facing this treatment because of charges they face in Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-related cases. The vast majority of the journalists facing judicial pressure and repression actually support the government's policies. The Economist's commentary could only mean that they are trying to manipulate Western readers against the Turkish administration. We cannot know why they are doing this, but it is not too difficult to believe that a categorical bias, reminiscent of Breivik, is behind this attitude.
The Times published an even more offensive piece representing this biased approach. According to the article by Christi Miller, modified evidence has been used in the cases investigating alleged coup attempts by generals. However, it has been months since the accusation concocted by the daughter and son-in-law of the number-one suspect in the plot was invalidated. The originals of some documents previously described as “modified” and their copies were found under the floor in a room where classified information was stored in an army building in Gölcük. The Times says that an association referred to in a 2002 document was founded in 2006, and that one of the suspects was in Britain when the coup was being planned, but these are not contradictions. There is a simple explanation: The documents pointing to the existence of the coup plan have been updated on a regular basis since 2003. The recently exposed website plot proves that the grounds were being laid for a coup attempt until the end of 2009. The Times piece also noted that former Chief of General Staff Koşaner has complained about a failure to observe universal legal rules. They forgot to mention that by “universal law,” Koşaner means the preservation of military privilege.
The most disgusting part of the Times piece is when the author quotes the views of Gareth Jenkins. Jenkins argues that either the authors of the documents had a time machine or that the documents were fabricated. Apparently either he is still living in the time period when he wrote his article, or he does not want to accept the fact that the evidence revealed after his article was published invalidated what he had written before. The authors of the documents do not need a time machine because they are still alive and continuing to update the documents as new evidence is discovered.
Could this all be a product of ignorance alone? Frankly, this does not seem possible. It seems as though some prototypical Breiviks are messing around with the minds of many Westerners. Of course, money could also be the issue; but let's not go there now.
