It seems that state institutions are carrying out a struggle which the MİT is at the center of. This is a serious crisis and admitting it is best. I think that reluctance to discuss the matter would prevent the emergence of any good out of this evil.
Above all, regardless of the outcomes, I would like to stress that I commend the bold initiative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took as part of the Kurdish opening. The prime minister did not have to take such a great risk. He could have relied on old military tactics in the struggle against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and managed the process with the slogans and concepts we were familiar with. And the PKK could have even remained indifferent and silent without asking for anything like it had done in the period between 1999 and 2004. But Erdoğan, rather than remaining indifferent, took bold steps. And he realized that reluctance and indifference would take Turkey to the brink of a disaster. In other words, the previous argument was not rational, but most politicians had preferred this irrational path. This is a reality.
The motto of the Kurdish opening was “let not the mothers cry.”
For me, the truth and reality that transcend all discussions was the fact that more than 30,000 people have died in this conflict over the last three decades. In other words, what all relevant actors, including the state, should keep in mind is that our people are still dying.
To this end, aside from some opposition parties that manifested their unethical and irresponsible attitudes in Parliament, a broad coalition of democrats that expressed support for the opening and peace efforts emerged in this country. In the Sept. 12 referendum, where the opening was the main topic of discussion, 58 percent of the people expressed support for the government's efforts; likewise, at the June 12 parliamentary elections, where the ruling party received nearly 50 percent of the votes, the people sent the message, “We are supporting your stance; keep going; stop the bloodshed.”
This was the greatest achievement during this process. The people, particularly those who could be called Turks, setting aside the arguments of the status quo, extended support for the administration; in other words, the peace discourse has gained prevalence. Unfortunately, the process was halted by some clandestine plots, particularly by a PKK assault in Silvan on June 14, 2011. As with the murder of 33 unarmed soldiers by the PKK in 1993 while discussion in Parliament of general amnesty and talk of the PKK laying down weapons was taking place, the peace process was destroyed.
Is the most recent operation by prosecutors against the MİT seeking to address these dark or shady plots? The current picture strongly suggests this is the case. We will see it better as further details are revealed.
The biggest mistake the ruling party and the prime minister made was in their reluctance to take further action in eliminating the guardianship and deep state elements from the entire state apparatus. I have given this warning many times, but what Erdoğan did in response was file lawsuits and make angry statements. You cannot have faith in the institutions where the deep state is still influential to deal with chronic problems like the PKK. The appointment of a talented and democrat bureaucrat as the head of an institution would not be enough to clean up that institution. This also applies to the military. You would take a hit at a time when you feel strong; this has been the case in the Uludere massacre.
The military is not the only institution that should be purified of guardianship and criminal attempts; the MİT, which is similar to the army in terms of structure and organization, should have been restructured and reformed. Even the ongoing investigation into the unresolved murders in Ankara alone proves this was necessary. In statements to police by the former chair of the counterterrorism unit at the MİT, Mehmet Eymür, you saw the involvement of MİT officers in criminal acts.
Working with these unreformed institutions bears serious risks. If prosecutors have identified serious crimes and offenses in respect to the PKK, these should be investigated. However, in terms of method and procedure, it is not proper for these institutions to give the impression there is an ongoing clash between state institutions. It is particularly unacceptable to imply the prime minister is also responsible simply because he had taken an initiative to attain peace.
The primary reason for these crises is our failure to get rid of the Sept. 12 legislation and coup constitution. Our precious time has been wasted. Now, the government is trying to overcome the problem through palliative amendments to MİT legislation; this has been the case many times. We have a state founded by the supporters of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) that is falling apart. The risks associated with administering this state are obvious. It has been a century, but we still cannot give up on that state. We fail to act courageously to ideologically detach ourselves from the mentality of the old state. And in every instance, it comes back, like a ghost.
