“Destruction of nations by dividing them up or taking them under control by dividing them is viewed as necessary for the success of the ‘global system’… The ‘global system’ seeks to take over natural resources and the means of production through privatization… The fact that Turkey has not come under the hegemony of the ‘global system’ disturbs the countries of the system.” These are not the words of Hugo Chavez or Kim Jong-il, but of Sezer, the president of the Turkish Republic. What is the “global system” and where does he get these ideas from? “Globalization is a new crusade against the poor and oppressed nations of the world” said Professor Alpaslan Işıklı, speaking to the crowd at Tandoğan Square on Saturday. Who is Professor Işıklı? A member of the Higher Education Council (YÖK) appointed by President Sezer!
I also found incredible similarities between President Sezer’s and Tuncay Özkan’s speeches. Speaking at the April 14 Tandoğan meeting of the Kemalist/secularist groups, Özkan as usual accused those who favor globalization and EU membership of treason. Who is Özkan? The owner of a TV station, Kanalturk; where speeches full of xenophobia, hatred and incitement are routine. How can the president of Turkey stand close to such a person or such a political movement? Isn’t that frightening? It was reported in the media last December that President Sezer attended Kanalturk’s anniversary cocktail party, where he spent four hours -- a record for Sezer’s social engagement -- and told Özkan that he and his wife, never missed Özkan’s program on Kanalturk, on which provocative speeches are broadcast.
We also know that another Kemalist guru, Ilhan Selcuk, the editor in chief of daily Cumhuriyet and the leading figure behind an attempted coup back in 1971, is a frequent visitor to Sezer at Çankaya. His newspaper has been conducting a campaign to incite “dynamic forces” to move in to restore the Kemalist order.
Another important fact revealed the other week was that President Sezer had donated a significant sum to the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) headed by Gen. Şener Eruygur, who was the key coup plotter according to Adm. Özden Örnek’s dairy. And those donations did not come from Sezer personally, but from the budget of the presidency.
Looking at the speeches of the Kemalists in the state bureaucracy, in politics and in the media, it seems that contemporary Kemalists are anti-systemic, anti-Western, anti-American and anti-political modernity. And this is a risk not only for peace and democracy in Turkey but in the region and in international system as well. It is crystal clear that Kemalism has turned into a reactionary ideology that puts Turkey at risk of being excluded from the international system.
The Kemalist state elite cannot help but invent enemies. As displayed in Sezer’s speech, they do not confine this habit to the domestic environment. For them the US, supposedly a strategic ally, is plotting against Turkey, not only by supporting secession of the Kurds in Turkey, just as they did in Iraq, but also by encouraging “moderate Islam” (read Justice and Development Party -- AK Party) to change the regime. They try to do that “under the banner of democratization” according to Sezer. So the simple inference from this is that Turkey should break with the US as an ally, put up resistance to it and stop the process of democratization, which is a threat to the regime.
These reflect the basic characteristics of contemporary Kemalism: the fear of the West and the fear of democracy.
“The political regime in Turkey has never faced dangers to that extent since the establishment of the republic… Internal and external forces are cooperating in that respect to achieve the same goal,” says Sezer. It is neither democracy nor secularism that is in danger in Turkey, but the authoritarian elements within the state and their anachronistic notion of Kemalism.
By the way -- does Sezer think that he is the president of North Korea or of the Turkish Republic?
