MHP, TSK, PKK and the Akşam newspaper
by Markar Esayan

But by the middle of the week, the news was filled with allegations about how two suspects -- one of whom was alleged to be a Turkish agent working in foreign countries -- had had their identities uncovered in relation to the tapes.

On Friday, there was a bomb attack that wound up wounding eight -- two seriously --in the İstanbul district of Etiler.

Also, there was the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) admission of a planned assassination attempt against five people, one of whom is Emre Uslu, a writer for Today’s Zaman and someone who has published much about the PKK, and another friend of mine, Önder Aytaç.

In the meantime, the Turkish General Staff decided not to carry on with two military exercises that had been previously planned. A group of six active military members, including four generals, one sea admiral, and one colonel were called by Prosecutor Hüseyin Ayar to give evidence and testimony within the framework of the ongoing “Balyoz” investigation.

Why the MHP and CHP?

There is little doubt that in this dynamic country of ours, that the list could actually go on and on in regards to the events of just last week. But I wish to “take a snapshot” of last week just touching on the four topics I mentioned above.

Starting with the MHP and Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP)…

In my most recent article, while analyzing the dark and ugly conspiracy that targeted the MHP, I mentioned that the government must bring to light those responsible for this conspiracy in order to bring about a more “normal” atmosphere again, and in order to dampen down possible objections it will hear otherwise.

Yes, in a nation where the standards of democracy and justice are high and consistent, calling on the government to enter into an arena that should normally be that of the judiciary might seem unreasonable. After all, this calling on the government to come to this task may seem anathema to the separation of legislative-justice-executive powers that are so crucial to a democracy. But just as Turkey has been unable to make these three powers independent of each other yet, it has also not carried out the inner reforms and inner control mechanisms necessary in these three arenas either.

Proving the above is actually easy: you may recall the High Electoral Council (YSK) decision that forbade the entrance of independent candidates backed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). This meaningless decision almost pulled the nation into a civil war. We still don’t know why it is the YSK made such a decision. We are almost dependent on conspiracy theories to understand the situation. But again, as you may recall, it was at this point that President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan got involved, and then the YSK took a step backwards, and the problem was solved.

Which means that truly, our legislative-justice-executive powers are not independent of one another. Then, paradoxically, we see as we solve the problems that arise that in fact, we are in need of the same sort of dependence.

I am still not acquainted with what sort of information has been retrieved from the investigation into the MHP video scandal. But I am pleased by the developments I see. These blemishes on our society damage not just the directly targeted people and institutions involved, but also our government and everyone. The Ergenekon lobby has placed many targets before them, with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement at the center of the bull’s eye, which is why our greatest struggle needs to be to ensure that we have the justice system functioning with all its strength and that we achieve an objective and fair justice system in its full capacity.

In my previous article, I also touched on those likely to be responsible for the MHP operation and what their objectives might be. I would like to touch on a belief that was aired for the first time on a CNN Türk program in relation to the MHP video tape situation. On that program, it was asked why it was that the target in the video tape conspiracies was not the AK Party, but the MHP and CHP parties. Of course, what is really being implied with that question is that the AK Party and the Gülen movement are behind the conspiracy. As it is, Bahçeli has made himself a voluntary missionary in spreading this disinformation in order to save himself.

In fact, the answer to the above question is quite simple. The MHP and the CHP were targeted because they were open to these sorts of operations. If the AK Party was not a target -- and why are we so sure that it is not? -- it’s simply because it must possess something that the MHP and the CHP do not.

The AK Party is a political party with vibrant connections to its voter base, an effective platform and which carries out effective actions that spring from its platform and promises. This is precisely what is missing from the other two “parties,” and actually, you could really say neither were political parties anyway. The CHP never was, but Bahçeli has gradually drifted away entirely from his voter base and sacrificed himself to becoming the tool of a certain faction in Turkey.

As for the CHP, with the exception of a period during the 1970s under Bülent Ecevit, it has always been the parliamentary outlet for the military-civilian guardian bureaucracy. That’s it.

This is what sets the AK Party apart. It has a strong stance as far as its voter base and its leading ranks are concerned. But actually, at the same time, the AK Party is the political party most targeted through nasty games and attacks. Under the leadership of Erdoğan, like it or not, his party has become the nation’s only political entity that actually resembles a true political party.

As for the recent event in Etiler, if there are no unexpected developments following this article, it looks as though it was carried out by either the PKK or the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), which is an illegal organization connected to the PKK. In the attack, one young lady completely lost her leg. Another one was very badly injured. And yet another female citizen of ours ingested poisonous gas into her lungs. Here I cannot really make a cold analysis of the situation. What I wonder is just how any of this ruining of these people’s lives in any way helped the lives of the Kurdish people. All this act did was to increase levels of hatred. Here, it seems I have just answered my own question. Whichever group carried out this attack, it is quite clear that the aim was certainly not to bring about peace. Targeting civilians in one of the richest districts of Turkey’s largest city can have no other aim that provoking an outbreak of war, can it? The message that those responsible for this attack wish to give is this: “We can attack anywhere; we can do any sort of crazy thing you might imagine! So fear us, and embrace this war!”

But we reject that message. We will continue to reject it. Those nasty games have all been revealed to be just what they are. Those who wish to have the Turks and the Kurds turn against one another can be small groups entwined in the state, or from within the ranks of illegal organizations like the PKK and TAK; it doesn’t matter. The people of Turkey want peace. And no power can block the desire of the people. Every loss and pain we experience during this process only reveals to us a bit of the real and dirty face of this war. Let those with ears hear this fact.

As for the assassination plans targeting my dear friends Uslu and Aytaç, these were revealed through careful work by intelligence forces. But within all this, there is another point that calls for touching on, and I believe it is a serious one. This point is the labeling of Uslu in certain media organs as being a true enemy of the Kurds, and as being the ideologue behind the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) operations. Last Wednesday and Thursday, articles published in the well-known Akşam newspaper about the assassination plans used a poisonous discourse in describing the events, making it seem as though the assassination would be rightful. In the articles, Uslu is described as an intelligence agent, with the assessment made that “some used their pens, and some used active roles, to help the blow on the KCK, to whom the PKK is bound in the cities.” Noting expert views on this matter, the article from Akşam then goes on to say, “Experts say the reason these names were targeted was they helped reveal the KCK names, which the PKK viewed as a sort of insurance during this period of cease-fire, and caused key figures in the KCK to be sent to prison.”

What sort of journalism is this? What sort of conscience? Is this not a direct form of calling the PKK to action? Were not people like Hrant Dink and others made targets in the same way? To declare that Uslu, Aytaç and the three other people targeted for assassination were the ones who ruined the PKK’s decision to engage in cease-fire is the same thing as telling the PKK “do what you need to do.”

Did you say the threat of coup has passed?

And so now let me touch on the recently cancelled military exercise operations…

The most recent bout of tension between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the AK Party ought to be a lesson for those who believe that the military guardian authority has come to an end in Turkey. The TSK and the Turkish Naval Forces have turned into centers that prepare staff members to assist with coups ever since the days of coup preparation in 2003-2004. And as for this recent bout of tension, it is being interpreted as a negative reaction to the calling of six active military officers to testify last week in the Balyoz case, as well as the 30 active military members arrested in the framework of that investigation.

Now here, we have two problems. The first is that what we are facing is a TSK that refuses to carry out its real task. Just imagine a military that says, “even though we are war, we refuse to fight; we’re angry with you.” What is the punishment for this, and where is the government to hand down the punishment necessary here? The attitudes adopted by Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek, both of whom say, “We can’t know, ask the TSK,” seem very naive. This is a huge crime. It is resisting an elected government, resisting in the face of the justice system and a purposeful neglect of duties. In a nation where everything works as it should, should these people not be sent immediately to be tried?

As long as one neglects doing what is their duty, how can the threat of coups and guardian authority actually ever end?