This is a necessary discussion because the emergence of anthropocentric democracy out of bureaucratic authoritarian republicanism requires public awareness and intellectual engagement in the metamorphosis. The kind of change Turkey is passing through is not an institutional one; it is rather about mentality. The state will continue to be the same state, but the way it relates to its citizens will have to change. The military will continue to use the same barracks and the same hierarchical terms, but the way it relates to political power will have to change dramatically. This kind of a change cannot be brought about by political decisions about concrete things like space, buildings, offices and posts, nor can it be realized through judicial decisions. It needs a paradigm shift, and a paradigm shift starts in the very language we use to communicate about that change.
That language is constructed in the media. The media is the gatekeeper of knowledge; it is the very first station where actual realities, factual observations and intellectual expectations are turned into communicable words.
By only reading op-eds and regular columns of daily newspapers one may reach the conclusion that this summer will be a politically hot one. Newspapers are full of analysis, critique and even teasing of Deniz Baykal's recent salvos about settling accounts with the perpetrators of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. A new closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is also among the topics of Turkish intellectual production nowadays. Columnists knowledgeable about the history and philosophy of the state are dealing with the roots and nature of the bureaucratic center of Turkey. Others are penning articles on the existence of a military judiciary alongside the civilian one as an absurdity of the Turkish democracy.
Newspaper editors are trying to put a distance between themselves and the recently revealed plan to fight the AK Party and the Gülen movement.
These are all signs of a paradigmatic shift to take place in the near future.
A paradigm shift will certainly bring about actual changes in our daily lives. If the deputy prime minister of Turkey is able to say that “we are ashamed” of the existence of such a plot against a democratically elected government, that government will certainly be more prepared to act against the script-writers of that plot.
Baykal is suggesting that the government should have ousted the chief of general staff -- if the prime minister is convinced that the aforementioned plot was prepared within the chain of command and with the implicit approval of the chief of general staff. His intention may be to remind the government of the limits of its power, but the very fact that ousting a chief of general staff is suggested by the head of Turkish oppositional politics is enough to fix our sights on the August meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ).
There are journalists claiming that we should have concentrated our attention on the decisions of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). They claim that the next meeting of the HSYK will make decisions ousting the prosecutors of the Ergenekon case, even before the August meeting of YAŞ, fixing the old paradigm in its place and reminding civilians that military personnel are untouchable. The HSYK, they claim, may even do this by promoting the prosecutors of the Ergenekon case. Such a decision will certainly evoke criticism and undermine the legitimacy of the judicial system.
In any case, just a quick look at the columns says the summer is going to be hot. I suggest that my readers and colleagues not be so sure about their summer vacations.
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