Turkey : nationalism, neo-nationalism, ’Laicism-Militarism’

Whoever wants to “accurately diagnose” what is happening in Turkey should read the interview by Neşe Düzel of daily Taraf with Associate Professor Vedat Bilgin, chief adviser to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and member of the Decision Making Committee (MKYK) of the party.

In the interview published Sunday, Bilgin makes striking remarks to shed a light on the “facts” about the latest developments in Turkey. He says the following about the “provoker” with a tattoo of Imam Ali’s sword on his forehead and with a confession upon his arrest that he had the motive of killing and has no regret for shooting at students in Antalya University: “There, show up of this man and saying his affiliation with the MHP was wanted. To me, this is an implicit message targeting the MHP. Some people want to threaten the MHP by saying ‘Look, we will drag you in. Talking about democracy will not bring any good to you. We are disturbed by your commitment to civilian politics, pointing at Parliament as the legal ground of politics and refusing quests outside Parliament.’ … the MHP wants a solution to the issues of Turkey inside Parliament and makes moves to strengthen up civilian political ground in Turkey. And democratization, as you know, can be realized only by consolidation of civilian politics.”Who are they? Who is sending an “implicit message” to the MHP? They are people not fond of stronger “civilian politics,” hoping no help from democracy and in search of quests outside Parliament, according to Bilgin.

As a matter of fact, there are references about the identities of these people in different parts of the interview. “The MHP put a distance between itself and militarism, not the state. Nationalist must defend democracy. Turkey should get away from militarism,” says Bilgin, adding that “neo nationalists and pro-coup are not nationalist. They call the single party period ‘golden era’. Since they are the enemy of the ballot box, they see 1950 as the beginning of evil and have not very clear relations with foreign services.”That is to say, Bilgili draws a certain line between the MHP, its nationalism and “neo nationalism,” “pro-coup” as well as “militarism.” This interview in the Taraf daily enables one to understand why European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso did not talk anything important with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, why he did not keep in contact with the CHP and why he had the impression that the talks with Bahçeli were much more “satisfactory” than that of with Baykal. The CHP simply happens to settle in the vectors of “neo nationalism” and “militarism” in Turkey’s “2008 matrix.” An array of so-called civil society organizations varying from the Ergenekon crime gang to the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) and to the Retired Military Officers Association (TESUD) take different positions in this “matrix”.

And now it becomes understandable why the MHP removed and smashed a protest wreath writing TESUD on it and placed at the main door of the party headquarters recently. It is equally easy to grasp the purpose of last Saturday’s rally called “National Sovereignty Meeting” in Ankara, by looking at the organizers within this large photograph that I try to show. As it was the case last year’s “Republic Rallies,” which were given a re-start in April again, the ADD and the RMOA are in the leading roles as organizers.The difference this year is that participation almost dropped to one tenth of last year’s and the most popular preacher at the podium was a woman tried for smuggling historic artifacts. Famous ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus says “No-one can step twice into the same river,” and the Prussian philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary Karl Marx says “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” The scenery here confirms both!

From this point on, the issue gets more complicated.How come ?

Views and plans about meetings similar to the one in Ankara and creating an environment to topple the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government by “military intervention” are included among the plots of two attempted military interventions, code-named “Ayışığı” (Moonlight) and “Sarıkız” (Goldcoin), found in the former Naval Forces Commander Özden Örnek’s personal computer. Örnek had claimed none belongs to him and taken Alper Görmüş, the Nokta news magazine’s former editor-in-chief, to the court for “action for libel”. Görmüş was exonerated a few ago but the court demurred that the computer and therefore information inside belong to Örnek, or the court, in other words, rejected the submission of a technical police report proving “authenticity” of the information obtained in this computer. Meaning, the judiciary wanted to close the case in haste. Since this information included “coup d’état plots” of our near past, it is necessary to pay utmost attention to them and to take “legal” action. Name of the current ADD chairman Şener Eruygur, who was the Gendermarie Commander of the time, is being uttered in this information. The Ergenekon crime gang investigation as well has similar information and findings.

The aim is same… to rid of the AKP government by unconstitutional and illegal ways. Despite all objections and reactions by the European Union and despite the United States laid bare disturbance on the issue, High Judiciary took action to shut-down the government party that won the elections just half-a-year ago by gaining 47 percent of votes, 16.5 million. But they, somehow, do not move a muscle when the issue is the “military coup attempts” which were brought up to day light and spill around with all documents. It is worth pondering and dwelling upon that if the real present danger Turkey is facing now about “laicism” or it is the threat of “militarism” under many different covers, as seen in recent weeks, to make said “no more democracy”. The latter is in nature of ruining Turkey’s foreign affairs and economy, sending an open invitation to an unstoppable social turmoil. Which is the priority danger ? Which is urgent ?