Starting a witch hunt [against the Hizmet movement]

ORHAN OĞUZ GÜRBÜZ
ORHAN OĞUZ GÜRBÜZ


Date posted: May 17, 2014

ORHAN OĞUZ GÜRBÜZ

The discourse Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Chairman and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan relies on to intimidate his opponents has taken on a whole different dimension. The prime minister argues that his election victory in the March 30 local elections gives him the right to combat the Hizmet movement, which he refers to as the “parallel state” or “parallel structure.”

He made an unusual statement recently in which, for the first time, he admitted that his party embarked on a “witch hunt” with this so-called struggle: “We have been given a mandate for this. If relocating and reassigning traitors is a witch hunt, then we will do this [witch hunt]. You should note that. If we do not, we betray this nation. I told my ministers that we have to chase them [the ‘parallel state’] to the end. So I tell you: You should inform us what they are doing. You should inform us so that we can do whatever we need to do.”

This speech shows that we will witness more reassignments and reshuffling based on ungrounded accusations. Newspapers have recently reported that it is now possible — after the directive by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) — to file anonymous denunciations and complaints against judges, prosecutors and police chiefs and officers. There is now no need to authenticate the identity of the plaintiff or applicant to initiate an investigation into the allegations. The directive also states that those who have been accused will not be allowed to defend themselves during the investigation process. This signals that we will experience what the United States did during the period of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s influence, who alleged that many people were involved in a Communist conspiracy, leading to anonymous denunciations, lynching campaigns, unjust treatment of public officers and more.

Prime Minister Erdoğan and his close friends believe that the presidential election will inevitably lead to a presidential system. They also make statements and remarks to create a popular perception that the president will lead the government. They mention that Atatürk and İsmet İnönü served as head of both the executive and legislative branches.

Speaking of a witch hunt, let me discuss this matter further. It is obvious that the single-party period in Turkish political history suffered from lack of democratic governance and rules. Parliament in this period was composed of deputies who were actually appointed and there was no opposition. Turkey moved to a multiparty system in the 1950 elections. One of the most visible legacies of the single-party period was the martial courts and forced resettlement law. In the martial courts, a number of opponents and dissidents were unjustly prosecuted and convicted in connection with alleged involvement in the assassination attempt in İzmir. This was a witch hunt; the critical and rival media were silenced by the resettlement law in the aftermath of the pro-Kurdish riots. Another witch hunt was perpetrated against the press and intellectuals.

Do Erdoğan and his confidants envisage the repercussions of what they call a witch hunt? Turning families, relatives and neighbors into enemies by creating networks of espionage? What do these attempts to instigate hatred and enmity for political ends and goals mean? Maybe you will win elections by consolidating your support base by a “sustainable tension” strategy and inventing a so-called “parallel structure”; but you will not guarantee a future by this method. It is easy to start a witch hunt; it is hard to stop it. And it is difficult to draw the boundaries. If you call the destruction of law, democracy and freedoms a witch hunt, you will not be credible or successful.

Source: Todays Zaman , May 17, 2014


Related News

Shutting down prep schools against free enterprise, analysts say

“It’s not possible to make out of this behavior befitting a government that defends a market economy,” Seyfettin Gürsel, director of Bahçeşehir University’s Center for Economic and Social Research, told Today’s Zaman. Opponents of the government’s plan have also noted that the prep schools are a consequence of the many inadequacies of Turkey’s education system, and said that prep schools help low-income students enter university.

It’s not about a conflict between the government and Hizmet movement

Insanity ripples through the country, the media and the people. If graft or corruption is the prevailing form of life spreading from the state to society, and if this form of life is supported by people, then we are hitting the bottom day by day. A prosecutor can say “We can detain 500 thousand people if necessary” and still hold his post as if he said quite an ordinary thing. Whereas in Europe mental health of such a prosecutor would be called into question and most probably examined.

Fethullah Gulen Talked to Kurdish TV on Kurds, human rights and Erdogan

Fethullah Gulen Talked to Kurdish TV NRT on Kurds, human rights and Erdogan.

Another AK Party deputy, Muhammed Çetin, resigns in protest

Çetin reportedly asked AK Party deputies Volkan Bozkır and Ali Aşlık about their shoebox numbers. His joke prompted other deputies to tell the incident to the party administration, which outraged with the joke and referred Çetin to the disciplinary committee with request of expulsion.

Islamic scholar gave Buddhist point to ponder

Sanitsuda Ekachai 21/06/2012 I have just returned from Turkey, one of the world’s most beautiful countries. What has stayed deeply in my mind, however, is not the country’s picture-perfect postcard beauty, but its people, its modern take on Islam and a host of questions for my own country. During the visit, we, a group of […]

Turkey to bid farewell to rule of law if president approves HSYK law

Asked about the prime minister’s claims of the existence of a “parallel state” or the Hizmet movement behind the investigation, the professor said, “These are not claims that are based on concrete information or documents.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Foreign Affairs: Turkish government’s ‘Global Purge’ targeted opponents in at least 46 countries

Pulitzer Prize equals five years in prison in Turkey

The letter that united America

Collective punishment [of Hizmet movement]

Bad news for Erdoğan’s lawyers in the US

Law firms press charges against Gülen in favor of al-Qaeda-linked group

Veteran out of social security coverage after being dismissed in post-coup purge

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News