Government drags military into politics

Lale Kemal
Lale Kemal


Date posted: June 3, 2014

LALE KEMAL

Ironically, it is the same Turkish government that curbed the political power of the military, thanks to reforms in 2003 and 2004, that has now been taking measures to drag it back into politics.

The government set up a de facto alliance with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) soon after the disclosure of a high-profile corruption and bribery scandal on Dec. 17 last year that has implicated some Cabinet ministers as well as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself. It is now widely believed that the government has forged an alliance with its former foe in its ongoing efforts to stymie the graft probe and put the blame on its one-time ally — the Hizmet movement, inspired by Islamic scholar Fetullah Gülen. The government has so far failed to produce solid evidence that can support its claim that the graft probe was orchestrated by Hizmet and other international circles with the aim of undermining the prime minister’s 12-year rule.

Yet, the government has been using all its power to silence both Hizmet supporters and the other opposition groups to make sure that nobody would dare to open the graft file. Among the powerful institutions that the government has brought on its side in its strategy of killing the graft probe forever is the TSK, which has itself long perceived the Hizmet movement as an internal threat, accusing it of having the ultimate goal of changing the Muslim-dominated country’s secular system. In the eyes of the Turkish military, not only the Hizmet movement but also the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) itself has been a threat to the country’s secular order. But the TSK does not have adequate political power anymore to put pressure on both Hizmet and the government through various means.

On the contrary, the TSK now badly needs the government’s support to retain its privileged status as well as to ensure that over 300 uniformed men, convicted over charges of making coup plans to overthrow the AK Party’s rule, can finally be acquitted.

Both the TSK and the government have now been pursuing a policy under which “my enemy’s enemy is my friend,” hence the forging of an alliance against the Hizmet movement.

For its part, the government has been trying to ensure its survival and wants to make sure that the military will not create any problems in its policy of closing the graft probe forever.

So, the TSK’s economic privileges have been widened, instead of brought under scrutiny. In addition, Erdoğan signed long-stalled military deals with US companies in the early months of this year, including a $3.5 billion multi-purpose helicopter deal with US aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, while paving the way for an initial order of Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) F-35s, of which Ankara will buy a total of 100, valued at about $16 billion in total.

Erdoğan’s approval of the US projects has not only come as a relief for Washington but also for the TSK, which has viewed delays in the acquisition of military equipment as a factor affecting its modernization plans.

Dispute in US technology transfer to Turkey over the arms to be acquired has long been a matter of tension between Ankara and Washington. Now, Erdoğan appears to have sorted out the dispute.

Turkey’s talks with China for the acquisition of long-range missile systems worth $3.5 billion were further postponed from April to late June, most probably on the Turkish military’s request.

It is not only NATO but also the Turkish military that has been against the acquisition of Chinese missiles out of a concern that they will not be compatible with those of allied systems. In addition, a recent controversial probe initiated in Ankara gives the impression that it might have come as part of a de facto alliance struck between the military and the government.

The probe was launched by an Ankara prosecutor around two weeks ago, followed by a raid by anti-terror police units on the offices of the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB), over suspicions that some TİB staff are engaged in spying for foreign countries, including on some locally developed military projects. TİB is the only state agency in Turkey that can conduct legal wiretaps, but only with a court order.

Prime Minister Erdoğan and government media have accused pro-Hizmet bureaucrats of being behind the alleged illegal wiretapping at TİB with the aim of selling state secrets to some unidentified foreign countries. Earlier, there was a separate investigation conducted in Ankara against some civilian and military bureaucrats over charges of selling secrets on locally developed military projects to foreign countries, including Israel and Greece.

There are now serious question marks over whether the government orchestrated the operations at TİB to libel Hizmet for wiretapping with the aim of diverting attention from the separate spying case under way in Ankara and saving those uniformed men from facing judicial scrutiny over charges of spying.

Has the government been trying to kill two birds with one stone by inventing an excuse to further initiate a crackdown on Hizmet while saving some officers from being prosecuted on charges of spying?

Source: Todays Zaman , June 2, 2014


Related News

Likely case against Hizmet will bolster authoritarian character of Erdoğan gov’t

Rumors have it that the Erdoğan government will file criminal charges against people alleged to be associated with this “parallel structure,” a veiled reference by Erdoğan to the Hizmet movement, inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, that the government claims as the force driving the massive corruption investigations that have shaken the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Teacher abducted from Malaysia subjected to beating, torture in Ankara: cellmate

Alaaddin Duman, a teacher in Malaysia who was abducted by Turkish intelligence agency over his links to the Gulen movement in 2016, has been subjected to beating, torture and death threats during pre-trial custody in Ankara, according his cellmate.

US-Based Muslim Preacher Leverages Influence Back in Turkey

Jerome Socolovsky SAYLORSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — In 1999, a Turkish preacher who ran afoul of the military-backed secular government in Ankara left and sought refuge across the ocean in what was then a camp for Turkish-American children in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The ailing 72-year-old Fethullah Gulen has remained influential in Turkey, however, and the […]

‘Parallel’ paranoia reaches the kitchen of Parliament

In the latest example of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) “parallel” paranoia, the ruling party’s Sinop deputy and head of the Parliamentary Interior Affairs Commission, Mehmet Ersoy, ordered restaurant officials in Parliament to remove a dish called “samanyolu kebap” as it reminds him of institutions affiliated with the “parallel structure,” a daily reported on Monday.

Kurdish intellectuals denounce attack on Şırnak educational institution

24 April 2012 / AYTEN ÇİFTÇİ/ALİ GÜVEN, İSTANBUL/ŞIRNAK Kurdish intellectuals have joined critics of a suspected outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attack on a building, which hosts a private university prep course in Şırnak on Saturday, saying the masterminds of such attacks will not achieve their goals. The building, where weekend and evening courses to […]

What is wrong with the ‘Muslim’ world?

Many radical Islamists and Islamophobes are mirror images of each other. They want to divide the world into two diametrically opposing, antagonistic and constantly belligerent political camps: “dar al-Harb” and “dar al-Islam.” They hate co-existence. They hate interdependence…

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

Fear Grows in Turkey as Crackdown on Gulen Followers Continues

Pro-gov’t daily claims White House held special session on Gülen

Rule of law casualty of AKP-Gulen conflict

‘When the last gang becomes a thing of the past’

Kimse Yok Mu providing assistance to Ebola victims in Guinea

Gülen Speaks to Süddeutsche Zeitung daily, warns of on-going witch hunt against Hizmet

Bringing Peace While Breaking Fasts

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News