10 unanswered questions about the Dec. 17 operation
Date posted: January 28, 2014
AHMET HAKAN, HÜRRİYET
1- Even though Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) tipped off the government about the unlawful transactions of Reza Zarrab a full eight months before the corruption investigation became public on Dec. 17, why didn’t the government pay attention to MİT’s warning?
2- Will Turkish citizens place any trust in their country’s courts?
3- If a person close to the government is suspected of corruption, will prosecutors and the police be able to carry out an investigation?
4- Would we have learned about the endemic corruption if there was no conflict between the government and the Hizmet movement?
5- When did the government realize the existence of the alleged parallel state?
6- Referring to the Hizmet movement, Erdoğan said: “What did they want that we didn’t give?” Exactly what does the prime minister mean by this?
7- How many prosecutors’ orders have not been carried out by the police since Dec. 17?
8- What kind of crime was involved in the “pineapple” incident?
9- Will the government give a response to the US Treasury’s designation of Zarrab as a financier of terrorism, even though the prime minister had previously called him a “charitable businessman”?
10- How many bureaucrats have been reassigned since Dec. 17?
Erdoğan’s government is by no means the first to compel Turkish citizens to hide their preferences and beliefs. Under the secular governments that ruled Turkey from the 1920s to 1950, and to some extent until 2002, pious Turks seeking advancement in government, the military, and even commerce had to downplay their religiosity and avoid signaling approval of political Islam.
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