Ömer Atilla Ergi
On Wednesday, 17 March 2021 the Parliament of Turkey revoked the Member of Parliament status of Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu who was the member for Kocaeli. Daily Sabah, a pro-Erdoğan newspaper reported the announcement made by the Speaker of Assembly with the heading “HDP’s Gergerlioğlu stripped of deputyship over terrorism charges.”
According to Artı Gerçek, media outlets in Turkey, such a CNN Türk, ATV, A Haber, Sabah, the Daily Sabah (published in English) are owned by the Turkuvaz Media Group which is managed by Erdoğan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak, his brother Serhat Albayrak and his close associate businessman Ömer Faruk Kalyoncu. The pro-Erdoğan media, which make up almost 90% of the media in Turkey, report that Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu is charged with making terrorist propaganda on social media due to a retweet in 2016. Gergerlioğlu is also a member of the Parliamentary Commission of Human Rights Inquiry. He is one of the few parliamentarians voicing the recent human rights violations committed by the Erdoğan administration. He has been exposing the tortures and mistreatments in custody, abductions, incarceration of mothers with their babies, persecution of thousands of people including journalists, academics, judges, lawyers and businesspersons without legal grounds.
It seems, however, the new regime does not want anyone voicing out the injustices committed by the ruling party. Political analysts believe the regime has changed in Turkey where all affairs of the nation, including judicial decisions depend on what comes out of the mouth of one man.
The decline of Turkish democracy commenced on 17/25 December 2013 when a criminal investigation which involved a number of people in the AKP government was obstructed by Erdoğan who gradually expelled the team of police officers and prosecutors heading the investigation. During the initial stages of the operation, millions of dollars were found concealed in shoeboxes in the house of Suleyman Aslan, the general manager of Halk Bank who had direct connections to Reza Zarrab, who was later arrested in the USA for violating the sanctions against Iran. The investigation also showed Zarrab had connections to several family members of Ministers of the ruling party who had been involved in bribery, corruption, fraud, money laundering and smuggling. Erdoğan terminated the investigation before it led to his son Bilal and eventually to himself with a claim that the police officers and prosecutors were plotting a coup to bring his government down.
The charges against all the accused were eventually dropped despite the fact that the four ministers of the cabinet were forced resigned. During his resignation, Bayraktar, who was the Minister for Environment and Urban Planning, stated that it was the Prime Minister who had instructed them and hence he should resign first.
After dismissing the investigation, Erdoğan further increased his power by forming an alliance with the organisation called Ergenekon who are regarded as the Eurasia clique meaning alliances of Iran, Russia and China. In the year 2008, a mass investigation commenced against this group during which 275 people were arrested and charged with violent crimes including the massacre of Kurds in Eastern Turkey.
Among the arrested Doğu Perinçek, self-chosen spokesman for the Eurasia clique vowed to take revenge from all religious groups in Turkey. In 2014 members of this clique were released from prisons and following the so-called coup attempt in 2016 Perinçek announced their alliance with Erdoğan on a number of occasions during live interviews on Habertürk and other media outlets. Perinçek, who is currently the leader of the Vatan Party which has 0.02% of the total votes, claimed that Erdogan had finally moved into their axis, arguing that although Erdoğan is in charge of the nation, they are the ones deciding the roadmap. This is also one of the main reasons for blaming the Gulen Movement for the so-called 17 July coup attempt. There is strong evidence that the coup attempt was scripted to target Gulen followers as Erdoğan openly blamed movement only 3 hours into the coup without any evidence. Erdoğan was remarkably calm and collective during the coup when instead of going to a secure place he flew to Istanbul airport despite the fact he was informed the coup was controlled from the Akıncı Airbase where the putschists had access to tens of fighter jets. Strangely, the two F16 pilots who escorted Erdoğan’s plane to Istanbul were later arrested for being Gulenists.
Many believe the coup was staged by Erdoğan as on the night of 15 July they already had the list of thousands of people who would be purged after the coup attempt. The list also contained the names of thousands of judges who had no involvement in the coup.
Prosecutor Serdar Coşkun had prepared the indictment on the night of the coup, a document that included events that had not occurred yet and when asked, how he could have known this at the time, he responded, “I worked on the indictment throughout the night and signed it in the morning.”
Consequently, the intelligence services of several Western nations, including US and Germany made statements suggesting there was no evidence to suggest Gulen’s involvement in the planning of the coup. Furthermore, the EU announced the Gulen Movement is a faith based organisation that promotes education, dialogue and peace. An enquiry commission in UK also announced that although some officers linked to the movement may have participated in the coup attempt, there is no evidence to show that it was organised by the Gulen Movement. The United Nations also responded to Erdoğan administration’s claims by announcing that Gulen Movement promotes peace. These and statements by military experts and political analysts encouraged many academics and journalists to look for alternative motives for the 15 July coup attempt. 11 days after the coup attempt, during a discussion program on Haberturk TV, Prof Nurşen Mazıcı argued this was no military coup and if you want to know who is behind it, have a look who benefited from it.
Undeniably, the so-called coup attempt gave Erdoğan extraordinary powers, like that of Hitler following the Reichstag fire. For example, with KHK’s (presidential decisions equivalent to legislation) Erdoğan made laws as he pleased and continues to do so today. Using the KHK laws, more than 650,000 people were persecuted, thousands sent to prisons, including judges, lawyers, police officers, army cadets, academics, doctors, teachers, journalists, businessmen, mothers, children and babies. Hundreds of people lost their lives during systematic tortures in custody and prisons and others while trying to seek asylum in Europe by crossing the Aegean Sea or Meriç River. Private schools, media outlets, universities, business were confiscated by the Erdoğan administration and distributed among the party members as spoils of war.
Currently the Turkish Parliament is nothing but a window dressing for the democratic world. It is a symbolic, ineffective assembly as all laws and legislations are made by Erdoğan himself. Moreover, he has full control of Turkey’s high courts as most members are appointed by him. Judges cannot make decisions without instructions from Erdogan. Gergerlioglu’s recent expulsion from the parliament is the biggest evidence to this as the Speaker of Assembly admitted that he had no option but to make the announcement because the order came from the top. The Turkish high court has also made a recent decision to commence legal proceedings to close HDP (People’s Democratic Party) which is supported by six 6 million voters, giving them 67 seats in the Parliament. With this decision Erdoğan aims to drive the last nail into the coffin of Turkish democracy by transforming the nation into a Ba’ath Party like regime in Syria.
What lies in the near future for the people of Turkey is unknown, but it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel awaited by many is nowhere to be seen yet…