Real danger
It is no doubt that this, too, will pass. A day will come when the mist has dispersed. Lies, distorted remarks, backbiting, accusations voiced without thinking about consequences and irresponsibly uttered claims will create problems mostly for those who voice them. It is for this reason people who value fairness must stand on firm ground, sticking hard to fairness and acting and thinking without being persuaded by speeches from those purely making noise.
Unfortunately, those who comment/write about the recent graft probe use bitter language. Some people and groups turn a blind eye to the concrete evidence and information about the corruption claims, but they hurl bitter accusations against the Hizmet movement, or the Community, without relying on any concrete evidence. As soon as any mention of the corruption claims is made, they close their fists and flare up, infusing the air with their hatred. They rush to blame the US, Israel, Europe, even the Arab world and the Community. What about serious accusations and evidence regarding the claims on corruption and bribery?
Sometimes, they take a small incident and build propaganda on it, thinking it is largely damning evidence (or knowing it is not). For instance, an association in the US had a fundraising campaign to help victims of a fire in Israel. Meanwhile, they didn't mention the fact that in relation to the same fire, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had ordered Turkish authorities to do all they could to help Israel extinguish the fire and asked the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) to conduct relief work to help victims. In response, some people tweeted about the "links between Israel and Erdoğan" or the "medal awarded to Erdoğan by the Israeli lobby in the US" -- claims that were once voiced by neo-nationalists. Both claims by either group are unfair and unreasonable.
The ultra-nationalist technique of making false claims has become a lifesaver for the pro-government media. They have re-run a story about a person whom, in 2010, they portrayed as the “imam of the police department.” They market this as the "journalistic achievement of the year." Don't those "journalists of the year" look at archives? Back then, the person in question launched a legal suit against whoever was responsible for the story, and those made claims about him were found guilty of slander. Is it not a crime to repeat that slander?
If the campaigns for intimidating and discrediting the Community had been launched by the media trolls at the behest of the ruling party's headquarters, we might have brushed them aside with a smile. However, the power behind those attacks is obvious. Now, those trolls are peering into old books in ecstasy. For instance, they have started to parrot the same old allegations regarding the stealing of the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) questions. They suggest that the government would launch an "operation," using that exam as an excuse. But this claim had been examined by judicial authorities. People were cross-examined and accusations were investigated. Numerous suspects from different groups, including pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP), pro-Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and pro-Community people were heard. Isn't it a "public image operation" to stick to a file that was closed back in 2010?
This also applies to "bugging" issue. This issue dates back to Feb. 3, 2012. Although these claims could have easily been solved by now, they were kept hanging like the sword of Damocles. The officials who attempted to solve them were removed from the investigation. "Ordinary suspects" were created and this investigation was used for black propaganda. There is not a single reasonable reason for reheating it today and bringing it back to the agenda. If nothing has been done to settle it after so many months, and if media trolls today talk about an "operation," the public will believe that this is a "public image" operation.
This country's democratic maturity will know how to deal with bribery and corruption. Eventually, common sense will rule and collective conscience will uphold fairness and freedoms. So there is no need to be worried. The issue most worth stressing is, in fact, the radicalization of ordinary people by harsh rhetoric devised to cover up corruption claims. If you start to create militants out of the masses, this may lead to fraternal feuds like Karbala, God forbid. If you continue to egg the youth on, they may eventually make gross mistakes and you will be held responsible for it. A person who is the prime minister of every individual in this country cannot support those young people who greet him in shrouds. Smiling at people who shout slogans saying, "Tell us what to do, and we will obey you to the death,” will cast a shadow on political legitimacy. In the past, the pro-MHP youth had greeted MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli by chanting a similar slogan. It was Prime Minister Erdoğan who reacted to it most harshly. What is the difference here?
If you boost the militant feelings of the masses, this means you are opting for anti-democratic methods. Then, courtesy and politeness will be lost and, God forbid, legitimacy will be replaced with violence and horror. And this is the real danger. If this style -- ambitiously adopted by some media outlets -- is deliberately pursued, and if this leads to bodily injury or physical damage to any person, this is a crime.
Is this language we should be using?
Look at the language and style employed in recent days and you will find not a single trace of human value in it. It is heartrending to see that this provocative language is preferred by those people who have prided themselves on being Islamists. This ill-mannered rhetoric is not approved by religious or journalistic values. One day, studies will be conducted to analyze the content of the language used by the “Islamist press,” and the words used by that press will be listed. When these studies are made, some of our colleagues will feel very ashamed.
The prime minister's harsh and hurtful style clearly encourages the pro-government media to employ such sharp language. Here is a short compilation of words recently adopted by the prime minister: "gang," "spy," "vile people," "those who live in dens," "we will raid their dens," "vicious network," "we will cut off their hands," "parallel organization," "paws of the vicious conspiracy," "treason built upon lucre," "subcontractors," "pawns within the state," "conspiracy," "those who disguise themselves as Muslims," "the interest rate lobby," "the Israeli connection," etc. His harsh remarks targeting the judiciary could be made into a small book. What he said about the deputies and ministers with whom he was working until very recently is hard to swallow.
The damage caused by this harsh and hurtful language will leave irreparable traces behind. But we have to live and work together. If we live together in this country, there are responsibilities we must shoulder for each other. No one should disappear just because someone wants them to; this also goes against social realities. "If we wipe them out, the country will be a better place to live," people have argued in the past. But all these agreements have proven false. Alevis, Kurds, religious people, nationalists and others were all subjected to plans made by state authorities to "finish them off." All of these plans failed. You cannot destroy social realities with pressure. If we will continue to live together in the future, then we must select our rhetoric and style carefully in order not to feel ashamed. This is what suits us.
The same risk applies to the Community as well. Carelessly uttered words that have the potential to radicalize grassroots groups, including via social media, are a violation of human rights. Using chivalrous and honest wording in voicing our democratic demands is the right thing, and using a provocative, hurtful and humiliating language is not. The right thing is to express one's demands without indulging in unfairness or hurting other people.
If there was a conspiracy
There was a conspiracy against the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The idea of this “conspiracy” is a claim voiced by an adviser of Prime Minister Erdoğan. This conspiracy theory claims that the TSK members who were sentenced under the Ergenekon and Balyoz trials are victims. Those who voice this claim have long alleged on TV and at election rallies that they themselves combated coup perpetrators and juntas, and the military tutelage was undermined by the coup trials. And, thus, they convince people to vote for them. Now, they talk about conspiracies. Either they have been telling lies for many years, or they have other intentions.
If the TSK members didn't attempt to overthrow the government and were sentenced because of a conspiracy, then a horrible treachery has taken place and the culprits must be found and penalized at once. If this claim is not true, then it is clear that it has been voiced with an urge for revenge and it is grave slander. It is a serious mistake to make such implications.
There are two serious takeaways from this conspiracy claim: First, if some people knew there was a conspiracy but they opted to keep silent and do nothing, this means they took part in the crime. This is equally as serious a crime as setting a trap for innocent TSK members and accusing them of attempting to overthrow the government, and they must be tried at once.
Second, if you believe that some commanders were innocent, why don't you pass bills to save them? You passed bills tailored specifically for certain people in the past, and you can do the same for these people. Pass bills to save those commanders who you say are innocent. If those people, who are at an advanced age and have served at a high level amongst state ranks for some time, were not involved in a coup, then enact a law to save them. It is a disgrace to bring other people under suspicion without taking the small steps that are needed to better the situation of those "innocent" commanders.
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