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  • ISTANBUL: What is deep state?

    What is deep state?

    http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302319-what-is-deep-state.html
    26 December 2012, Wednesday

    MARKAR ESAYAN
    [email protected]


    In response to a question on bugging devices found in his home and
    office, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an made a reference to the
    deep state.
    As we all know, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a
    political party which maintains that it is fighting against the deep
    state and attracting popular support for this. The vast majority of
    people who voted for the AK Party are in favor of change, and they are
    aware that for a thorough change, it is necessary to eliminate all
    traces of the deep state. The AK Party extends support towards this
    end. However, combating the deep state is not an easy task. It
    requires decisiveness and political prudence. This was not something
    the judiciary could have taken on alone. The deep state first seeps
    into the judiciary. In this way, it secures immunity for the crimes of
    the deep state, and it also uses the judiciary as a tool for deep
    state activities as evidenced in the campaigns provoked before the
    murder of Hrant Dink.

    For this reason, the political administration should remain decisive
    in its fight against deep structures and the deep state, and it should
    renew the entire state structure amid the deep state investigations
    and cases. In other words, the state should be cleansed of the deep
    state virus. Is that possible? At this point, Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an
    seems to be indecisive because he gave the following response to the
    deep state question I referred to at the beginning:

    `Every state has its own deep state; it is like a virus; it reappears
    when conditions are suitable. We continue fighting these structures.
    We cannot of course argue that we have completely eliminated and
    destroyed it because as a politician, I do not believe that any state
    in the world has been able to do this completely.'

    Of course, there could be any structure within the state organization
    of a country that is involved in clandestine acts and uses its power
    to maximize its interests. To achieve success, continuous efforts are
    required to address their effects, which can be hard. This is why
    countries have intelligence units. Like in any other structures, such
    corruption in the state structure can be seen as normal.

    However, the deep state is more than this abuse and these offenses. In
    the case of Turkey, the deep state is the state itself. The manifested
    part of the state has been democratic, but the latent reality suggests
    that the remaining parts have always been totalitarian and savage.
    This is a state model created in the 1913 coup by the Committee of
    Union and Progress (CUP); Mustafa Kemal transferred this model. A
    state that governs its own country like a colonial governor and relies
    on the cruelest methods against its people is our own deep state.

    However, saying that it is not possible to get rid of this type of
    state is different from pointing out that there can always be state
    officials committing crimes.

    Of course, the prime minister might have meant something else. He
    might have wanted to say that it was hard to completely eliminate the
    deep state. True, we are talking about an experienced structure that
    has been in control of Turkey and ruled it for a century. It is also
    true that this experience and mentality are embedded within the state.
    We observe this frequently in the decisions of the judiciary. We, as
    people who have been living in such a state, have been negatively
    influenced by this experience. Our understanding of democracy reveals
    some flaws.

    However, arguing that it is impossible to get rid of the deep state
    means that you accept defeat. Besides, this is not true. After
    introducing reforms in state institutions, taking measures towards
    transparency and establishing the rule of law, there is nowhere left
    for the state to hide its actions in this era of the Internet and
    social media.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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