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ISTANBUL: While the deep state waits¦

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  • ISTANBUL: While the deep state waits¦

    While the deep state waits¦

    http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302918-while-the-deep-state-waits-.html
    02 January 2013, Wednesday

    MARKAR ESAYAN
    [email protected]


    2013 will certainly be a year of major developments, overshadowed by
    the coming year of 2014. It is no secret that in 2014, the
    presidential election will be held and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    ErdoÄ?an intends to run for president. He wants to be a president who
    can rule the country. Therefore, a proposal to turn the country's
    regime into a presidential one has become part of the work on the new
    constitution. The intention is to introduce a semi-presidential system
    or, if that is not possible, a system with the president maintaining
    his party affiliation before the 2014 presidential system and which
    will allow ErdoÄ?an to become president for two successive terms. This
    means that he will be in office until 2024, and this fits like a glove
    the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) targets for
    2023, i.e., the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish
    Republic.
    Of course, it is quite natural for a political leader to harbor such
    goals. ErdoÄ?an has been one of the most popular leaders in recent
    years. The public loves him. He has implemented noteworthy reforms.
    The economic situation of the poor has improved considerably. ErdoÄ?an
    has managed to save the country from an economic crisis and made the
    country's economy a stable one. The fight against the deep state
    network found political backing during the AK Party's terms in
    government. Although it has been in office for the last three terms,
    the AK Party does not have any challenging rival. But this does not
    mean that the risk of anti-democratic methods being employed against
    democratically elected governments has been completely deflected.

    The coup plan found in hard drives that were sent by the General Staff
    to the court hearing the criminal case against Ergenekon -- a
    clandestine organization nested within the state trying to overthrow
    or manipulate the democratically elected government -- acknowledges
    that the ruling AK Party cannot be overthrown via a conventional coup
    and argues that the army should change its strategies of fighting
    against the government. These hard drives contain about 3 million
    documents prepared between 2005 and 2009 and reveal updated
    psychological warfare plans. Given the fact that these documents were
    prepared in the very recent past, it is clear that those who argue
    that Turkey has fought off the deep state and coups are utterly wrong.

    For instance, in a memo prepared for the Operations Department on Aug.
    30, 2007, it was noted that the conditions for meddling with the
    government are not ripe. For this reason, the memo asserts, political
    instability and economic regression are needed for a potential coup
    and in the current setting, an intervention with violent or
    non-violent methods is not possible. `For a potential coup, we need to
    wait for the country's economy to worsen and instability to rule over
    the country,' it says. The memo was prepared just one-and-a-half
    months after the AK Party was re-elected to office for the third time
    by securing 47 percent of the general vote on July 22, 2007, and it
    advises that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) should, for the time
    being, refrain from direct confrontation with the government. It
    indicates that the TSK should wait for the AK Party to lose its social
    support. `Any intervention that would be conducted without
    coordination with the central powers will obviously create a heavy
    price for the TSK,' it cautions. In sum, the document says:

    `The AK Party acts in harmony with the central powers which are
    influential over Turkey [global capitalists, the US state and
    government, the EU and Germany and France as the EU's driving forces]
    and each central power lends support voluntarily or involuntarily
    according to their global interests. [¦] Under these conditions, the
    best psychological warfare strategy for the coming period is to wait
    for the disruption of the AK Party's harmony with the central powers
    and the weakening of global capital in parallel with the worldwide
    regression. (When this happens, the AK Party's social support will
    automatically diminish.) The strategy for this transition period is to
    maintain the existing power and structure of the TSK.'

    In a nutshell, given the fact that the deep state has been active for
    so many years in Turkey and its intention to overthrow the government
    is evident as seen in the abovementioned documents, the ruling AK
    Party will sign its own death warrant if it fails to maintain its
    resolve to fight the deep state. This applies to the government's
    increased unwillingness to promote the country's EU bid.

    It would be best for the government to take into consideration such
    big risks in making plans for 2023.

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