The July 22 operation has shown the meaning and characteristics of the ongoing process that we are experiencing right now. The allegations that serve as the pretext for the July 22 operation will have a boomerang effect, because what we understand from the initial findings of the investigation is that the arguments of the government have been proven to be ungrounded.
Following the Dec. 17 and 25 corruption investigations implicating Cabinet ministers and senior members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his inner circle and pro-AK Party media have launched a concerted, collective and comprehensive dehumanization strategy against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement. What follows is a snippet of the type of language used without comment, as comment is not needed.
Diplomatic sources confirmed that an official from the Turkish Red Crescent went to Israel to coordinate humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza. “There is no other way to provide aid to Gaza,” said the sources on Thursday. Dismissing claims that the Turkish official will be negotiating a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, sources said Turkey is only in contact with the officials from Hamas and the US regarding the Palestinian territory.
A US State Department report has claimed that the Turkish government is prejudiced in favor of its Sunni Islamic citizens and neglects the needs of members of the country’s other minority religions, in addition to frequently employing anti-Semitic rhetoric.
When asked about the issue of Erdoğan’s survival, [CHP Istanbul deputy] Erdoğdu said: “The upcoming presidential election [which is scheduled for Aug. 10] is not the main part of this struggle. He might be elected president and elude the graft investigation. What about his son Bilal and other family members? How can they escape an investigation?
Furkan Bahar, a student from Yamanlar Koleji, a private high school in İzmir, has won a gold medal at the 46th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) held in Hanoi, Vietnam between July 20 and 28. IChO welcomed representatives from 77 countries. Bahar, a member of the national chemistry team appointed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), became the winner of Turkey’s only gold medal in the competition.
The ruling party has been undermining rule of law since the graft and bribery investigation that became public on December 17, 2013. It sees itself unfettered by laws and the Constitution. It has been sticking to the hoax of “parallel structure” –a veiled reference to members of the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen– in a desperate attempt to cover up the graft investigations.
The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) said in a statement on Tuesday that the group is closely following the developments after the July 22 raid with “concern” and said it is disturbed of a possibility that the legal proceeding will continue with a number of illegal actions under the “shadow of politics.”
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, in what many consider an attempt to take revenge on the faith-based Hizmet movement, has been reworking the justice system in Turkey — shutting down certain courts, establishing new ones and quickly assigning some prosecutors and judges to deal with certain cases — which is diametrically opposed to the principles of law.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has recently been engaged in a bitter fight with the Hizmet movement. This conflict intensified after Dec. 17, 2013, when a major graft operation targeting government ministers and connected businessmen became public. The prime minister claims the operation was orchestrated by the Hizmet movement in an effort to overthrow his government. However, he has not provided any evidence to prove this claim, and the movement denies the accusation.
The US and Europe now use Erdoğan’s level of aggression against whomever he targets as an indicator to measure the degree of democratic culture of the Turks. For this reason, as Erdoğan and his government intensify their aggression, the Hizmet movement becomes more respectable and prestigious in the world.