Picasso, Turkey, and a photograph that will go down in history

Guernica is the name of a painting created by Pablo Picasso in 1937. The Spanish government of the time asked the artist to create a painting to be exhibited in Paris. It was during the years of the Spanish Civil War; the country had turned into a bloodbath. In this war, where tens of thousands of people lost their lives, just as many were left disabled, and thousands became refugees. It was precisely during this period that Picasso picked up his brush and brought Guernica to life. Guernica is actually the name of a city in Spain. On April 26, 1937, 28 bomber aircraft belonging to Nazi Germany carried out a horrific attack on the city. During the attack, hundreds of people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured. The painting questions the people left behind by the attack, humanity, and the pain experienced. Of course, fascism is also at one end of this questioning.

Since we are talking about questioning, let us continue from here. It was during the years of the Second World War. Picasso was living in Paris, which was under Nazi occupation, and it was during this period that Nazi police interrogated the artist. When the Nazi officer conducting the interrogation saw the Guernica painting in the artist's home, he asked, "Did you do this?" Picasso gave this unforgettable reply: "No, you did; it is your work."

When I saw the images and photographs served to the media in the latest wave of operations within the scope of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), this historical anecdote came to my mind. In one of the mentioned photographs, the suspects were lined up one after another, being held by police officers by their arms; when the instruction to "move" was given, they began to walk. This photograph was talked about and debated a lot. It was said that it reminded people of coup eras; this photograph could not be explained by law or the judiciary, and ultimately, it targeted the suspects, directly labeling them as "guilty." In fact, the Ministry of Justice did not claim the photograph, stating, "We have no such instruction or practice." So, whose work was this photograph? If the recorded frame cannot be explained by law, what was being inflicted upon this society, and by whom?

These lands have long witnessed that some cases and operations carried out under the name of law have nothing to do with law or the judiciary. Remember the Ergenekon trials, which lasted nearly ten years; dozens of suspects were arrested, received hundreds of years in sentences, were tried with life and even aggravated life sentences, and ultimately were convicted because of them. Again, during that period, there were those who lost their lives due to harsh prison conditions; Ali Tatar took his own life while outside, and the home of the cancer-stricken Türkan Saylan was searched while she was in her sickbed. The government and the sect's newspapers and television channels supported the case with all their might, and news bulletins were presented like war bulletins. It was explained how the organization called Ergenekon operated and what treacherous plans it had. Meanwhile, in a speech, Erdoğan said he was the prosecutor of the case; what objections were heard, what reactions were voiced.

So, what happened in the end?

It turned out that there was no such organization as Ergenekon. The aforementioned case and the trials conducted alongside it were largely carried out by members of the organization known as the sect of those days and the FETÖ of today. In other words, the "independent and impartial judiciary" rhetoric that had become a cliché had crumbled to dust. Those presented as judges appeared before us as members of the organization; indeed, most of them fled after July 15, and they are still missing.

If we return to the political analysis of the İBB and similar cases and the photographs and images served to the press in the context of those cases, we can clearly state that the government is openly taking sides and claiming ownership of the cases here as well; while media close to the government shares expressions like those of a prosecutor, the country's President constantly makes statements in the context of the case, adding new ones to his expressions about "radishes in the bag." I think one does not need to be a lawyer to see that this situation is incompatible with justice and law. Those who possess even a trace of conscience and responsibility can see this truth. The sad part is that sometimes some people discard or want to discard even that trace from their bodies. It is painful, but this is the truth.

At this point, there is another truth.

Let me share it this way: A friend of mine, who is close to the ruling party due to the tradition and family structure he is in and who I believe voted for the AKP until recently, said the other day that the recent operations cannot be explained by law alone and that such investigations are not opened against municipalities of the ruling party that face similar allegations. Of course, this was the voice of a valuable conscience. On the other hand, some figures who are opposition-minded and supposedly from the "Republican tradition" chose to remain silent against the injustices and tyranny on record. Some did not show a reaction to what was happening due to their positions or the personal benefits offered to them, and there were even those who took sides with the government. In fact, what was happening was a deep rupture and separation. It was a kind of dissolution, decay, and the shedding of values that should exist in at least trace amounts. It will have consequences.

Picasso had told the Nazi officer regarding his Guernica painting, "I made the painting, but this is your work." Today, all segments that claim ownership of the AKP and support it will be responsible for both the frames that go down in history and what has happened. They did not take the photographs, but what happened was also their work.