The era of the big flies

It is a known fact that as power corrupts, institutions collapse, the individual becomes isolated, and justice becomes decrepit.

If you were to ask for a description of today's Turkey, citing this sentence would be more than enough.

It is a famous saying by Marcus Aurelius, the last emperor of the era of virtue and wisdom: “Laws are like spider webs; small flies get caught, while big flies tear through and pass.”

Although Aurelius said this nearly 1,900 years ago during the “Five Good Emperors” period of the Roman Empire, these words have never lost their relevance.

Power feeds power! However, there comes a moment when power turns into arrogance; countries sink, and empires are erased from history.

If the institutions built by the Republic still exist, it is perhaps thanks to a few idealists who prioritize “state reason.”

We are trying to continue our existence as the children of a country condemned to a judicial system that has become the enforcer of oppressive policies, under a leader who tries to maintain power with an exclusionary, divisive, and combative language.

We are witnessing the death throes and the struggle for existence of a justice system that was once seen as the guardian of democracy and freedoms.

A dark period has fallen upon us in this modern age, where those who do not implement Constitutional Court rulings become Deputy Ministers or Chief Public Prosecutors of the Court of Cassation, and those who conduct controversial investigations are appointed as members of the Constitutional Court.

On one side, there is the Court of Cassation and local courts that do not implement the rulings of the Constitutional Court and the ECHR; on the other, the rhetoric of the ruling partner calling for the closure of the Constitutional Court.

Are we just a few romantics harping on about “Legal Security” against a political power that tries to restrain the opposition by brandishing the judicial baton, suppresses journalists and activists through prosecutors' offices, and adopts arrests as a method against freedom of expression?

When you put it all together, we can say that we are witnessing one of the darkest periods in Turkish legal history.

Forget the era of martial law courts; we are having to endure lawlessness that we did not even encounter in conspiracy cases conducted with fabricated evidence.

The difference between today and yesterday is that while in the past “evidence was manufactured” before an arrest warrant was issued, today, even if there is nothing in hand, the approach is “let’s lock them up for 3-5 months so they come to their senses.”

Remember the images of Metin Akpınar and Müjdat Gezen in the courthouse corridors, the grounds for the arrests of Gülşen and Dilruba… What Osman Kavala, Can Atalay, and Tayfun Kahraman have experienced…

On the other hand, we are in a period where concepts are being hollowed out. For instance, the word “coup” has lost its meaning.

The press statement by retired soldiers emphasizing Montreux against a “crazy project” is a coup, and so is the oath of excited young lieutenants… On one hand, the Gezi Park protests are a coup; on the other, cases constructed with fake evidence are also a coup…

In short, everything in this country has been hollowed out…

What falls to us is the same motto in every era: “It is better to act with justice and be alone than to follow the crowd into injustice.”

Like Gandhi’s philosophy of an honorable life…

But contrary to this saying, we are not alone; fortunately, we are millions who stand up against injustice.

Hello 12 Punto readers,

With this article, we have drawn a general framework regarding the judicial system. In the following ones, we will begin to fill it in.

We are not pessimistic; on the contrary, we are here to confront the lawlessness that sharpens us.