Merdan Yanardağ writes from Silivri Prison: 'We are facing pure provincial bigotry'

Imprisoned journalist Merdan Yanardağ, in a piece sent from Silivri Prison, addressed the espionage charges brought against him by saying, "We are facing a fifth-rate conspiracy" .

Yanardağ stated, "It is clear that once they parted ways with the FETÖ members and liberals, the political Islamists—who were already a crude, indifferent, and ill-equipped movement—turned into a completely tacky organization and trend. So much so that they do not even realize they have declared more than half of the country an enemy and have waged war against them. We are facing pure provincial bigotry." .

The article written by Yanardağ for BirGün newspaper, titled "Who is the spy?", reads as follows:

"Hello to BirGün readers and all our friends from the Silivri Dungeon!

This is the second time my path has led through this prison. This time, it is crowded inside, and many of our friends are here.

I can say that the story of my arrest this time is quite interesting. However, let me state first that we are not even facing a third-rate, but a fifth-rate conspiracy. In other words, the allegations and the accusations directed at us/me have no consistency or foundation, nor do they contain even the slightest shred of intelligence. The conspirators who attempt to mock our intellect cannot help but display their own stupidity.

My friend, does one have no interest in crime fiction or literature at all? Let's say you haven't read a detective story; have you not even seen a single espionage case?

Has the hostility you feel toward the Republic and the progressive, patriotic forces of this country, along with your primitive, vengeful reflexes, blinded and ignorant-ized you to this extent?

It is clear that once they parted ways with the FETÖ members and liberals, the political Islamists—already a crude, disinterested, and ill-equipped movement—have turned into a completely tacky organization and trend. So much so that they are not even aware that they have declared more than half of the country an enemy and have launched a war against them. We are facing pure provincial bigotry.

The indictment they prepared for Ekrem İmamoğlu is like a full-blown coup manifesto. They consider democratic politics and opposing the government to be a crime. It is unbelievable, but they even count the fact that CHP delegates elected an administration that fights against the Erdoğan-AKP government as hostility, or even "espionage." It sounds like a joke, but one of the accusations leveled against me is that I intervened in favor of İmamoğlu to ensure Özgür Özel's election at the CHP Congress. Moreover, they claim I did this under the direction of British and Israeli intelligence. How I did this, or with what means, is unclear. Not only is there no evidence, but there is no such definition in Articles 327 and 328 of the Turkish Penal Code, which regulate this crime (espionage). It is a picture devoid of reason and logic.

The goal is clear; according to those who carried out the March 19 operation, any attempt to change the AKP-Erdoğan government, even through democratic political means, is a crime. It does not matter whether this has a counterpart in the Turkish Penal Code. For example, is it not interesting that one of the accusations against İmamoğlu is "setting out for a presidential candidacy and forming a team for this purpose"?

One wants both their friends and enemies to be somewhat honorable and intelligent. Fighting against this absurdity, and battling against slander and black propaganda, weighs heavily on a person.

We are facing an attempt to turn the claim that I am a British spy into an opportunity with provincial cunning, based on a person whom I saw a few times in the company of an elderly woman who is a friend of TELE1, and with whom I had no relationship other than brief chats about current events.

This businessman, named Hüseyin Gün, says the same things in his statement. In none of his statements is there any accusation against me or İmamoğlu. It consists only of a few messages regarding current politics, usually about programs he watched on TELE1, and the polite responses I gave to them. They are trying to extract a spy story from a viewer-journalist-TV programmer dialogue.

Furthermore, we have not spoken at all since 2022, after Seher Hanım (Alaçam), who provided minor support to TELE1, passed away. This situation is clearly visible in the HTS records. There is complete nonsense at play here.

The situation is this: When Seher Alaçam passed away in 2022 after suffering a heart attack in her home's pool, a property dispute began between her spiritual son, Hüseyin Gün, and her biological son. Upon this, Seher Alaçam's biological son called 155 (police emergency line) and reported Hüseyin Gün as a "spy." When the police saw in their investigation that my name, as well as those of Necati Özkan and Ekrem İmamoğlu, appeared in a few messages, they concocted this scenario. It is a truly bizarre story.

Hüseyin Gün, who owns a social media software company (based in London), tried to sell a program to the Istanbul Municipality but failed. Necati Özkan did not trust him and did not buy it. The same person has worked with many institutions, from the General Directorate of Security to the Ministry of Industry and Technology. He had AKP mayors and deputies invited to the House of Lords in England and arranged meetings. He chaired these meetings, and so on.

THE GOAL IS TO ESTABLISH A NEW REGIME

The goal is clear. This "espionage" frame-up has two objectives. As seen in the published indictment, they could not substantiate the "corruption" accusations. Therefore, the first goal was to issue a "backup arrest warrant" for İmamoğlu. The other was to seize and plunder TELE1, which holds a 'game-maker' position in Turkey's media landscape and reaches an effective and widespread audience, and to silence me and my colleagues. TELE1 was a successful institution founded and managed by a leftist team, competing in the major media field. As a model, it set a bad example for them. It was self-sustaining, making new investments, and paying its employees' salaries—specifically, the salaries of 144 people—without delay. RTÜK fines and the lawsuits filed against me were not enough to silence us. We were overcoming every obstacle one by one. They could no longer tolerate this. They wanted to break our influence in society. That is the situation.

THOSE WITH SHAMEFUL RECORDS

The history of political Islamists in Turkey is a history of shameful cooperation with imperialism and intelligence agencies. I have recounted this history in my books with documents and details. Political Islamists, who believe they have no need for morality because they have a sacred cause, display a shameless arrogance by accusing this country's patriots, revolutionaries, and the left of "espionage."

The Islamist movement has been in cooperation with imperialism (especially the USA and the UK) and intelligence agencies since the 1960s. They based this on an Islamic interpretation they called the "principle of the lesser of two evils against godless red communists," a mindset that says "it is permissible even in war." The political style of Islamists has always been based on deception and trickery.

Especially during the Cold War, as a result of the US and NATO's "Green Belt" policy, all sects, communities, and political Islamist groups that were influential in Turkey entered into relationships with the CIA and, consequently, the Counter-Guerrilla (Gladio) structure. This relationship continued after 1990 (linked to doctrines like the Greater Middle East Project). Nurcu groups, in particular, were favorites of the CIA. The Fethullah Gülen gang and the Mehmet Kırkıncı team, who were students of Said Nursi, were groups with CIA connections. For example, a Nur student named Attorney Bekir Berk facilitated the relationship between the CIA and political Islamists. More importantly, all Islamist opinion leaders, community leaders, and sheikhs of sects knew about this situation. Üzeyir Şenler, also a Nurcu, revealed that Attorney Bekir Berk worked with foreign intelligence agencies and had contact with the CIA. Journalist Mustafa Aydın, who met with him in the hospital shortly before his death, also wrote in 2012 that Bekir Berk was an agent, meaning a spy. Journalist Mustafa Aydın was close to the Tahşiye Group of the Nurcus. Mustafa Aydın also revealed that influential figures in Islamic circles named Mehmet Fırıncı and Mustafa Birinci were connected to the CIA.

When Bekir Berk died, Mehmet Kırkıncı washed his body, and Fethullah Gülen led his funeral prayer. His coffin was carried by all the prominent figures of Islamist circles. The Turkish branch of the Nurcus openly wrote that the Fethullah Gülen structure was connected to the CIA and the USA. For this reason, two prominent managers of the community, Muhammed Doğan and Mustafa Kaplan, were arrested in 2009 during the Ergenekon frame-up trials on fabricated charges.

It was not just the Nurcus; Necip Fazıl followers and other political Islamist groups were also connected to the CIA. Mehmet Şevket Eygi, the owner and chief columnist of the newspaper Bugün, which was published like a Counter-Guerrilla (Gladio) bulletin in the 1960s, is one of those who planned the attack on youth known as "Bloody Sunday" in 1969.

In a shameful column he wrote for Millî Gazete on February 28, 2008, he would attempt to explain why they collaborated with the CIA and the US by citing Islamist gangs. In summary, Eygi said:

"At that time, due to the principle of the lesser of two evils in Islam, we were under American influence against the godless reds. Collaborating with the US against the Russian communists was not wrong back then."

I have never in my life heard such a shameful justification for imperialism collaboration and CIA agency/espionage. Those who are in power in Turkey today come from this same lineage. There was direct US input in the founding of the AKP. I wrote about these with evidence in my book, 'The AKP as a US Project'.

And so; those whose own records are filled with dirty collaboration with imperialism and Western intelligence agencies are now standing up and accusing us—the patriots, leftists, and revolutionaries of this country—of "espionage."

Get out of here!"