Do you know what 'inciting the public to hatred and hostility' really is?!

Drug use has trickled down to primary schools... The country has turned into a mafia paradise... Want and poverty have begun to collapse families... Femicides and child abuse have become commonplace... A system where “might makes right” has been adopted... Due to a lack of governance and oversight, the country wakes up to a new tragedy every day...

Yet, in this picture, the crime of “insulting the President, inciting the public to hatred and hostility” is at the top of the list.

And the sole concern of those governing the country is the call that will come from the terrorist leader in İmralı.

The latest victim of those accusations was Zafer Party Chairman Prof. Ümit Özdağ. While Özdağ was being sent to Silivri Prison, Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder were on the road to İmralı to bring a message from “Mr. Öcalan.”

The result is frustration once again!.. “Mr. Öcalan’s work regarding the process is reportedly continuing. Once his preparations on this matter are completed, the necessary statements will be made to the public.”

Let us return to Ümit Özdağ.

In addition to some of his social media posts from 2022 and 2023, he allegedly “incited the public to hatred and hostility” during the events that took place in Kayseri 7 months ago.

The pro-government media reported these accusations with headlines such as, “Özdağ has a checkered record... Özdağ’s signature on racist provocations.”

Those who could not contain themselves also commanded: “Opening an investigation against Ümit Özdağ for ‘inciting the public to hatred and hostility’ is a delayed but appropriate decision. Ümit Özdağ alone is not enough; a comprehensive file should also be prepared against the Zafer Party for ‘inciting the public to hatred and hostility’.”

Months and years have passed; the authorities have only just noticed Özdağ’s “crimes”!..

In this case, has it not been admitted that a crime such as “neglect of duty” was committed in the first place?

Those who know, know, and those who see, see that this is not the real issue. Özdağ has drawn attention again recently because he was one of those who opposed the new İmralı initiative with the harshest expressions.

SHOULD WE SAY “MR. TERRORIST”?

You know how people wonder why the “democracy-loving” DEM members have not said anything about the arrest of Ümit Özdağ; whether there is a connection or not is unknown, but let us draw attention to some statements made before the operation against Özdağ, in the vein of “I am speaking to you, my daughter, so that my daughter-in-law may understand.”

First, Murat Karayılan, one of the terrorist leaders in Qandil, criticized the language used by the Turkish media and said, “Definitions such as ‘terrorist leader’ used for Leader Apo show a disrespect toward our people.”

Two days after Karayılan, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, from the İmralı delegation who visited former HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ in Kandıra Prison, touched upon the subject of language and made the following “request”:

“There are very speculative discussions. Believe me, this is a language that causes as much harm as a weapon. The country will be divided, double flags, double languages, etc... There is no such thing... Our only request is that this toxic language be set aside... We will not change our language. This is the maximum point we can reach even against those who use such aggressive language... One should not give leeway to the butchers of doves, to those who look at death with four eyes.”

In the speech he gave after the first round of meetings was completed, Önder emphasized the following:

“In this period when we are focusing on peace, democracy, and brotherhood for Turkey and the region, the divisive and prejudiced tone we encounter from time to time in the written and visual press, and the area of speculation this creates, makes our work difficult... Producing and circulating fabricated claims that cannot even be called hearsay, and trying to create agendas that push even moral boundaries, can only lead to warmongering in its result.”

It seems we are expected to call the terrorist leader “Mr. Terrorist” or “Mr. Abdullah Öcalan”!..

THE DEFINITION OF AN “ILLEGITIMATE STATE”

While polls conducted just recently revealed that trust in the judiciary is once again at rock bottom, Erdoğan, who announced the umpteenth “Judicial Reform Strategy” yesterday, explained that “a transition has been made from a tutelary structure where the law of the superior prevails to a fair judicial system that takes the rule of law as a reference,” and warned, “No one can threaten members of the judiciary who pursue illegalities with the authority given by the law, no one can exert pressure on the courts, and no one can wag their finger at our judicial community.”

As is known, an investigation was recently opened against Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for “threatening Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek and his family, and targeting individuals involved in the fight against terrorism.” When it was stated that İmamoğlu learned of this development at the “Panel on Modern Law and the Politicization of the Judiciary,” I remembered the “Democracy Symposium” held 27 years ago, on December 13, 1997.

The closing speech of the symposium was delivered by the then-Mayor of Istanbul, Erdoğan.

In the book titled “R. Tayyip Erdoğan: The Birth of a Leader,” before Erdoğan’s speech there is described, the atmosphere in the country is described as follows:

“If a country’s courtrooms have been turned into barracks and judges and prosecutors have come under ‘tutelage,’ the society’s sense of justice is irreparably wounded and cannot easily recover. This is the trauma Turkey experienced during and after February 28. The society is in a state of complete subjugation and hopelessness.”

As for Erdoğan’s speech; he states the following in main headings:

- “The state should not have an ‘imperative’ quality that does not take the rule of law into account, nor an ideology that ‘melts’ everyone into a single pot. However, in our country’s political experience, the situation is the exact opposite.”

- “The state possesses an ideology and only strengthens those who are on the side of its own ideology. It tries to render those who are not supporters of its ideology ineffective by excluding them. As a result, there is ‘political instability,’ ‘alienation’ between the state and society, and a deep ‘disconnection’ between segments of society.”

- “For us, ‘difference’ is not a weakness or a discomfort that needs to be eliminated. Only totalitarian regimes that do not respect humans and the nation try to destroy differences.”

- “No matter what percentage of votes a party that comes to power receives, it cannot touch fundamental rights and freedoms. Because fundamental rights and freedoms are not subject to any voting; they are under the guarantee of the law.”

- “Using democratic ideals and mechanisms to achieve non-democratic goals is both morally wrong and impossible for a political stance that claims to be authentic. We are pursuing a politics that is based on a moral foundation and is authentic.”

- “Where there is no democracy, there can be no republic; where there is no rule of law, there can be no laws; where there are no human rights, there can be no public interest. This situation is not an expression of a legitimate state that serves the nation, but at most an expression of an illegitimate state that oppresses the nation.”

THE SAME ACCUSATION

As you know, Erdoğan also faced the accusation of “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” when he was Mayor. Unlike today, he was neither detained nor arrested during that process.

However, after his 10-month prison sentence was upheld, he entered prison on a date he determined himself and served 4 months.

Let us also remember the reaction Erdoğan showed after his sentence was upheld. He said;

“Justice will one day be needed by those who politicize the judiciary... You cannot explain this decision and other wrong decisions within the scope of freedom of thought to your own children... What are they accusing me of? They are accusing me of inciting the public to hatred and hostility? Well, where is this public that is being incited to hatred and hostility? Why doesn’t a single soul come out and ask?.. The cause of the problems in our country is not a poem being read, it is not demands for freedom, it is not people who think and speak. The cause of this is oppressive and totalitarian mindsets. The cause of this is mafia-like structures that have gone blind with the desire to plunder the country’s material and spiritual values and no longer recognize any legal or human boundaries. This path is not the right path. They want to drag our country to a level even behind banana republics... As long as this soul is in this body, I will not remain silent in the face of injustice and I will continue to defend the rights of the nation within the framework of universal legal rules. I will seek justice for all of us, for all of Turkey. That is why I am seeking freedom of thought. I am seeking the freedom to tell the truth. I am seeking a management approach of honorable people, not of gang-like mentalities.”

As can be seen, the only thing that has changed is the roles!..

In short; first of all, do you know what “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” really is?

Setting aside the fact that the murderer of 40,000 people is being treated as an interlocutor; it is the fact that while our people have died burning, those responsible engage in political infighting, and not a single soul says, “My buttermilk is sour,” or at least cannot leave their seat for the sake of the integrity of the investigation!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

January 24, 2025