Al Capone treatment for the 'reasonable opposition': The Islamist government's game

We have previously discussed a political system that has left its mark on the last quarter-century of our country, one that has killed the republic but somehow cannot bury it: the regime of Abdul Hamid III and its system of testing.

We noted that this testing system lies at the heart of the Palace's quarter-century of success...

Very well. Let us continue with this.

Let us put it more clearly: The fact that the AKP and the President have successfully emerged from their power games to date, and have managed to shatter—or, let us be more blunt, "make monkeys out of"—the opposition they face, must be linked to their accurate and timely evaluation of these tests. That is to say, their accurate assessment of the nature of the reactions—or rather, the lack thereof—shown to their pressures...

What do we mean by this?

This: As long as the republican masses—who, despite a quarter-century of Islamist rule, still constitute the overwhelming majority of our population—do not make their anger and reactions visible in public life by exercising their constitutional rights, in other words, as long as they remain confined to their homes, it is understood that the regime of Abdul Hamid III will continue.

The Islamists quickly realized that grumbling and "roaring" on certain screens—within a closed circuit—would yield no results. They are maintaining their power.

The problem has become very serious for our side, for the progressives. It is painful. The point reached by the Turkish Enlightenment after nearly 200 years of struggle for progress is truly painful. The situation of the masses who consider themselves opposition, even if within the system, is also the same... It is very painful. They have not been able to become a threat. That is, they have not been able to become an alternative to the government.

WHEN DID THE TESTS BEGIN?

The AKP mentality seems to have begun its testing system, that is, its pressure on opposition institutions, with the military. It marketed its opposition to the September 12 coup. And it convinced the nation. It received a great deal of help from the liberal left in this regard. The Ergenekon and Balyoz trials were such a test. We have not forgotten that in that period, where the rule of law was nowhere to be seen, there were some so-called leftists waiting with salt in their hands, "radical opponents" who said, "Go all the way!"

They were very "leftist." In their eyes, Turkey and the collapsed real socialisms were "anomalies" from birth. They should not have been born. It would have been correct to declare them stillborn. That is to say...

That is to say, they were so blinded that they could not understand that the republic was being liquidated, and in the name of being leftist, they could demand that an Islamist government expose the crimes against humanity committed by coup plotters. They even published books and such. Later, we witnessed them all saying together, "We were deceived!" It was not just the children of this liberal-duped mass who were deceived. Let us note in passing that there were also those among the socialists who were deceived, that they were able to divide even the most resilient party, and that they still cannot admit to this.

When the Islamist government's pressures and tests did not produce a tangible reaction even in one of the country's most trusted ("bastion of secularism") institutions, we were not surprised that the President and his men fully asserted their weight on the stage, declaring, "I am the king of this realm!"

They quickly grasped that if anger and objection are not effective—that is, if objection and anger as an idea do not meet the public and turn into a material force—this business will continue as it is.

At the point reached today, they are applying the measure the American system took against Al Capone in the 1930s to the reasonable opposition in Turkey. As is known, Al Capone was tried for tax evasion, money laundering, economic crimes, etc., and was only able to be neutralized through those means.

The painful truth is this: We have the right to say that the government in Ankara is treating the reasonable opposition entirely like Al Capone today. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are signs that much of what is circulating is not entirely baseless. We must say that the violence applied—the judicial violence presented as if it were law—is intended to present a picture to Turkish society.

And what is this picture?

It is this: "Yes, everyone commits corruption, but we will show you the corruption of the opposition so that you do not dare to mess with our government!"

In the eyes of the public, the reasonable opposition is emerging as a kind of Al Capone gang after 100 years.

It appears that the reasonable opposition lacks the power to reverse this image.

The tests seem to have been successfully concluded.

But in the meantime, a great republic with a population of nearly 90 million is being razed to the ground.

We need to build another path.

We need an opposition that can prove to us that the government in Ankara has accumulated terrifying wealth through terrifying corruption, and that can convince society that it must defend its own fundamental rights in the public sphere as well. (It is surely clear that those fortunes were not accumulated solely out of a desire for personal wealth. Perhaps we will discuss what kind of resource this is another time.) Is it possible to produce a regime very different from the current one through a ballot box that is open to all kinds of manipulation?

Does an alternative government not need to first show itself in the public sphere, on the street, in schools, and in workplaces in a way that follows a path completely opposite to the current government?

Popular and socialist: An alternative that will explain that Turkey, the republic, and socialism are not an anomaly, but the only remedy: An idea looking for its material to become a power.

We see how much the reasonable opposition has been able to object to being treated like Al Capone.

This means we need to look elsewhere, especially to the working millions and our enlightenment heritage.

Otherwise, these tests and this government will continue. And Turkey's address will suddenly change.