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AKP: Party's Critics Are Traitors

24.01.2015 12:42

Last week Saturday at a party meeting in Adana, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Mustafa Şentop, who is a constitutional law professor, declared that the destiny and fate of Turkey have now been attached to the fate of the AKP and thus those who criticize and oppose the AKP are opponents.

Last week Saturday at a party meeting in Adana, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Mustafa Şentop, who is a constitutional law professor, declared that the destiny and fate of Turkey have now been attached to the fate of the AKP and thus those who criticize and oppose the AKP are opponents and adversaries of Turkey. He was simply repeating the rhetoric of his leader President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who keeps labeling his critics as traitors.
A week has passed, and despite the fact that the Turkish media covered this news, none of the AKP officials, members or politicians have opposed the Şentop declaration. This is one of the indicators that the AKP is becoming a Kemalo-Islamist (a term which can also be called Erdoğanism) party. This Kemalo-Islamism or Erdoğanism has deep roots in both Kemalism and former President Necmettin Erbakan's Islamism. It is no wonder that after a decade of staying away from Erbakan, the AKP now keeps mentioning his name positively and has his photos alongside the photos of former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and former President Turgut Özal at its public meetings and gatherings.
While delivering his speech, Şentop, the AKP's number two man, stated that his party is conducting their politics for a "New Turkey." This is a term coined by Erdoğan in reference to a Turkey aligned with political Islam and that has moved away from European Union ideals. Şentop claimed that only the AKP voters love Turkey and any others are enemies of Turkey. He skillfully connected the AKP's critics to international dark conspirators, who, like the invading powers after the First World War, were trying to harm Turkey, and said only the AKP can save Turkey. He boasted of the votes that the AKP will gain in the June general elections and related them to the fate of oppressed and wronged peoples, nations and countries all over the world.

All of this rhetoric is a form of revival of Erbakan's Millî Görüş Movement, the Turkish version of Islamism that has been influenced by Seyyid Qutb, Maudidi and Khomenini. This Third World ideology was anti-Western, authoritarian, Jacobinist and anti-pluralist. It claimed to have a monopoly on the truth. Erbakan's parties always emphasized the importance of freedom of religion and conscience, but never bothered about other rights and freedoms or violations of human rights, which other parts of society suffered. The Millî Görüş politicians in the 1970s and 1980s had always had the conviction that they were the ones who conveyed the truth. This truth, they implied, was God's message. Erbakan repeatedly claimed that his party was above other political parties and their politics because only his party represents the truth. Other parties were “false” (batil), so by definition they could not be equal with Erbakan's party. He communicated to the voters that the only Islamic party was his party, and voting for his party meant voting for Islam and obeying God. Erbakan, in a speech addressed to members at a party meeting in Sivas on Jan. 13, 1991 stated: “If you do not serve the Welfare Party your prayers will not be accepted [by God] because there is no other way to be a Muslim. The Welfare Party is an army and you have to fight to make this army larger and stronger. This party is an army of jihad. Are you a Muslim? Then you should be a soldier in this army... Those who work for the party go to heaven because to work for the party means to fight for the establishment of the Quranic order.” Erbakan was perceived as a religious figure, a leader, and the party members were his disciples. Identification of the party members as believers meant that they were not allowed to criticize the party. They were expected to express unconditional obedience to their leader, Erbakan.
It is obvious that what Erbakan was doing to his party's members and voters is now being applied to the whole Turkish nation by the Erdoğanists, who easily equal criticism directed against their mundane policies as criticism against Turkey, and declare this criticism equal to treason.
You should not be surprised if in near future they start claiming that the AKP's critics are opposing the will and rules of God and the critics are indeed infidels (kuffar).

İHSAN YILMAZ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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