Davutoğlu, The Next 'Parallel' Victim?

After the end of the Cold War I concluded that despite the serious problems it faced, Turkey was on a course to consolidate a liberal and pluralist democracy. My cautious optimism peaked during the first two terms in power of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The rapid progression towards a one-man, one-party rule since the last general election in 2011, however, gives me the impression of living in a surreal, nightmarish Turkey. I have now turned into a cautious pessimist.
That pessimism has grown during the last few weeks. There are many reasons this has occurred, but it would suffice to mention just a few. One is the fact that eight years after the killing of Hrant Dink, those who are responsible for the plot against him have still not been identified. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time of the killing, had declared that this case would not be lost in the dark passages of Ankara. He had given Rakel Dink, the widow, his word of honor that the real culprits would be found. He changed this rhetoric later, however, and began to say Hrant Dink was killed by youngsters who could not tolerate his writing, and that there was nothing more behind it. And recently, the pro-Erdoğan media has even started to blame Dink's killing on the “parallel state,” meaning the Gülen movement.
Last week, a man who is a deputy chairman of the AKP, and even worse, a jurist, unabashedly declared, “Those who oppose the AKP are enemies of Turkey!” The mentality that prevails among the leaders of this country currently, that of denouncing even the right to opposition, which is the very basis of democracy, could not be better expressed.
The gravest corruption allegations in the history of the Turkish Republic were covered up last week by Parliament. It has become clear that pressures coming from President Erdoğan, dubbed “the strong will” by his cronies, interfered first with the parliamentary commission that was to investigate the allegations and later the general assembly of Parliament, in order to achieve the goal of them voting against sending the four former ministers implicated in the corruption to court.
When it was found out that the AKP members in the commission were inclined to vote in favor of a trial for the former ministers, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told the four ministers to agree to go to court on their own. However, they rejected Davutoğlu's suggestion and contacted Erdoğan, who, as reported by the media, instructed the AKP members of the commission to vote no to a trial, giving the signal to the entire AKP parliamentary group about his preference.
Erdoğan was dissatisfied not only with Davutoğlu's suggestion to the four ministers but also with the “transparency in public service” regulations the prime minister recently announced. These regulations provide that even provincial political party chiefs will be required to declare their wealth upon assuming office. Erdoğan, as reported by the media, told the members of the AKP parliamentary caucus that such a provision was ill advised. He said: “One has to be very careful with the wealth declarations issue. If it is allowed to continue this way you will not be able to find people to lead the party at province and even district level.” These words were clearly a very distressing admission at the highest rank of the fact that most politicians in Turkey seek office mainly to fill their pockets.
Erdoğan sharply reprimanded last week the governor of the Central Bank of Turkey for not lowering interest rates despite his repeated calls on him to do so, and retorted: “Now some may say that the central bank is independent, but I too am independent…” Some wondered what he meant. What he meant was quite clear, however. He was saying that he is not accountable to anyone but all are accountable to him, and that no state institution has independence before him. This, I believe, was the clearest expression of the Putinism Erdoğan aspires to.
But what is perhaps most remarkable among recent developments is that “the strong will” is not only using the “parallel state” nonsense to cover up the corruption allegations and to render the entire public administration subservient to him but also to cleanse the AKP ranks of those who are not fully obedient. It should not then come as a surprise if Davutoğlu is the next person to be declared part of the “parallel state.”

ŞAHİN ALPAY (Cihan/Today's Zaman)