Is the AKP Splitting or Is It the End of the Ergenekon Epic?

Something is rotten in the state of Turkey.

Surely, something important is going on behind the scenes, but I don't really believe that the governing AKP is splitting now. The latest developments may only be regarded as hints that the Ergenekon case is about to be downsized by the AKP.

There are still dozens of civilians and soldiers in Turkish prisons, who are all accused of planning to overthrow the government although the prosecution failed to link them all with sound evidence about this Ergenekon conspiracy. I don't have any insider information, but putting the latest news into the big picture is enough to make a prediction about the future of the case:

Prime Minister Erdoğan, President Gül and the MIT Undersecretary Fidan

1) Many independent observers have been repeatedly warning that the Ergenekon and related investigations have been turning into a witch-hunt on the ranks of the opposition. Mass arrests of journalists, including prominent ones, further tarnished the international image of the case, as well as the AKP government.

2) Recently, Paul Auster criticized Turkey’s treatment of journalists and authors, too. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan harshly rebuked Auster, triggering widespread condemnation in the American media, which has been generally covering Erdoğan-related topics in a favorable light for his party in the past, aligning with the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

3) Some of the Ergenekon-related allegations were deemed as ridiculous, but the latest political statements are even more tragic-comic. Bülent Gedikli, a deputy chairman of the AKP government, claimed that Auster was involved in the Ergenekon conspiracy, alongside Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy! The Western European media is now criticizing Erdoğan and the Ergenekon case more and more, as the EU leaders may begin re-evaluating the AKP men.

4) Several figures in the AKP publicly insist that some "foreign elements" are trying to destabilize the Turkish government, which still manages to steer the national ship successfully on a heavy sea of international crises. The real conflict, however, seems like internal, even if some foreign elements also try to take advantage of it. This conflict is crystalized when National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan was summoned as a suspect to testify in the ongoing terror probe on the PKK-related organization that is called the KCK.

5) Hakan Fidan, the right-hand man of Prime Minister Erdoğan, was recently accused in the Uludere incident, as well as the leaked negotiations with the PKK. Who was behind the blunder in Uludere and who did leak the audiotape of the PKK negotiations? No answers, yet. But we know that the harshest critics of Fidan in recent days, who was also criticized by Israel in the past, have been a few pundits, who have close links to the police intelligence, as well as the Gülen movement that is well-organized in the police.

6) Some commentators argue that the Gülen movement couldn't control the MIT because of Erdoğan's protection on Fidan. It is also said that the Gülen movement designed a policy to disintegrate the PKK, but Fidan is siding with the establishment figures who would like to see the conflict sustain, instead of taking risks which may divide the country. Other critics, on the other hand, insist that it is actually the Fidan method that could really finish off the PKK, if the government allies had supported him instead of siding with his critics whose interests are linked with a surviving PKK.

7) Hence, some say, the Gülen movement crossed out Erdoğan and will start to support President Abdullah Gül instead. It may mean that they will stop lobbying for a new constitution which will pave the way for Erdoğan to continue governing the country as the leader of a presidential system. Instead, they defend, the movement would prefer to see Gül as the Prime Minister in the future in a parliamentary system again, with Erdoğan as a retired politician.

To summarize, I personally believe that such an internal conflict in government circles, Erdoğan-Fidan vs. Gülen-Gül, is an exaggeration at this stage, if not solely an example of wishful thinking by the political opposition. A more realistic commentary on the latest developments now can be made only on the Ergenekon case and the international image of the AKP.

Although it would be naive to think that most of the Ergenekon suspects would be released soon, it is remarkable that many people now believe that one of the underlying causes of the internal conflict is Erdoğan's intention to loosen the leash of the opposition, even as those pundits who are close the police and the Gülen movement staunchly oppose it. Other government figures, including Erdoğan's leading aide Beşir Atalay, seem like they support such a legislative move.

That's why I believe that these developments may lead a redefinition of the Ergenekon case, in relation to the results of the changing balance between the factions in the AKP. Will Turkey be more or less democratic? I don't think that any of the players of this political game really cares about the answer, but we'll soon see what is rotten in Ankara and if we would get rid of it for a better democracy or not...

The Siege in 360 Degrees

I had written about the Panorama 1453 Museum in Istanbul two years ago.

While reorganizing my digital photo archive, I decided to stitch all my pictures together by using a Photoshop feature.

As I hadn't taken these photos to build such a panorama, the result is not good technically, but here is the full painting in high resolution (a low resolution version is here) that I couldn't find anywhere else on the web...

Access Denied, We're Raising a Religious Generation

Pic related

"We will raise a religious generation,” Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said at a party gathering.

"You are not a pious man but a religion-monger," main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu slammed Erdoğan for exploiting people’s religious feelings.

The timing of the debate is especially interesting.

After all, Erdoğan had curbed his Islamist rhetoric last year and even called for secularism in the Arab world. More recently, his improved image in the West had taken a blow by a war of words with author Paul Auster, who criticized the Turkish government on freedom of expression.

Erdoğan's goal of "raising a religious generation" and the awful press freedom report of his government are somehow interconnected now.

Check out the latest websites that I've discovered that our bureaucracy (without a court order) recently blocked off access from Turkey.

You already know about my personal website, emrekizilkaya.com, that cannot be reached from Turkey. Now theistanbulian.com is also added to that list.

Another recent addition to the blacklist is the official website of the famous magazine, Rolling Stone. When you try to access it from Turkey, the following message appears: "You don't have permission to access 'http://www.rollingstone.com/' on this server." I don't know what they had done wrong, according to the Turkish administration. They said that they also didn't have any idea.

The number of instances of mysterious censoring gets bigger. Who knows, the latest example may even be related to Erdoğan's goal of "raising a religious generation," as it is a female swimsuit seller: Venus.com. When you try to reach the site from Turkey, you get the same message: "Access denied. You don't have permission to access 'http://www.venus.com/' on this server."

Maybe it's just the time for an online Muslim swimwear start-up in Turkey...

EDIT: The authorities who didn't give any response in the past quickly explained the situation to me after I reached them through a friend in the business. They say that the censor has got nothing to do with me. The access to one of the servers of the American domain registrar that I'm also using is banned in Turkey because of a copyright issue by a third party. It seems that it is not political, but who knows? Maybe the authorities just don't care about this absurd violation of my citizen rights, because they don't like what I'm writing here...

What Does the Latest Crisis in Turkish Football Mean?

The latest developments in Turkish football, including the shocking resignation of Mehmet Ali Aydınlar, President of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), underline the conspicious doubts about the match-fixing investigation in Turkey.

Aydınlar refused to disclose the exact reason for his resignation, but his key complaint is interesting: He said that his aides, who also resigned, didn't inform him of two letters that UEFA wrote to TFF on September and November last year (Edit on February 1st: It is disclosed today that another aide who didn't resign is the actual accused here). He learned about these letters only yesterday, after Kısmet Erkiner, the Turkish judge of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), revealed it on live TV.

The investigation is highly controversial. Among the 23 suspects detained is Fenerbahçe president Aziz Yıldırım, whose team was excluded by TFF from this year's Champions League because of the charges. TFF President Aydınlar has been arguing that the decision of exclusion was dictated by UEFA.

Fenerbahçe, on the other hand, insisted that the club and the president were innocent and TFF shouldn't have taken any irrevocable decision which may cause damage, before these charges that they deemed as a conspiracy, are proven in the court. It seems that the indictment is not strong enough that Fenerbahçe is not relegated and there is no public uproar because of it.

Meanwhile, after the club sued UEFA and TFF on CAS for tens of millions of dollars compensation, UEFA backpedaled to allege that the Champions League exclusion of Fenerbahçe was a decision solely initiated by TFF itself.

What's striking in Aydınlar's resignation is what it disclosed. It seems that some TFF authorities really conspired against Fenerbahçe for some reason. Was is just football fanaticism or is there something political behind the curtain, like neutralizing Yıldırım, a NATO contractor who may have been perceived as a figure who got too strong?

When you imagine such a well-connected, rich businessman in charge of Fenerbahçe, the biggest non-governmental organization in Turkey according to its fans, it is understandable that such a concentration of power disturbs many people in Turkey and beyond. We don't know who they are, yet, but we know that they couldn't relegate Fenerbahçe for now, although TFF relegates itself.

Istanbul as a Veiled Corpse Bride

My home is just 15 minutes driving distance to my workplace, but the same road took almost three hours today, because of the blizzard. It was more of a thrilling ice-skating than a drive.

I'm in high spirits, anyway, thanks to the beautiful scenes from Istanbul under the cover of thick snow. I like the city even more, when it's smooth over the cracks. When the mistakes done to her by our human hands, which is what turned her into a corpse bride with a white veil now, seemed to be corrected by the nature, temporarily...

Take this photo of Sultanahmet district. There is a deep symbolism here:

See how the snow further alienates the palm tree, a tropic/subtropic plant that is not native to Istanbul flora?

Not only this palm tree reveals the kitsch, arabesque aesthetics of our neo-liberal Islamist government, but it also reveals the fact that those municipal authorities could waste public funds to build such ugliness, instead of just keeping the roads clean of ice (or floods).

Anyway, I want to remain positive. After all, it is good that it snows here, as it gives us hope. It shows that Turkey still has several types of climates, despite the people who don't really like any kind of pluralism. They will lose, because nature always wins in the long term.

Turkish Coffee Briefings

Kader Sevinç, the Brussels representative of Turkey's main opposition party CHP, has recently unveiled an exciting project: Turkish Coffee Briefings, a roundtable debate club on international issues in Brussels. Check out the attractive summary:

According to the Turkish tradition, it is customary for the host to serve Turkish coffee to guests as soon as they arrive, as a gesture of hospitality. As parties start sipping their coffee from traditional demitasse cups, they also engage in a short pep talk to “melt the ice” which spurs on the main conversation. Therefore a cup of Turkish coffee is an important part of daily social and business life in Turkey as stated in the following proverb: “A cup of coffee will not be forgotten for 40 years”...

The intent of the Turkish Coffee Briefings is to carry that tradition over to our roundtable discussions in Brussels. Since the Turkish coffee is inherent in the social customs in showing respect to each other, intrinsic in interpersonal relations of people as the icebreaker and it is an expression of hospitality, we want to apply the same principles to our intellectual debates.

At the Turkish Coffee Briefings we will host the participants to discuss a topic by exchanging ideas from different perspectives and creating an intellectual framework of debate in an entertaining and enjoyable manner, while we are savoring our freshly brewed coffee and Turkish delights of different flavors. These roundtable sessions are devoted to promoting debates concerning selected topics in relation to the European social, economic and political agenda. The sessions are introduced by guest speakers, followed by the views of the participants.

Turkish coffee and international relations are two soft spots of me, so I'm impatient to participate in one of these briefings the next time I come around Brussels. I congratulate Kader and thank her for giving such a name and context to her initiative.

Waiting for an Istanbul Blizzard

Snow is falling on Istanbul tonight and more snowfall is on the way, according to State Meteorology Bureau forecasts.

While we're bracing for the blizzard, the cats of Hagia Sophia are warming themselves not in the hands of U.S. President Barack Obama, but this time in some other place inside the former church/former mosque/contemporary museum.

As can be seen from these photos that I've taken, Hagia Sophia cats chose the spotlights in front of the splendid mihrab to get warmer, posing like golden statues from the pharaoh tombs of the Ancient Egypt. This is how an Istanbul blizzard creates a multi-layered symbolism of various cultures and religions:

Take a look at property in Turkey...