Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
CNNTürk has done some extraordinary reporting on Turkish Hezbollah. (It's not linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah; they're Sunni Kurds.) If you have a half hour, the program is subtitled in English. It's particularly worth watching for Göksel Göksu, the reporter. There's a universe of small things I could note about this show, but I think it mostly speaks for itself.
The background to this is fascinating and probably not well known outside of Turkey. The country was utterly scandalized last January when the Supreme Court of Appeals released a dozen Hezbollah murderers right into the population at large. This article sort-of explains it--but no one can really explain it. As you can see, everyone sees a conspiracy in this, and it's certainly impossible to say there's no conspiracy here to see, because the whole thing reeks:
The release of Turkish Hezbollah members from prison led to further fierce discussions in Turkish society for another reason; they disappeared. While they were supposed to visit the police station on a daily basis to prove that they had not absconded, they never did so. The court then announced its decision to re-arrest them, but the security forces have thus far been unable to locate most of them.
This situation sparked a heated exchange between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu not only accused the AKP of not taking the necessary measures to prevent the escape of the Turkish Hezbollah members, but even suggested they had cooperated with them, seeking to use them as leverage to attract the Kurdish vote in the coming general elections, slated for May of this year.
Of course I can't say what's really going on, but I notice that every Turk experiences, daily, the reality of chaos and overwork in Turkey. Every Turk sees stupid accidents happening practically every minute of the day. But no one gives the idea that this was a screw-up, plain and simple, much credit. That, by the way, is the official explanation (with a glossier spin), and it may well be correct:
The alleged members of the terrorist organization went missing after being released from jail under a new law regulating arrest periods. The 12 alleged members of the illegal organization, apparently including top leaders, were freed Jan. 4 after the new regulation entered into force. They registered addresses in Diyarbakır and Batman, but have failed present themselves to the two provinces’ police departments for their daily signing. The law requires them to check in at a police station every day, but the suspects who reported addresses in Diyarbakır never presented themselves to the police station, whereas those in Batman have failed to do so for the past four days.
In my experience this would be perfectly in keeping with Turkish legal and bureaucratic culture: The law is a confused mess, it's changing rapidly, and it is not hard to imagine that the appeals court decided, "We're overworked. We have a new law. It's Monday, let's follow it."
So it could very well be incompetence, not conspiracy. And people should be furious about the former--vicious murderers are on the loose because of it--but if they're concentrating on the latter, the problem won't be solved.
Also interesting are the associated theories about the rise of Turkish Hezbollah--chiefly that the intelligence services (the same ultra-secularist Deep State conspirators that we're now, supposedly, seeing brought to justice) created them in the late 80s and 90s to combat the Marxist PKK.
Well, I can't rule that out, either--but I ask what I think is a logical question: If the Deep State was capable of creating the Turkish Hezbollah, why didn't it just un-create the PKK instead and save itself a lot of headache? If you assume that a conspiracy has the power to create, control and operate a social movement, wouldn't you also assume it would have the brains to take the shortest path between two lines?
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Jan '11
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Claire, my dear, you're not thinking like a government bureaucracy: the obvious solution is to create a Turkish Hamas to deal with the Turkish Hezbollah problem.
Nov '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Is Turkey a lost cause? If not, then isn’t a military coup its only hope of returning to the secular state Ataturk created?
"One day my mortal body will turn to dust, but the Turkish Republic will stand forever."
— Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Sounds kind of empty now doesn’t it.
Edited on Apr 10, 2011 at 7:41amRe: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Did anything I wrote--has anything I have ever written--suggest that I think Turkey a lost cause or that a military coup would be the solution to anything? Turkey needs the exact opposite of a military coup: It needs more democracy and the strengthening of the institutions that underpin it, particularly its constitution and judiciary.
Dec '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
I was following along until I reached the part about the country of Turkey having a province named Batman.
Edited on Apr 10, 2011 at 8:07amRe: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
It needs to lift unlimited political immunities for parliament members, establish an IRS-like tax authority to keep the economy on record, create improved systems for the inspection of government bureaucracies, and improve the laws governing political parties. It needs more transparency, more accountability, more civil society, and it needs economic growth of a kind that creates a large, property-owning middle class. It needs a military coup about like Japan needed that earthquake.
Edited on Apr 10, 2011 at 8:09amNov '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
I didn’t say you did.
More democracy? I don’t see where that comes from. It’s on a different road.
Nov '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: It needs a military coup about like Japan needed that earthquake. · Apr 10 at 8:06am
Edited on Apr 10 at 08:09 am
Military coup has kept it a Republic. I don’t think anything else will. It’s going to become an Islamic theocracy otherwise.
Dec '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Claire-
The fascinating and incredible complexity you describe, the corruption, the incompetence, the dangers, and fierce rivalries of Turkish society and politics leads me to ask why you love it so? Have I answered my own question?
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
TeeJaw Military coup has kept it a Republic. I don’t think anything else will. It’s going to become an Islamic theocracy otherwise. · Apr 10 at 9:30am
Would you be interested in my making a very detailed case against all of these statements? I'm not sure whether the interest in Turkish history and politics is deep enough on Ricochet to warrant it, but if I hear (even a bit) of demand for it, I'm always game to talk Turkish politics for hours.
Let me give you something quick to think about, though. Have a look at this article--dated March 2, 1995. If you knew little about Turkish politics, wouldn't you think Çiller was standing between Turkey and theocracy?
December: Çiller's party falters in the elections. She forms a coalition with ANAP. June: Çiller cooperates with Erbakan and the Refah to form a coalition to overthrow ANAP. She herself, in other words, brought them to power.
This should tell you something. Turkey is not divided into "Republicans" and "theocrats." It's divided among people who will use "republicanism" and "Islam" exactly when and how it suits them to get "power" and "money."
Mar '11
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Western media have traditionally reverted to the senior officers of the Turkish armed forces as the guarantors of the Republic founded by Ataturk. My sense is that until the late 1970s there was no serious (meaning capable of gathering votes in the double digits) political entity representing "Islam", yet the generals staged a number of coup d' etats and even when not directly in power themselves controlled the political life behind the scenes much of the time. Clearly they were the "protecting" the Republic against forces other than those of theocracy.
By all means, a more detailed analysis would be most welcome.
Mar '11
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
That should have been "referred" not "reverted".
May '10
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
What do you mean by democracy? After all, "everyone" ostensibly prefers democracy, but they all can't imply the same thing.
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Would you be interested in my making a very detailed case against all of these statements?
I would, particularly the first. I wouldn't go so far as to say that a coup or the threat of a coup is necessary to maintain the republic as such but it does seem that the military is the primary obstacle to Islamism.
Mar '11
Re: Conspiracies, Blowback, and Hezbollah in Turkey
Without presuming to have an educated opinion on any of the issues, I'll just say that I would certainly be interested in some background on post 1920 Turkish history.