Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
It's literally impossible to write about Turkish electoral politics right now without violating our Code of Conduct prohibition on conspiracy theories. I'll try as best I can to explain this without using the word "conspiracy," but basically--this is a situation that cannot arise without one.
Many of you who took the "Which Turkish political party am I most closely aligned with?" quiz yesterday found out that if you were Turkish, you'd be voting MHP.
Well, the leadership of your party is being blackmailed by a group that calls itself "Different Idealism." (Different, and how.) It has been systematically releasing videotapes of MHP leaders in indecorous poses with, as one columnist here chastely put it, "women who do that sort of thing for a living."
The opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was shaken on Saturday by the resignations of six more top party executives after a group which earlier threatened to release sex tapes involving them if they fail to resign released one.
The group, which calls itself Farklı Ülkücülük (Different Idealism), said earlier last week in a letter published on its website that MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli had until 10 a.m. on May 18 to resign. “We are giving you a final warning. We do not want to release tapes that we have in our possession,” the letter said, warning that the videos released so far are only “the tip of the iceberg.”
Hours before the deadline set for Bahçeli to resign, the group posted a new message and announced the names of those featured in the sex videos in its possession. The names included four MHP deputy chairmen as well as the party's secretary-general and a member of the party's Presidency Council. The group threatened to release the sex videos of all in addition to video recordings of Taytak and Bölükbaşı during party meetings. “If those who are mentioned above resign from both their posts in the party and their deputy candidacy, we promise not to post these videos.
However, we are announcing to the public that we will post the videos if they fail to resign,” the group said on its website early on Wednesday.
Now here's the special significance of this, for those of you interested in Turkish constitutional law, and I know that's all of you:
Party strategists on all sides believe nationalist votes, and above all the success or failure of the MHP to get enough support to return to Parliament, will decide whether the AKP wins by a wide enough margin to draw up a new constitution, and have the power to reshape the nation.
So how do you interpret this story? Why, obviously: It's an MHP plot against Fethullah Gülen:
Following the leak of videotapes of senior-level Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) officials, party leader Devlet Bahçeli told his constituents that tape-based politics was being coordinated by someone from "beyond the ocean."
Since "beyond the ocean" is known in Turkish political literature to be a reference to Fethullah Gülen, Gülen responded to the MHP. Bahçeli had targeted the Gülen community before the disclosure of the videotapes as well. After the arrest of some journalists, Bahçeli stated that "the community should suspend its activities" in an appeal to Gülen.
Even though Bahçeli was forced to backpedal upon public reactions it shows that the MHP leader had been targeting the Gülen community even before the videotapes emerged. The war Bahçeli and the MHP have waged against the Gülen community is not directly related to the sex tapes featuring MHP officials. It is more a political campaign that is being carried out as part of a political project. For a while I have been saying the MHP has been encircled by the deep state. Under the direction of the deep state, the MHP has been fighting against the Gülen community particularly since December 2009 as a main strategy of the party. The MHP is not being inconsistent; the strategies of the deep state and the MHP's targets go hand-in-hand.
What, you didn't think of that? Well, you actually aren't really aligned with any Turkish political party, your mind just doesn't work right yet.
So, why weren't phrases like "Deep State" and "Beyond the ocean" and "Ergenekon" on the "Which Turkish political party would you vote for" quiz? I mean, seriously--you'd think from taking that quiz that Turkish politicians were actually campaigning on forestry management and comprehensive health care.
The quiz was designed by a bunch of Dutch academics. They meant well, I'm sure.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
The Prince Over the Water. OK, so hang on a second. MHP pols have taken compromising sex tapes of themselves in order to blame shadowy foreign forces for taking compromising sex tapes of them, hoping by the outrage generated by being targeted to vault themselves into power.
Did I get that right? This is an actual theory? Since politics is showbiz for ugly people, the claim is that these guys filmed especially unappealing amateur pornography of themselves in order to gain sympathy? Everything seemingly is spinning out of control.
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
Kennedy Smith: The Prince Over the Water. OK, so hang on a second. MHP pols have taken compromising sex tapes of themselves in order to blame shadowy foreign forces for taking compromising sex tapes of them, hoping by the outrage generated by being targeted to vault themselves into power.
Did I get that right? This is an actual theory?
No, you're trying too hard to make it logical. Let that Anglo-Saxon stuff go and just emote into it. Here, this link from Larouchepub will help. Someone just seriously sent that to me on Twitter. At least, I think they were dead serious. Or it could be exquisite satire. Really hard for me to say.
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
Has anyone yet released a tape showing a prominent AKP politician in a compromising pose? Or is it an established fact that no member of that party strays?
May '10
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
I especially enjoyed the footnotes. Like someone putting on a white coat to convince you he's a scientist. The Jews and the Brits. Bibi and Disraeli. It all makes sense.
I'm going to start drinking now. It has to be 10am somewhere.
Feb '11
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
No, you're trying too hard to make it logical. Let that Anglo-Saxon stuff go and just emote into it. …
Hmmm. I think this whole Ricochet thread is a smear campaign against Claire Berlinski and the AKP, set up by the liberal media and the "Evet" Non-Party Party. And the walrus is dead.
No. Too forced. I’m no good at Turkish politics.
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
It's a staple of Turkish gossip that they've all got mistresses and multiple wives, etc. etc., but so far no videos.
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
SMatthewStolte
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
No, you're trying too hard to make it logical. Let that Anglo-Saxon stuff go and just emote into it. …
Hmmm. I think this whole Ricochet thread is a smear campaign against Claire Berlinski and the AKP, set up by the liberal media and the "Evet" Non-Party Party. And the walrus is dead.
No. Too forced. I’m no good at Turkish politics. · May 25 at 6:39am
Try using the words "dark propaganda." That might loosen you up.
Mar '11
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
SMatthewStolte
No. Too forced. I’m no good at Turkish politics. · May 25 at 6:39am
I get it! But then I am Greek. Our mentalities are more similar than either side would care to acknowledge.
Nov '10
Re: Turkey Report: More Sex, More Lies, More Videotapes
The article made me go cross-eyed, but I just wanted to say that I have great respect for a language that can produce a word like Ülkücülük.