Military Doublespeak

Doublespeak is the universal language of our time.

General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that President Barack Obama’s timetable for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan was “aggressive.”

What a nice wording to showcase military Doublespeak.

A Timely Summary of Turkish Islamism

Last week, I was in Rhodiapolis, an almost 3000-year-old Lycian city near Antalya, Turkey. Its ancient theater (above), which was restored following a long work, was the stage to a classical music concert after a millennium-long silence. In today's Hürriyet, I've reported about this historical activity and the latest work in Rhodiapolis.

Here, I would like to tell something about the conversation that I had with the mayor of Kumluca, the closest municipal administration to Rhodiapolis. Husamettin Cetinkaya, who gave enormous support to the restoration, told me something (it was on the record, but we couldn't publish his remarks as the physical space on our Culture page was limited). Cetinkaya, a member of the governing AKP, told me the following words:

"When I was a child, we were referring to the ruins of Rhodiapolis as 'gavuristanlik' (the land of the Giaour). The ancient city was forgotten for a long time. In the year 2000, a forest fire revealed it to us again. As the mayor, firstly I saw it as a possible source of tourism revenue, so I passionately started to lobby for a restoration project. Then, I become a part of the excavation, so I realized that history was more important than money. Now, above bare rationalism, I'm attached to Rhodiapolis with my heart, too."

So the mayor from an Islamist party mobilizes his local administration to rebuild pagan temples, just for sake of additional tourism revenues at first, and then, by really falling in love with Anatolian history...

It's an interesting summary of Turkish Islamism, which is a form of neo-liberalism with a neo-Islamist outlook.

Meanwhile, I've read one of the best analyses of aforementioned phenomenon. I've discovered the author very late, but it's better late than never. Even though I have several objections to his piece, I still strongly recommend you to read two articles by Cihan Tuğal, right after reading a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, which was about the increasing numbers of rural-urban migrants and the democratic leaders that they are creating. After all, these "urban outsiders" are the core of AKP's voter base.

First article by Tuğal describes the neo-liberal overtones of Islamism in Turkey by revealing its Americanized nature and by demonstrating that it started to pacify the masses as soon as it is the new hegemonic power. The article is four years old, but it is still relevant today as can be seen from the fact that its prophetic conclusion is being confirmed by the Arab Spring today.

The second article by Tuğal is more directly related to the aforesaid Los Angeles Times piece. It tells about "the greening of Istanbul." The last phrases of the article are interesting: "Millions of Istanbul’s squatters have put their faith in the AKP’s Islamically embellished paradise of speculation. It remains to be seen whether this formula will weather harsher economic times."

In my opinion, with this conclusion, the second article of Tuğal corrects a mistake in the first article. After all, AKP doesn't really represent the export-oriented Turkish companies, even though it appears so. It represents the debt-driven, speculative nature of neo-liberalism. And the real test about its political strength will be when Turkey faces the next economic crisis as soon as the flow of foreign investment stops, independently of another global economic crisis or a domestic political one.

Al Jazeera is the Arabic CNN

"Don't be afraid to tell the truth," Mustafa Kemal Atatürk says.

These are the words that I believe in.

So I don't mind if I break more hearts in the international media, whether of the West or the East.

My conscience doesn't know about networking.

And this time it is Al Jazeera.

I don't know if you follow their Libya coverage recently.

If you did so, you've probably noticed that Al Jazeera is the Arabic CNN.

And that is a derogatory remark.

All the warmongering, all the blessings of weapon technologies, all the misleading stories, all the disinformation just remind me of CNN and the Iraq wars. It's all about legitimizing illegal military interventions. It's all about imperialism in a new form.

Considering the recent reports that Qatar, the sponsor of Al Jazeera, is arming the Libyan rebels, their biased coverage of Libya leader Gaddafi and the events surrounding him is now understandable.

As a journalist who try to remain free and independent against all odds, I am yelling desperately:

"Down with Gaddafi... and Al Jazeera!"

Contradicting Court Rulings on Two Political Cases

Tuncel had slapped a Turkish police commander, when police tried to disperse Kurdish protesters with water cannons. The commander told her that the water was a response for the stones that were being thrown at the police by the naughty crowd.

Sabahat Tuncel, a Kurdish politician, went on trial for membership of PKK in 2006, accused of making frequent trips to PKK camps in northern Iraq, and was subsequently imprisoned.

She ran for the parliamentary elections from prison and after winning a seat in Istanbul with 93,000 votes, was released from custody in July 2007 as a consequence of granted immunity.

We don't know whether she was really a terrorist or not, but she is comfortable enough to threaten Turkey with the terrorism stick, by writing recently for the New York Times that "Turkey could enter a more intense period of conflict than ever before," if the secession-minded Kurdish demands are not met. And as can be seen above, she cannot be prosecuted anymore, even after slapping police commanders on duty.

Meanwhile, Turkish journalist Mustafa Balbay (above) was arrested in 2008. Prosecutors claim that he is a member of the Ergenekon, an alleged clandestine organization in the establishment which plotted for and encouraged military coups.

As a CHP candidate, Balbay won a parliamentary seat in June 2011 general elections. Even though the risk of an escape or spoliation is low IMHO, the court has recently refused to release him. The court didn't also care much about the double standards, considering the previous case of Tuncel. Neither they valued the Constitution nor the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.

So Balbay is still a jailed journalist and now he'll also become a jailed member of parliament.

Advanced democracy anyone?

Referees in Turkey Sucked Even 1800 Years Ago

An enigmatic message on a Roman gladiator's 1,800-year-old tombstone, which was discovered a century ago near Samsun, Turkey, may be an important contribution to the literature about fair play and referees.

You can read this very interesting story on LiveScience.

A Climate of Reconciliation?

Politically, we observed some positive developments in Turkey last week.

Firstly, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has just won the latest elections, recused self in all libel cases against the journalists.

Then, a pro-government anchorman who openly threatened an opposing figure was instantly fired by his television.

Finally, Fethullah Gulen, the leader of the Gulen movement which has got substantial influence on the government, declared that there was no rift between pious and secular Turks.

These are all positive developments in politics as Turkey is about to create a new constitution. You need a dialogue atmosphere for such a job.

However, there are still some negative aspects on social level. For instance, just a couple of days ago, a street incident was reported in the Asian city center of Istanbul.

A burqa-clad mother and daughter argued with a "modern-looking" counterpart. The "modern-looking" mother said that the other family "should live in Syria with such dresses." (These words are not only offensive, but also ignorant, as the Syrian women dress as "modern" as Turks -or maybe even more "modern.")

Even worse, the burqa-clad mother reportedly replied: "We got 50 percent of the votes. Get out of this country. Go live in America." (Again, I'm not sure if America is a good instance in "fashion" here.)

All in all, it seems that there are still marks of polarization in society, even though there are also signs of reconciliation on the political level. The future of the prospective constitution will be decided by the interaction between politics and society.

It is not about headscarves, it is about power.

Now NYT Plays the Cynical Language Game

Here is another instance of language-politics by the New York Times, a part of the US-UK media which I had criticized in the past for labelling terrorists as freedom fighters:

"The forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad occupied a neighboring village, Dreibat, on Thursday."

The forces loyal to Assad occupy a village? Isn't it the army of a state with a government still recognized as legitimate by the US administration? Isn't this village inside the national boundaries of the same state with the borders that are also recognized in the same way?

Let's just forget the fact that Assad is a bloody dictator (or at least a puppet who could only watch while the Syrian establishment keeps massacring his own people)...

And let's get back to the hypocrisy and double standards of the international mass media...

Could the New York Times use the same wording just a few months ago when the US administration was flirting with the Syrian government?

Don't think so.

But I can imagine the probability that a Syrian newspaper close to Assad call the deployment of American troops -if, God forbid, needed against gunmen in the US one day- an "occupation by forces loyal to Obama."

The official newspaper of an autocratic regime, like Pravda, can speak in this tone.

The New York Times shouldn't.

Bombs and Cakes

We know that mass media generally act as the propaganda arm of the government, manufacturing consent (and discontent, when needed).

In the face of the US Congress action on Libya (and the changing stance of the Obama Administration), watching the lingual tweaks of the Associated Press, which I criticized in the past, is still a surprise although the intention is so obvious. Check out the latest Huffington Post article.

What should I say? Colleagues, stop doing this: Refuse to be the tool of somebody. Reject to become a part of a political agenda. Especially when it is militarism and spreading democracy, answer the question of the girl below:

We know that mass media generally act as the propaganda arm of the government, manufacturing consent (and discontent, when needed).

In the face of the US Congress action on Libya, watching the lingual tweaks of the Associated Press, which I criticized in the past, is still a surprise when it is so obvious, though. Check out the latest Huffington Post article.

What should I say? Colleagues, stop doing this: Refuse to be the tool of somebody. Reject to become a part of a political agenda. Especially when it is militarism and spreading democracy, answer the question of the girl below:

Evaluating CHP's Performance

I think that the performance of the new CHP administration was not perfect in the latest elections.

I personally like Kemal Kilicdaroglu, CHP's new leader, but I can also see that he made more mistakes than Tayyip Erdogan did in the election campaign.

Kilicdaroglu has got a harder work to do in this regard, though. A word which is not regarded as a mistake when uttered by Erdogan can be the end of Kilicdaroglu's political career. Because Erdogan's public image can tolerate "gaffes" like "I'm not sure if (that political activist who protested me) was a girl (virgin) or woman (non-virgin)." Kilicdaroglu can never speak such a language. This is why it was such a big, unexpected mistake when he said that he agreed with a placard that read "You need to be a retard to vote AKP."

Maybe it was this reality that impeded a CHP victory. It should be time for self-criticism for them now.

Is The Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Considering the fact that the AKP government had polarized the country so much that there were only AKP-voters and non-AKP-voters in the latest general elections, I see the results quite optimistically, as my vote was on the side of the thin majority in this context, which was 50.1 percent of the valid votes. At least, in the new parliament, the AKP government will be four seats short of the 330 needed to call a constitutional referendum.

I'm not in a mood of defeat or despair, but there are several aspects of this result that may drive many other people to be pessimistic. Abdullatif Sener, a former AKP minister who challenged his party's leadership but couldn't win an independent seat in this election, has summarized the point very well:

"In the pre-Islamic period, the Arabs were worshiping the idols that they made out of cheese and halva. They were eating those idols when they were hungry. When Prophet Mohammad revealed them the Truth, there were only a handful of people who stopped being pagans even after 13 years. So, the power and the quality of a thought doesn't necessarily make the people to follow it instantly. Even the most absurd, the wrongest thoughts can attract masses. All those powerful politicians who attracted great excitement dragged along their people to disaster. There were no politicians in the 20th century who came to power with a greater popular excitement than Hitler. Saddam was also once a legend for the Iraqi people, but he also inflicted them great pains. However, even when all the perceptions are disrupted and when everybody is eager to unite under the absolute power, the individuals who see the truth should cry out that the king is naked, even if they are alone. I just tried to do it when almost everybody was silent. I just cried out that the conditions around us were being shaped in a wrong way because of the perceptions and the fiction that the global powerhouses had created. All in all, I see it as a victory, not a defeat; because sometimes the greatest victory seems like a defeat."

Time to Vote

It is the Election Day in Turkey.

In its latest article, Reuters defines AKP as "a liberal off-shoot of a banned Islamist movement."

What a definitive phrase for an international news organization.

Tomorrow, I'll write about my own vote.

Global Elephants and the Syrian Grass

The latest events in Syria is tragic, but confusing.

Recently, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has surprised many people by turning his back on his dear friend, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a dramatic way.

Even though I have been lashing out at the Arab dictators in the past, now I observe a dangerous interventionism from democratic countries, which can be as bloody as dictatorates.

It seems that the hard power of the West is being used alongside the soft power of Turkey to create a new Middle East. The formula is simple:

1) Provoke rebellions with your secret agents and/or open efforts,

2) Let dictators slaughter their own people...

....so that you can pressure them to resign

....or -better- find a justification for a military invasion

.....which would be beneficial in any condition (e.g refreshing your expiring weapon stockpiles, seizing more profitable contracts with the rebel government, etc.)

It may be happening in Syria, too.

As this country is moving towards a civil war, Damascus alleges that the Israeli secret services and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood are hand by hand in arming the uprising. Meanwhile, Aydinlik -a Turkish newspaper that I dislike, but still read because of its sources inside the intelligence community- has been reporting in the past days that the Turkish intelligence was letting the Syrian refugees to return to Syria in May, after quickly training them.

I don't know the truth, but I know that the opposition in Syria is also accusing the Assad administration to use the Iranian militia to kill the protesters.

All in all, I just hate what's happening, whatever it really is; because -once again- the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

And many species are becoming extinct in the Arab Spring in a world boiling with human-caused global warming...

Another AKP Friend Becomes A Top Judge

I'm just unable to stop myself from writing about Bulent Arinc, AKP's Vice Prime Minister, but what can I do?

With everything about and around him, he is the embodiment of the media policies of the government. (Well, maybe it's normal as his portfolio as a Vice PM is media affairs.)

Now he started to tell a lot about the new judiciary system in Turkey as well.

Here is the latest development about Bulent Arinc:

The new president of the Council of State has been elected easily in the first round of voting. The person that will lead one of the two pillars of Turkey's supreme judiciary will be Hüseyin Karakullukcu, a friend of Bulent Arinc. Arinc's reaction was interesting: "How great that Allah gives me more and more!"

Let's remember what happened last week:

Nazim Kaynak, the first top judge for Turkey’s newly enlarged Supreme Court of Appeals -which is the second pillar-, was elected with overwhelming support in the initial round of voting, an unprecedented event.

“My beautiful friend and schoolmate Nazim Kaynak has been elected in the first round. I am very happy,” Arinc had told.

The new judiciary system, which can easily "elect" Arinc's friends as top judges, is created by the AKP government, thanks to the results of the latest referendum on the constitutional amendments, which were welcomed by the EU and many liberals.

Before the referendum, I had warned in this blog that the new system would create a new judiciary which would be dominated by the AKP men. I believe that the time has confirmed us, the skeptics, so quickly. Brace for more change!

Anonymous vs. Bulent Arinc Et Al

It seems that the censorship policies of the AKP government has triggered a virtual time-bomb.

If I were one of the IT authorities in Turkey, I would be really anxious now.

Anonymous, a massive netizen group of international hacktivists, has launched Operation Turkey. Check out their declaration:

"Merhaba Türkiye,

Over the last few years, we have seen how the Turkish government has tightened its grip on the internet. It has blocked thousands of websites and blogs while abusive legal proceedings against online journalists persist. The government now wants to impose a new filtering system on the 22nd of August that will make it possible to keep records of all the people's internet activity. Though it remains opaque why and how the system will be put in place, it is clear that the government is taking censorship to the next level.

These acts are inexcusable. Accessing and participating in the free flow of information is a basic human right. Anonymous will not stand by while the Turkish government violates this right. We will bring our support to circumvent censorship and retaliate against organizations imposing censorship.

Hundreds of thousands of people protested against internet censorship decisions but AKP government ignored the voice of the people and violently oppressed the protesters.

We call on all internet citizens to support freedom of speech by pushing the Turkish government to stop these foolish policies. The free flow of information won’t be stopped. Sharing of knowledge won’t be stopped. It is time to fight for our rights and stand up for what we believe in.

More information: http://tinyurl.com/5vd4f9p

Join us in the IRC channel to discuss what we can do to liberate the internet: http://chat.mibbit.com/?server=194.8.74.43&channel=%23opTurkey

(server: irc.anonops.li, channel #opturkey)

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not Forgive.

We do not Forget.

Expect us."

One Leader, One Newspaper, One Party: Turkey's Future?

Bulent Arinc, AKP's Vice Prime Minister who is in charge of media affairs, keeps talking.

He spoke to the young voters of Bursa today. "In Turkey, there is such a newspaper that it's enough for you to read it. It is Zaman. Believe me, there is no need to read anything but Zaman," he said.

The point of interest of these unbelievable words -which sounds like the most idiotic advertisement in the world- is Zaman, a pro-AKP newspaper which is being controlled by the Islamist Gülen brotherhood. To understand to what extent Zaman is democratic, read the story of Andrew Finkel, a columnist who was fired by this newspaper when he defended the right of free speech.

It seems that the AKP leaders, the moderate Islamists which was being praised by many liberals until a short time ago, are close to the point that they can finally realize their true intentions. A new Turkey under their full control and a new media that includes no one -no internets, too- but Zaman and likes...

A Frenchman in Turkey

The Economist, the British magazine that has been feverishly supporting AKP since 2002, has a very interesting piece today, headlined "Turkey's Election: One for the Opposition."

Check out the last paragraph of their editorial:

"The AK party is all but certain to form the next government. But we would recommend that Turks vote for the CHP. A stronger showing by Mr Kilicdaroglu’s party would both reduce the risks of unilateral changes that would make the constitution worse and give the opposition a fair chance of winning a future election. That would be by far the best guarantee of Turkey’s democracy."

I've read it over and over again, in awe, then once again, checking if this is really an editorial or something like an op-ed and still couldn't believe in my eyes.

One may ask: "Who the hell are you, the Economist? Why this arrogance?"

I won't do it, though. The Economist has been publishing such endorsements only in the eve of elections in a few countries like the US, Britain, Germany or France. It seems that Turkey has joined the league of "authoritative" countries, which is a good sign for a Turk.

The problem with the Economist is in its shameless inconsistency. AKP is the same AKP. Nothing changed. Only the political preference of the Economist has changed suddenly.

All readers of my blog know that I don't get along very well with the AKP government, but this change of editorial attitude turned my stomach more than most AKP policies.

For more stomach turns, check out the comments section of the article and read more inconsistency, this time from AKP fans, who suddenly started to condemn the Economist, which once made them so happy with its articles. They are just like their leader, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who condemned the Economist in his political rally today, saying that "the Economist knows nothing about CHP, like a Frenchman in Turkey."

The first comment -from a reader nicknamed Cyprus-, on the other hand, summarizes my point of view, too:

"I've sometimes thought I'll never see this day: the Economist finally withdrawing its support from the AKP. After all, the AKP used democratization mantra in and outside Turkey in order to further its authoritarian and conservative policies, which were cleverly combined with some minimal democratic reforms for disguise. And that worked as a strategy, especially when it's portrayed as a struggle against a "deep" state(rogue elements of the old establishment) within the Turkish state, and long convinced the good old Economist that the AKP were genuinely after democratic reform, which was, in fact, a way of legitimizing and building the AKP's own "deep" state within the Turkish state. Anyway, better late than never. And let's hope Turkish people also wakes up this reality soon."

But who will trust in the long-term political projections of the Economist now, if they can turn 180 degrees so easily?