CEM RYAN TO OBAMA

 ENGLISH

On June 29th I published an article by Cem (James) Ryan, with some information about the gentleman. (See below!.) 

Mr Ryan came to attention with the letter he wrote to President Obama on inauguration day. Because of his strongly critical view of the fundamentalist oriented present Turkish government, as well of the U.S. support of it, this letter enjoyed the approval of the Kemalist circles in Turkey and as such made the rounds on the Internet. Mr. Ryan continues expressing his opinions on the new Turkish tragedy with courage, conviction and dedication that would put many a Turk to shame.

Inauguration Day

20 January 2009

 

The Honorable Barack H. Obama

President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

USA

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

I write this letter to you, Mr. President, with my highest and warmest regards, best wishes, and my hope for a better, more just world. I have fond memories of this particular day, 20 January, your day of inauguration as president. Forty-eight years ago-six months before you were born-I, along with my fellow West Point cadets, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to salute the newly sworn president, John F. Kennedy. Next to graduating from West Point, it was the highlight of my life. January 20, 1961-it had snowed heavily the night before and the day dawned windy with arctic temperatures. It was perfect, a memory crystal buried deep. How young we were, so enthusiastic about confronting a dangerous world with our young president. But while euphoria is grand, it is also dangerous, Mr. President. It didn't take long for reality to take hold. And so time goes. I have now lived in Istanbul, Turkey for nine years. Over these years a "reality" has set in regarding our beloved country, America. And so I write to you today, Mr. President, to warn you about conditions in Turkey. "The world," wrote Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, "is an arena of trials." And the Bush policy of making Turkey a "moderate Islamic republic" has been, and continues to be, an arena of disasters. Mr. President, time is of the essence to correct this. And you need to know more about Turkey to do so.

Accordingly, I have enclosed two books: one a biography, Atatürk, by Andrew Mango, the other, a copy of The Great Speech by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Nutuk in Turkish). The latter epic work flowed from the pen of Atatürk, a 36-hour speech delivered over six days in October 1927. Therein, he recounts the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the Turkish Republic. It is an astounding document.

 

I have tried to show, in these accounts, how a great people, whose national course was considered as finished, reconquered its independence; how it created a national and modern state founded on the latest results of science. The result we have today is the fruit of teachings which arose from centuries of suffering, and the price of streams of blood which have drenched every foot of the ground of our beloved homeland. This holy treasure I lay in the hands of the youth of Turkey. Turkish youth! Your primary duty is ever to preserve and defend the national independence of the Turkish Republic. (Atatürk, The Great Speech, 715)

 

By reading this book, Mr. President, you will immediately understand the enormous genius of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. You will see how the forces of religious fundamentalism didn't magically vanish after Atatürk ended the sultanate and abolished the caliphate. Instead, they continued to subvert his revolutionary reforms from the very beginning. This is the nature of religious fundamentalism here in Turkey. It never stops. It is vital that you understand this, Mr. President. Turkey has always been a target for these dark-minded forces. And now these ignorant minds run the country. Reading the words of Mustafa Kemal will also help you marshal your own significant resources and talents, for you seem to be blessed with a capacious mind much like Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's. Decisive, informed leadership is needed today by the president of the United States. These were defining characteristics of Atatürk, along with his great personal integrity. May you learn well from him, Mr. President, a man who fought a war against religious terrorists for his entire life. 

 

Now the democratic, secular, social state of the Republic of Turkey, governed under the rule of law, is under siege, both from without and within. I know this, Mr. President, I live here, and what I know is not sanitized by political niceties and outright propaganda. The undoing of this nation, created in Atatürk's mind as a young army officer, has been long underway. But now the day is here. The black-minded ignorance of religious fundamentalism becomes more apparent every minute. Alcohol bans, women shoved under politically symbolic headscarves at the behest of duplicitous politicians, a compliant, subverted media.  Here, so-called "liberals" work in compliance with outside forces (your CIA, for example, Mr. President). And the corruption of the religious ruling party is stunning and stinks to the high heavens from theft, rampant bribery, and election fraud. Currently, a scam called Ergenekon purges the left-wing opposition rivals (all adherents of the enlightened principles of Atatürk). To further contaminate his work, a smattering of outright criminals is added to the list of detainees. All this and more has brought democratic Turkey near its knees. And Mustafa Kemal Atatürk never knelt for anyone, ever. As a child he even refused to play leapfrog.

 

European Union members, who never read him, wonder why so much fuss is made about Atatürk. Of similar traitorous stripe as the "entente liberals" of Atatürk's day who conspired with the British occupiers for a mandate over Turkey, today's  "liberal" Turks (liboş) fall over themselves subverting secular Turkey and the principles of Atatürk, in the name of democracy. The ruling party works its religious agenda demeaning the integrity of women at every turn, debasing the liberation of women by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. And the United States of America, our country Mr. President, directly aids and abets these subversive forces. This is shameful.

 

Mr. President, most Americans remain ignorant about Turkey and, amazingly, even more so about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Without knowing this man one knows nothing about this country. The enclosed books are my attempt to prevent you learning about Turkey solely by reading sterile briefing books, self-serving CIA studies, State Department policy papers, memoranda from your national security advisors, and, most particularly, reports from the western press. Most of the Turkish press, and, in particular, the current Turkish government are similarly ever-willing purveyors of self-interested propaganda. Beware, Mr. President, for you will receive regurgitations of superficial, stale, and even incorrect information, like the Bushian nonsense that Turkey is a "moderate Islamic nation." Via the headscarf issue-the "ocular proof" of piety for western consumption-this ill-conceived initiative, without any Koranic justification, has created a gigantic, violent, societal schism in Turkey. Mr. President, is America a moderate Christian nation? I mean, should Americans wear visible crucifixes? Please reconsider this nonsensical policy, Mr. President. (Again, read The Great Speech to see how religious subversions beset Atatürk at every turn.)

One will be able to imagine how necessary the carrying through of these measures was, in order to prove that our nation as a whole was no primitive nation, filled with superstitions and prejudices. Could a civilized nation tolerate a mass of people who let themselves be led by the nose by a herd of Þeyhs, Dedes, Seyyits, Çelebis, Babas, and Emirs, who entrusted their destiny and their lives to palm readers, magicians, dice-throwers and amulet sellers? Ought one to preserve in the Turkish State, in the Turkish Republic, elements and institutions such as those which had for centuries given the nation the appearance of being other than it really was? (Atatürk, The Great Speech, 714)

 

Mr. President, even worse than misinformation, you will be regaled with assertions and protestations that the current religious-rooted government is representative and similar to the majority of Turkish people. Mr. President, it is extremely dangerous for you, and for the United States, to be deceived in this manner. Indeed this must sound strange to you, Mr. President, but it is true. There is a great muffling happening in Turkey today. So I caution you, to become truly aware of the situation in Turkey, you must first meet Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in depth. You must come to enlightenment about Turkey on your own recognizance, Mr. President, and not rely on the misinformed, the flatterers, and the deceivers, of whom there are legion.

 

While you may think you are different, Mr. President, be forewarned that, despite your access to the bright minds of the CIA, the State Department, and your White House staff, you will not get a true idea of the essence of Turkey, the nation. You may learn about this Turkish government, but that's not learning about the Turkish nation. And you will certainly not learn anything from members of the present Turkish government about the nation's soul.

The essence of the modern Turkish soul reposes in the materials I have sent, in a word, Atatürk. His accomplishments-military, political, social, educational, creative-represent a quest for justice for the collective life of his people, and in no small regard, for the world. "Peace at home, peace in the world," he famously said. He possessed, as I suspect you do as well, Mr. President, what Reinhold Niebuhr called the "sublime madness in the soul," saved from excessiveness by unusually astute powers of reason. So armed, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk battled against the powers of darkness and spiritual corruption in high places. So armed, he rescued his people from the debris of the Ottoman Empire. Today, his thoughts and deeds define the existential principles of the Turkish nation. But, Mr. President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is now under attack from outside Turkey and within.

Nevertheless, his principles still inspire tens of millions of proudly secular Turks who long for the truly democratic nation he established. Believe me Mr. President, the "secular elite" described by the disgracefully biased and ill-informed writings of Sabrina Tavernise of The New York Times as "an immensely powerful coterie of generals and judges" is nonsense. Millions of us-yes, Mr. President, I too am a citizen of Turkey-took to the streets in the spring of 2007 against the policies of the U.S.-backed Erdoğan government. And matters have become even more dire since. Mr. President, perhaps you don't know what's going on with this government.

In the name of democracy, the ruling party, the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, Justice and Development Party) has made a shambles of Turkey's founding principles. In the name of democracy there is vast bribing of the AKP electorate, predominantly poor and uneducated, with coal and appliances. Higher court deliberations on suits against the ruling party are regularly attacked by the ruling party, particularly by the prime minister, and literal targets (complete with crosshairs) are made of individual judges in the religious press. In the name of democracy and social justice and legal egalitarianism, an enormous purge of hundreds of alleged opponents of the ruling party is taking place in a "fishing expedition" called Ergenekon. A literal witch hunt, so-called suspect members of a military-coup conspiracy ring are held without benefit of writs of habeas corpus; they have been held in jail-some for over 18 months-without being charged and later prejudicially tried in jail. Writers, journalists, university presidents, labor union leaders, lawyers, retired army officers, leftists all, are caught up in this disgrace of a dragnet. (As mentioned earlier, some ordinary criminals are mixed in for pollution purposes.) Mr. President, I write to you on their behalf, the educated, western-thinking intelligentia, now imprisoned in a Turkish gulag called Silivri, the largest prison in Turkey, and in Europe. And that's where they are tried! In the prison! So you, Mr. President, as an attorney, undoubtedly instantly understand the extremely prejudicial nature of this trumped-up case.  
 

Mass arrests typically happen immediately after the ruling party suffers a legal or corruption setback. For example, consider its trial in early 2008 where the AKP was found guilty of being the center of anti-secular activity in Turkey. A second roundup occurred as a result of a German charitable foundation called Deniz Feneri, "lighthouse" in English. Organized by Turks in both Germany and Turkey, Deniz Feneri stole 41 million euros from pious Turks in Germany and transferred 17 million of it to Turkey, some to media companies friendly to the ruling party. The AKP manager, Zahid Akman, of the Turkish government's televison and radio system (RTYK), was identified by the court as the bagman. He remains in his position, dutifully protecting the nation's morals by blurring televised images of smoking and the consumption of alcohol. The German prosecutor stated that links of the Deniz Feneri embezzlement were traced to the office of the prime ministry. 

The movement of Turkey toward sharia continues. Vast areas of the nation have been made alcohol-free. Swimsuit advertisements are banned in Istanbul. The Atatürk Cultural Center, located in prime space in downtown Istanbul, has been closed. No details are given regarding its status. Consequently, the Istanbul symphony, opera, and ballet, all state sponsored, have been sent packing. They are rumored to perform occasionally, somewhere. So much for cultural enlightenment. Oddly enough, Istanbul has been selected to be the European Capital of Culture in 2010; this is known as political lip service.

 

Mr. President, for too long a time America has attempted to efface the Turkish soul, to reshape this country, to include it in the American hegemony. All this subversion has been to, in effect, lobotomize the Turkish brain, ridding it of the noble thoughts of Atatürk, making it a congenial dolt, bowing and scraping to America's wishes. Internally, this has been the primary responsibility of the ruling party. And it has done its job very well, almost bringing the once proud nation of Atatürk to its knees. Once, after a waiter dropped a heavily laden tray at a state dinner, Mustafa Kemal turned to his foreign guests and said, "As you can see I have taught my people to do everything but serve." How ironic, how angering to the followers of Atatürk is the current servile, US-installed government. Consider this, Mr. President. Banned from running from office, without any legal credentials whatsoever, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed to the White House by George W. Bush as de facto head of the Turkish government. How outrageous! No wonder Erdoğan, habitually a dour, scowling man, beamed broadly whenever he visited Bush. Do not be deceived Mr. President, this government neither serves you, nor the Turkish people. In the name of so-called democracy, it serves itself.

 

It has long been at its destructive work, this imperialism. You know this personally, Mr. President. Why your very roots-one foot in Hawaii, the other in Kenya, your days of youth in Indonesia-all these highly personal experiences have surely informed your persona. Surely they speak to you of the same issue that so afflicts Turkey. Imperialism. Internal subversion. Corruption.

 

When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk rescued Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman five hundred year reign, he established a new way for the Turkish people to live their lives. It was the way of enlightenment, the western way. I hope that you can now begin to see how the west, for its own ill-reasoned self-interest, has encouraged the sabotaging of the enlightened principles of Atatürk. Most importantly, I hope that this whets your reading appetite to learn more about this incomparable man.

 

Mr. President, I am confident that you will adopt your policies, both within America, and without, in the spirit of those stirring words you wrote in Dreams from My Father about a different kind of politics:

 "That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived."  

The majority of Turkish people want the very same thing. And if the United States can get out of their way, they can have it. 

Sincerely yours,

James (Cem) Ryan


Interestingly, that was not the only letter Mr. Ryan wrote to President Obama. Here's another one.

20 October 2009

The Honorable Barack H. Obama

President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I wrote to you on 20 January 2009, the day of your inauguration as president, about the dire conditions prevailing in the Republic of Turkey.  Today I stand by every word that I then wrote. Even more so, since conditions are now much worse. I suggest you reread this letter before you again meet with any Turkish politician. Accordingly, I have listed below the access internet addresses.

The problem, as we both know, is the nature of the increasingly hard-line Islamic ruling party, the AKP. On 29 October 2009 you will have another opportunity to meet with its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This is a date of terrifying irony. Eighty-six years ago, to the day, Turkey was proclaimed a republic. Thus centuries of backwardness by the sharia Ottoman Empire, the nightmare of dark-mindedness, the suppression of women, the illiteracy and ignorance of the population, all these civil transgressions were finally consigned to the garbage dump of history. Hope had arrived at last. The rescue mission of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had been successful and would proceed. (Note: Incredibly, Erdoğan and his minions label these grand achievements as "traumatic.") A few hours before the republic was proclaimed, Mustafa Kemal remarked to a French journalist, "Can one name a single nation that has not turned toward the West in its quest for civilization?"

Now, eighty-six years later, one can finally answer Mustafa Kemal. Thanks to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the USA, your CIA, the European Union, and plenty of dollars filling the gaping pockets of politicians, hack journalists, outright traitors and, as Mustafa Kemal would say, selected "ignoramuses" there IS one such nation: Mustafa Kemal's Turkey, today's Turkey. Indeed, today's Turkey has turned its back on the West. But its quest? The inept government seems incapable of answering that question. Beyond personal corruption, fantastic plundering, fabulous enrichment, suppression of women, extrajudicial imprisonments, destruction of the natural environment, and general lawlessness, no plan has emerged during its seven-year term in office. The 15 October 2009 article, "How Turkey Was Lost", in the Jerusalem Post says it all.

And you have helped too, Mr President. Were you surprised by Erdoğan's antics in Davos? By his attempt to storm your Secret Service barricade outside the hotel in New York City? By his sudden ranting about Israel? Mr President, you shouldn't be, for this is the quality of the man. You proceed with the likes of him and his people at your, and our, peril. In my earlier letter to you I wrote: "Do not be deceived Mr. President, this government neither serves you, nor the Turkish people. In the name of so-called democracy, it serves itself." Nothing more need be said.

Today, on all counts, Turkey and the people of Turkey have failed. They have failed Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. They have failed themselves. Else how could they so submissively tolerate a government formed by the likes of Erdoğan and his AKP. Mr President, on 29 October 2009, you will see the personification of this profound, tragic failure in the normally scowling face of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, painfully contorted into his "White House smile!"

Mr President, quite simply, Turkey has become an Islamic fascist state. Cameras and listening devices abound. People are identified for arrest by the government-controlled press. Even I, Mr President, have been fingered by a newspaper hack widely known to be a mouthpiece for the president of the republic. Mr President, this lawless government has trashed the constitution. Jails are loaded with patriots--journalists, scientists, physicians, writers, retired military officers, businessmen--all opposed to the destruction of the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Mr President, there is no significant difference between the doings of this government and what went on in Germany in the early Thirties, or in Pinochet's Chile in the Seventies. None!

Lawless politicians! Lawless judges! Lawless prosecutors! Lawless police! Lawless! Lawless! Lawless"

On 29 October 2009, the 86th anniversary of the founding of Republic of Turkey, you, Mr President, will meet with the Turkish prime minister. Perhaps this will be the day you both announce the birthday of the Islamic Republic of Turkey. Given what has happened to Turkey at the hands of the United States since Atatürk died, nothing would surprise me. And nothing would please Erdoğan more. And you, Mr President, should know.

Sincerely yours,

James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.

Istanbul, Turkey

 Jumping back a step, here is what Mr. Ryan posted before the elections in 2009.

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming

Mark the day! This Sunday, 29 March 2009, the 86 year-old Turkish Republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk votes. Ah democracy! Its distinctive aroma fills the already polluted air (and airwaves) endlessly replenished by the gasbag pundits. The ruling party, the AKP—in effect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself—has campaigned relentlessly, a televised montage of ubiquity. Buses, helicopters, and jets transport his essence, acclaimed by admirers as the new sultan, widely about the land. He descends denying any and all problems that so beseige his people, decries at the top of his lungs the inept opposition, and ignores completely the widespread corrupton that gnaws at the Turkish soul. He bellows in front of enormous pictures of Atatürk, a man he obviously despises. Why such a frenzied pace? Easy. To go for the knockout of his wobbly, geriatric, brain-dazed political opponents who so abstractly support the constitutional notion of the “democratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law,” that is, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s Republic of Turkey, established on 29 October 1923,  now in its 86th year, and in fast failing health.

Like the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, the inept and scattered opposition seems to have suddenly awakened to the now seven year-old fait accompli power grab by the religious ruling party. Now, constitutionally guaranteed rights are routinely violated by the government. Police violence is rampant. Vocal left wing opposition are in jail under an unconstitutional scam called Ergenekon. The Turkish judicial system is in shreds. The army is defamed and seems powerless. Religious rule lurks. Hello! Hello! Poverty, corruption, unemployment, and hopelessness rage. But most Turks don’t seem to be the least upset, as may well be seen on Sunday.

One need not travel far to see historical parallels for what is happening in today’s Turkey. Just examine the history of similar US-induced mega-shocks in Iran (1953), Guatamala (1954), Chile (1956-1973), Brazil (1964), Bolivia (1971), and the ongoing fiasco in Iraq. It is a depressing legacy of America’s attempts to remake the world to suit its own self-interest. Bribery, violence, subversion, extortion, blackmail, torture, anti-modernism, anti-feminism, anti-intellectualism, economic exploitation, disappearance, destruction of collective cultural memory, economic deregulation, privatization, social spending cuts, book burnings, newspaper closings, street demonstration bans, cleaning of university faculties, so goes the full catastrophe of American meddling. A question for the Turks! Does any of this sound familiar?

Turkey is now defined by poverty, corruption, unemployment, and hopelessness. Its enormous youthful population is particularly dispirited. Divisiveness is sown by forces within and without the country. And Turkey’s so-called democracy, now in its 86th year, slouches toward another election. To what end? 

There is another day to mark well. January 30, 1933. On this day another aged entity, the 86 year-old president of Germany, Paul von Hindenberg, appointed Adolph Hitler chancellor. The takeover was complete. It is vital to remember that Hitler’s rise to power was accomplished democratically. It seems to have been all so terribly easy. Hitler was dynamic, modern, and skillful. He was the first politician to take to the skies using airplanes during the 1932 campaign. Like a god he descended from the heavens to greet his minions. His party, the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) had its own newspaper group, the infamous Völkischer Beobachter and Goebbel’s own Der Angriff. Propaganda reigned supreme. The exagerrated threat from left wing Marxists, the touting of religion. (“Religion is not an opiate but sustenance for the soul of the Volk,” said Hitler), the emphasis of keeping women at home, the linking of organized labor with subversive forces, the weak political opposition whose only idea was to defend democracy—all these issues sped Hitler’s democratic rise to ultimate power in January 1933. A month later the Reichstag burned and civil liberties were soon thereafter suspended. All political opposition along with the trade unions were crushed. As president, Hindenberg was commander-in-chief of the German armed forces. A former war hero, the Prussian was revered by the German military. And Hitler, the new chancellor, needed the support of the military. Though he detested Hindenberg, in public appearances Hitler appeared constantly by the aging hero’s side. The ambitious man with the scrubby mustache was not stupid. Paul von Hindenberg died at the age of 86. And German democracy was buried with him. This Sunday, the 86 year-old Turkish democracy founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk votes. Whither?  

Cem Ryan, Ph.D.

Istanbul

25 March 2009
And how about this next one? Posted on the web two years ago, I just recently stumbled on it. Similarities to some of my own posts- the reference to Emile Zola and the Dreyfus affair, to "Alice in Wonderland", and ending with the injunction: KORKMA! (Fear Not!) are coincidences, at most they show thar common sense leads to similar conclusions.

Mr. Ryan also  makes mention of the eminence grise of Turkish politics, Fethullah Gülen, the Islamist guru who skillfully and maliciously manipulates Turkey's fate from his U.S. ranch .

Posted on September 30, 2010 by CEM RYAN

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
John Milton
Paradise Lost

When Emile Zola published his historic letter, J’Accuse, addressed to the President of France, in L’Aurore newspaper on 13 January 1898, he was rich and famous. But that did not stop his mighty anger. Outraged by the travesty of justice that resulted in the false arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus, a loyal Jewish army officer, he appealed to the president and the nation for reason and justice to prevail.

Dreyfus was convicted by falsified evidence and forged documents, and was a scapegoat for the thoroughly corrupt French Army general staff. He had been imprisoned at a hell hole called Devil’s Island for three years when Zola wrote his letter.

Zola did so for two reasons. First, to draw the public’s attention to the shameful miscarriage of justice. Second, to provoke his own arrest for libel so that new evidence could be introduced that would prove Dreyfus innocent. He succeeded on both counts. Dreyfus was cleared in 1899 and fully exonerated and reinstated in the French Army in 1906. Zola died under suspicious circumstances on 29 September 1902, “a moment in the history of human conscience,” as eulogized by Anatole France.

On 29 September 2010, 108 years to the day after Zola’s death, the ongoing disaster called Turkey received yet another Pinochet-style shock in its struggle to retain its secularity. Hanefi Avcı, the head of the police department in the city of Eskişehir, was arrested for writing a best seller. His book laid bare the widely suspected fact that Turkey’s highest government institution’s—police, army, and judicial system—had been infiltrated and indeed subverted by a religious cemaat, the Fethullah Gülen movement.  Since Avcı himself was once an eager activist for Gülen’s cemaat, the book has a certain whiff of authenticity.

And yesterday, Avcı was arrested. The reason? The usual nonsense of the Ergenekon prosecutor. It seems that suddenly the previously highly esteemed police chief has connections with a terrorist organization. Was the terror organization the Gülen movement?  Ha, ha, ha, no not quite. The Gülenista government of Turkey, also known as the AKP, paid no attention to the compelling information in Avcı’s book about their sugar daddy, Gülen. It decided on some other “terror group,” some socialist or maybe, horror of horrors, some communist operation. Another Alice-in-Wonderland group, cobbled together with false documents and bogus telephone conversations, using the latest listening and stealth technology provided by…guess who?

Avcı refused to file a petition suggested by his lawyer to demand release from prison pending presentation of formal charges. Like Zola, he wants to experience the whole disgusting mess called Turkish justice. He also refuses to speak to any judicial or prosecutorial officials that he suspects of being members of the Gülen cemaat. But Avcı says that he will talk, at his trial. Like Emile Zola, may he sing long and loud.

Hanefi Avcı, KORKMA!