A POX ON YOUR NEW WORLD

ENGLISH: (Türkçe için bkz.: "Pandemiler Götürsün Yeni Dünyanızı")

Sketchbook drawing from the early days of the pandemic.

I am writing this on my smartphone, obeying the government's instructions to stay off the streets. I don't have my computer with me, so I will have to make do with what I have. The world is living through nightmarish times that feel apocalyptic, facing a calamity that science fiction has been warning us about for decades: a pandemic that spreads like flash across the surface of a highly interconnected world.

The earliest time I remember seeing a film about such a horrendous pandemic  was in the early 70's: the 1970 British-American production No Blade of Grass. But it was certainly not the first one made; there is the 1962 French short La Jetée which in turn inspired the 1995 US production Twelve Monkeys. The US film Pandemic was released as late as 2016 and the South Korean TV series from 2018 My Secret, Terrius from 2018 even pronounces the dreaded name: "corona virus". (Season 1, part 10, 53rd minute if you want to verify, available on Netflix.)

From Idées Noires by André Franquin,
dating from the late 70's.

So we were certainly forewarned. Earlier epidemics going as far back as the Plague and recent ones such as Ebola, SARS, MERS and the like are there in the collective memory. In a "Ted Talk" speech in 2015 Bill Gates emphasized the importance of readiness for just such a fast-spreading potentially deadly disease. Gates was also involved with another pandemic warning: Event 201, a "high level pandemic exercise" held by the John Hopkins institute in October 2019. 

So how is it that the world was caught so unprepared? The newest mutation of the Corona virus, dubbed COVID-19, made its apprearance in the city of Wuhan in December 2019, just two months after the Event 201 exercise.

The earliest reactions seemed to target China rather than the virus and seeing as the outbreak came at a time when China was challenging the US in economic and military terms, it seemed possible that this new mutation was a biological weapon created in a laboratory. It is no secret that such laboratories exist. Conspiracy theorists quickly pointed out that the outbreak was preceded by the Wuhan Military World Games, 18 to 27 October 2019, with 140 nations participating (including the US, in case you're wondering).

By the end of January the virus had arrived in Italy. At the time Europe was more concerned with new waves of refugees coming from the East: with conflict flaring up in Idlib, driving more desperate refugees in Syria towards Turkey, President Erdoğan announced his country would no longer restrain those who wished to move on towards Europe. A wave of refugees, not content with thieir circumstances in Turkey, set out westward to the border at Edirne or the Aegan coast, aiming for Greece (curiously not Bulgaria), the ultimate destination being mostly Germany. The main concern of the European states at the time was to keep the refugees out even as they piled up in the no-man's land between the border lines and were left stranded at sea. All the while the invisible threat that was the virus was making inroads into Europe and was soon to wreak havoc on the affluent and free lifestyle the Europeans were so unwilling to share.

Unwanted refugees at the Turkish-Greek border,
late February 2020.
(Image from the media.) 

Turkey's Erdoğan was rattling sabres, ready to take on Assad, and MHP leader Bahçeli (supposed second opposition leader) was going even further, urging we march on to Damascus! The grounds for Turkey's military presence in Syria had been to provide a safe haven for refugees that would be outside of Turkey and to keep the Kurdish militants from carving out an independent state fom Syria that would border on our country. In the Kurdish case Turkey was working against US intentions: the US has always favored the creation of just such a state, which would certainly aim to expand and include Turkey's southeast. The clash of interests had been pushing NATO member Turkey ever closer to Russia which was in Syria supporting Assad. 
Then in course of the fight for Idlib advancing Syrian forces encircled some Turkish military outposts and some 38 Turkish soldiers were killed by Syrian fire. Suddenly, it was all about revenge, and bringing Assad down. Not only did this new agenda have nothing to do with Turkey's original strategic aims, it also meant an unequal showdown with Russia. The US could hardly contain its glee and immediately promised support. (For more on that see: "Old Habits Die Hard", 27 February/Şubat 2020.) 

At the time the US was also flexing its muscles against Russia on the European continent, having launched the Defender Europe 20 military exercise, the first equipment arriving in Bremerhaven on February 21st 2020. 20 000 US military personnel were due to  participate, and were arriving steadily. 

Large scale military exercises in Europe, Erdoğan's shift in objectives in Syria towards a position more in line with US strategies are clues to heightened US activity around the globe. Since the US

had so much to gain from destabilizing China, it was easy to suspect foul play in the Covid-19 breakout. But then the virus hit Europe. So was it a tactic to bring the EU in line, a kind of bacteriological Ergenekon? But the Defender Europe exercises were canceled by March 13th; only 6000 of the planned 20 000 US troops ever arrived. So the US never had anything to do with the virus, or did something go terribly wrong? And then it hit the US, and that much harder than any other country. Was it a case of the villain being destroyed by the demon he had summoned?

Makeshift hospital tents in New York's Central park.
(Image from the media.) 

But there was another conspiracy theory making the rounds, placing the strings in the hands of puppetmasters that are even further in the shadows: a plan to "reset" the world societies and economies for a new digital age with digital transactions, digital shopping, and digital money as in "bitcoin", a world of total transparency of the citizen and total control by... by who? The state? A foreign power? The Illuminati? The elite of the One World? Some speak of malicious intent in Bill Gates' vaccine program, incorporating a kind of ID tracking technique ostensibly to keep track of who has been vaccinated and who hasn't , some fear the new smartphone apps that can track you and warn you if you have come close to an infected person (didn't totally understand how that's supposed to work), early steps towards a society where we will have to live with microchip implants! A far fetched conspiracy theory you say? Microchip implantation is already being done in Sweden, and exported abroad! Check out this Guardian article. Reminds me of the 1967 film The President's Analyst where it turns out towards the end that the telephone company is planning to place microchips in people's brains to make its network more efficient! 

Jowan Österlund of Biohax, Sweden holding microchip implant in 2017.
(Image from the media.) 

All the while the myth of the bat-eating Chinese continues to be propagated- even though doctors tell us the virus will not survive in the stomach! Why the insistence? Given that bats carry this virus, they could just as well have bit someone? Should we take this insistence on a negative image of the Chinese as another indication of malevolece towards them? Chinese-bashing was expanded to include cats and dogs. Yes, they are known to eat them, but drawing cats and  dogs into a topic regarding viral infection allegedly from bats (or pangolins, also cited) seems calculated to infuriate pet owners in affluent societies, especially in the essentially lonely West! It's a bit ironic that in the pet-loving West, unadopted animals are simply put down, but they get worked up anyway! (Here in Turkey house pets are less common, but strays are not only tolerated, they are pampered by the neighbourhood.)

Then another theory popped up. 

Apparently there is a virology research center in Wuhan, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in the vicinity of the fish market, the area cited as the epicenter of the epidemic, and there were studies being conducted on bats at time. How come nobody notice that right off the bat? (Excuse the pun!) There is even the story of a couple assigned to collect bats from nature, and the wife being bit by one! Why was there all this culinary discussion?

Not that WIV is a secret base for Chinese biological warfare: Wikipedia reports it has close ties with Galveston National Laboratory of the University of Texas and the Canada National Microbiology Laboratory. 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology; the source of our worries?
(Image from the media.)

At the end of the day we are all stuck with it and scared. Whether the invisible monster was a natural mutation or man-made and unleashed, it can and will be used by the unscrupulous and the greedy. Even if they had nothing to do with it, the powers running the US would not fail to take advantage of a calamity that strikes an economic and strategic rival. Those wishing a new world order, "one world", with digital money and implanted chips, children learning "coding" from six years up, and transparent citizens under total control will make use of the prevailing conditions whether they planned this or not. (We can't even hit the streets to protest!) For decades banks have been raining credit cards on us, even if we never asked for them. The banks initially tried to motivate us to use cash dispensers and on-line banking, adding charges if we insisted on going to the teller. Then little by little the use of cash dispensers and online banking became compulsory, first for this transaction, then that, first at this bank, then the other. With the a pandemic the policy spread to all banks for most transactions while business hours were reduced. Supermarkets had been trying to get us to use self-service counters, understaffing the regular ones while getting somone to help us use the self-service option, just to get us used to it; now scared shoppers flock to them to avoid contact. We are urged to use credit cards rather than cash, preferably "non-contact" ones where you don't even have to punch in a PIN number. Implants will be handy when they come! Closed stores try to continue business through internet shopping, students are taught over the computer, those who able to so work from home in the same way. We are being educated for life and survival in a New World. Those unable to adapt will be obsolete, eliminated from the System. Covid-19 is picking off the elderly anyway.

So this is the new millenium! 

Some have taken this time-out from ordinary life to reflect on the human condition, our uneasy relationship with nature, and our lack of empathy towards our fellow men. The only reason this pandemic is such a calamity is that it hit the most affluent and powerful countries the hardest. Had it decimated a few third world countries it would have been relegated to the back pages, if mentioned at all! There is still hunger in Africa, it's not as if we don't know about it! The Middle East has been war torn for years, thousands, even millions are bombed out, displaced, hungry and terrrorized. The prime concern of affluent Europe and the powerful US has been to keep the misery and destituon outside while taking full advantage of the cheap labor and raw materials the unequal arrangement of the world makes possible. Having left inner-European conflicts behind, EU citizens could travel through their continent from end to end without having to deal with bothersome and costly visas or even a passport. Now they can't even leave their homes!

Paris in lockdown. No tourists, no protesters either.
(Image from the media.)

We in Turkey are also guilty of selfishness, of haughtiness, and of that materialism that is the hallmark of the new age. We have been dwelling too much on the 'unfairness" of Europe for not letting us enter their club, but could be as arrogant and unfeeling when it came to refugees escaping from the carnage in Syria- none so much as the supporters of the "social democrat" CHP!

One positive outcome of the epidemic was the unity it engendered in the population- the nation forgetting its differences and coming together in the face of a common enemy. The truce even extended to the political sphere- for a while. Then the bickering started again. When President Erdoğan launched a fund-raising campaign, announcing he would contribute "seven month's worth of his own salary", the opposition CHP raised a big fuss about "the state begging for money from it's own citizens"! The social media was inundated with gags ridiculing the campaign. Reciprocally, the government imposed restrictions on municipal administrations that endeavoured to launch such campaigns locally, making it mandatory to obtain permission from the regional governor. The government's unfathomable insistence on going ahead with the costly and nonsensical Kanal Istanbul project got the criticism it deserved though I suspect bigger players than Erdoğan are behind such an insane enterprise! 

The government evaluating bids for the relocation of two bridges as a first step
of the Kanal Istanbul project, March 26th 2020.
(Image from the media.)

I began this year with an article about conflict, divisions, provokations- a curse on the region and our country- and the need to put an end to these. (See: "2020- Unprovoked", 20 December- Aralık 2019.) We all need to resist rising to the bait at the slightest temptation. That article was rather optimistic as far our own society was was concerned. The next one expressed my worries about the sudden surge of discord in our country, almost as if some people somewhere are bothered by any sign of social stability here, and by extension, also elsewhere! (See: "Old Habits Die Hard", 27 February 2020.) 

If there has ever been a time when we need to bury our hatchets, it is now- both at home and abroad. Along with the rest of the world we are facing a potentially deadly disease that spreads like wildfire and remains not fully understood. There is no place to run; the prospect of escaping to Europe or America brings no relief as they are worse off than we are. Sadly, our politicians are already going back to their cockfight, seeking to damage each other while collecting points for themselves, all in anticipation a time after the emergency when the political duel will take off again in earnest. It is a dangerous game that may damage the solidarity of the people when it is most needed! 

First survive, then resist! 

HUYLU HUYUNDAN...

TÜRKÇE: (For English see "Old Habits Die Hard")

 Bu seneye olumlu başladım, kargaşa içindeki coğrafyamızda ülkemizin nispeten huzurlu olduğunu gözlemledim ve hem bizde, hem sınırlarımızın ötesinde provokasyonların sona ererek insanların tekrar huzur içinde birarada yaşamaya dönmelerini diledim. (Bkz.: "2020- Kışkırtmasız", 27 Şubat 2020.)

O zamandan beri Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'da eski otoriter tarzına dönme belirtileri görülmeye başladı. Bu geri dönüşün ülkesine ve kendisine vereceği zararın farkında olmadığı kesin.

Erdoğan'ın Gülen'den dramatik ayrılışı ve bundan böyle   ABD politikalarına mukavemet göstermesi AKP yönetimine karşı ülke içindeki eleştirileri hafifletti- Atatürkçüler Erdoğan'ın yaptığı rejim değişikliğini hazmedemedilerse de! Erdoğan FETÖ'cüleri yönetim, askeriye, polis, adalet ve basından ayıklamaya başladı- diğer bir deyişle kendisinin ve partisinin yardımıyla sızıp yuvalanmış oldukları yerlerden. Ama her yerden değil; rahatsız edici gerçek şu ki ayıklanmadıkları yerlerin başında Erdoğan'ın kendi partisi, vaktiyle Gülen'le bir olan AKP var! Netice, küçük ve önemsiz balıklar avlanırken büyük balıklar göz önünden çekilmeye bile tenezzül etmeden rahat rahat dolaşıyorlar.

Derken 28 Ocak 2020'de Haber Global televizyon kanalında eski Genel Kurmay Başkanı İlker Başbuğ "FETÖ'nün siyasi

Eski Gen. Kur. Bşk. İlker Başbuğ
(Görüntü medyadan.)

ayağı" konusunda bir gözlemde bulundu; 26 Haziran 2009'da
meclisten geçen askerlerin "özel görevli" mahkemelerde yargılanmasının yolunu açan yasayı hatırlatarak teklifi getiren siyasilerin araştırılmasını önerdi. Bu yasa sayesinde kumpasla tutuklanan askerler Gülen Cemaati'nin yargıçlarının eline teslim edilecek, Başbuğ kendisi de 5 Ağustos 2013'te açıklanan Ergenekon hükümleriyle müebbet hapse mahkûm olacaktı. Erdoğan Gülen ile yollarını ayırıp FETÖ'cüleri ayıklamaya başladıktan sonra FETÖ mahkemelerinin hükümlerinin de bozulması kaçınılmaz hâle geldi. Başbuğ bednam Silivri cezaevinden 7 Mart 2014'te tahliye oldu. (Bkz.: "Demir Dağ Eriyor mu Ne?", 12 Mart 2014).

Erdoğan'ın Başbuğ'u ortak düşman Gülen'e karşı bir müttefik olarak görmesi gerekirdi, ama Başbuğ'un önerisine Cumhurbaşkanı'nın tepkisi tam tersi oldu. Makamının gerektirdiği tarafsızlık ve ağırbaşlılığı bir yana bıraktı ve kendi kapattırdığı Cemaat basınının ağzını kullanarak Başbuğ'a saldırdı. Daha da ileri giderek sözkonusu milletvekillerine Başbuğ'u dava etmeleri talimatını verdi, onlar da doğal olarak- doğalarına uyarak- bu buyruğu yerine getirdiler! Başbuğ'u milletvekillerinin dokunulmazlığını ihlâl etmeye teşebbüsle suçladı- HDP başkanı Selahaddin Demirtaş'ın hapiste olduğunu düşünürsek bu ilginç bir itham.

Ana muhalefet CHP bu sefer doğru olanı yaptı (her zaman yapmaz) ve Başbuğ'u destekledi. Arkasından CHP genel başkanı Kılıçdaroğlu ile Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan karşılıklı olarak birbirlerini FETÖ'cülükle suçladıkları bir mahalle kavgasına giriştiler.

Öbjektif olarak bakabilen herkes görmelidir ki, ikisi de haklı. Erdoğan ve partisi vaktiyle Gülen'in en yakın müttefikleriydi, ve Erdoğan bunu inkâr etmeyecek kadar dürüst olmakla birlikte FETÖ'cülere karşı operasyonları belli bir noktadan öteye taşımaya çekiniyor. Kılıçdaroğlu'nun CHP'si ise ABD'nin desteğini almak uğruna Gülen'e olumlu bakmaya çok karşı değil; nihayet Gülen din yoluyla manipülasyon için ABD'nin elindeki en güçlü araç ve ondan vaz geçmez. Halk ağız dalaşını horoz dövüşü seyreder gibi seyrediyor.

Bu arada farketmeden kendimizi Suriye hükümetiyle (hükümetin ağzıyla "rejimle") savaş halinde buluverdik. 10 Şubat 2020'de beş askerimiz Suriye'nin ateşiyle şehit edildi. Hemen karşı ateşle karşılık verildi ve "kanları yerde kalmadı", arkasından resmi ağızlar kaç misli "rejim" askerini "etkisiz halde bıraktığımız" konusunda böbürlendi. (Düşman, müslüman da olsa, "şehit" olmuyor!) Erdoğan millete durmadan intikam vadetmeye devam etti, oysa gerçek şu ki biz Suriye topraklarında davetsiziz. Erdoğan Şam ile doğrudan görüşmemekte diretiyor, Rusya'yı aracı olarak kullanmayı tercih ediyor.

Bizim Suriye topraklarına girme gerekçemiz, PKK'nın Suriye uzantısı saydığımız PYD/YPG'nin orada bir devlet kuracak duruma gelmesini önlemekti, çünkü böyle bir devletin Türkiye'ye daimi bir tehdit olacağını düşünüyorduk. (PYD/YPG'nin savaştığı İŞİD diye bildiğimiz DAEŞ'le biz de savaşıyorduk. İŞİD, ABD'nin Suriye'ye bulaşmasının bahanesi olarak yaratılmış, bu artık neredeyse kesinleşti. ABD, PYD/YPG'yi İŞİD ile savaşta müttefik sayıyor. Akla gelen şu: İŞİD halkı kaçıracak, PYD/YPG İŞİD'i yenecek, kovacak, boşalttığı yerlere kendi yerleşecek.)

Suriye'deki varlığımızın diğer bir gerekçesi de savaştan kaçan mültecilere Suriye içinde güvenli bölgeler yaratarak Türkiye içine akını durdurmak.

Şimdi birden bütün bunlar unutulmuş gibi; Putin'le yakın dostluk bozuldu, Cumhurbaşkanımız Cemaat'e yakın olduğu günlerdeki neo-Osmanlı ağzını kullanmaya başladı. (Bkz.: "Sivil Hükümetin Savaş Tamtamları", 18 Eylül 2012.) Şimdi atık varsa yoksak "zalim Eset" ve onun "gayrımeşru hükümeti"! İlginç bir tesadüf, Suriye'de hedeflerin değişmesi ve olası FETÖ'cü milletvekilleri adına alınganlık Cumhurbaşkanı'nın Kasım ayındaki ABD gezisinden sonra gerçekleşti. Bu önemsiz bir tesadüf olabilir, ama beş askerin şehit olmasından sonra ABD Suriye Özel Temsilcisi James Jeffrey'in hiç vakit kaybetmeden Türkiye'ye gelip "arkanızdayız" diyerek adeta azmettirmesi, bozuk Türkçe konuşarak gönlümüzü alması kesinlikle anlamlı. Anlaşılıyor ki sert konuşan, saldırgan, Osmanlıcı bir Erdoğan ABD için daha sevimli; söz dinlemeyen, önce kendi ülkesini düşünen hâlini sevmemişlerdi zaten. Yani ABD Gülen'le ortak olan Erdoğan'ı istiyor yine!

Sonu gelmeyen kim FETÖ'cü kim değil tartışması uzayıp giderken insan düşünmeden edemiyor: bu liderler neden hâla hiçbir şey olmamış gibi ABD temsilcileriyle görüşüyorlar, başkanlarına misafir oluyorlar ki? 15 Temmuz 2016 darbe teşebbüsü bir FETÖ darbesi değil miydi? Gülen ise ABD'de oturan, ABD tarafından korunan, kullanılan bir alet değil mi? ABD büyükelçisini sınırdışı etmemiz, uluslararası alanda büyük bir gürültü çıkarmamız gerekmez miydi? Yurtiçinde FETÖ'cü avı sürdürürken uluslararası alanda biraz mırıldanmaktan öteye gitmemek zihinde sorular uyandırıyor. Türkiye'den FETÖ'yü tasfiye etmek konusunda kim ne kadar samimi?

İki başkan, iki "first lady", Kasım 2019.

Niye halâ görüşüyoruz ki?

(Görüntü medyadan.)

Gülen cemaati AKP hükümetinin ilk on yılında Türkiye'yi İslâmlaştırılma ve milli duygulardan arındırma operasyonunun merkezindeydi. Bu yeni Türkiye bir neo-Osmanlı rüyasıyla uyutularak Ortadoğu'da ABD emellerinin uygulayıcısı ve aynı zamanda kurbanı olacaktı. Eğer Gülen'i Erdoğan'ın dönüşümünden önceki AKP ile özdeşleştirirsek, Gezi Türk halkının Gülen'e en büyük isyanıydı- o dönemde şahsına değilse bile temsil ettiği herşeye. Artık Erdoğan kendisi Gülen'in yeminli düşmanı hâline geldiğine göre Gezi hareketiyle barışmasından daha doğal birşey olamaz. Zaten zamanında Gezi hareketini bastırmak için çaba göstermiş birçok görevli- o günkü İstanbul valisi Avni Mutlu dahil- FETÖ zanlısı olmadı mı? Gezi olaylarının "destan yazan" polisleri de aynı gerekçeyle ince ince ayıklanmadı mı? Şimdi Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan herkesin yaşadığı, herşeyin son derece açık olduğu bir tarih parçasını baştan yazarak Gezi'yi Gülen'e maletmeye çalışıyor, hatta daha ileri giderek Gezi'yi

Gezi Atatürk'ün ulusunun AKP dinciliğine
direndiği spontane bir hareketti.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

bir ihanet süreci olarak yorumluyor. Bence bu, olabilecek herhangi bir yeni ayaklanma fikrine karşı gözdağı vermenin otoriter Erdoğan yolu, ama çok mantıklı bir yol değil; nihayet Gezi olaylarına nüfusun çok büyük bir kısmı katılmıştı ve bu insanların hepsi pekalâ hatırlıyor ki motivasyon özgürlük ve yurtseverlikti ve Gülen'in empoze etmeye çalıştığı uyuşuk mistik saçmalıklara da, yabancı bir süpergüce tapınmaya da karşıydı. CHP'nin nedense ilişkilendirmeye çalıştığı ayrılıkçı Kürt davasıyla da alâkası olmadığını yeri gelmişken belirteyim.

Şu noktada gittikçe otoriterleşen, halkın yarısını gücendirirken diğer yarısının ayranını kabartan bir Cumhurbaşkanımız, ABD'nin de icazetiyle Suriye'deki rejimi devirmek uğruna ölen askerlerimiz, Libya'da oradaki rejimi devirtmemek için ölen askerlerimiz, ve bir de tekleyen bir ekonomimiz var! Anneler ve babalar ülkenin birliği uğruna gerek yurtiçinde PKK'ya, gerekse sınırlarımızın ötesinde PYD/YPG'a karşı mücadele eden evlatlarını kaybetmeyi kabullendiler; uzak çöllerde daha soyut amaçlar için ölmelerini o kadar kolay hazmedemiyebilirler. Fütuhatçı Osmanlı şanına özlemin o kadar güçlü olduğunu sanmıyorum.

Suriye topraklarında Suriye "rejiminin" saldırısında şehit olmuş askerimiz.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

Bu yazının orijinali 27 Şubat 2020'de "Old Habits Die Hard" başlığıyla İngilizce olarak yayınlandı. Ertesi sabah haberlerde Suriye "rejim" ordusunun hava saldırısında 33 askerimizin şehit olduğu haberi geçiyordu. "Kanlarını yerde bırakmamak" adına karşı saldırıya geçen TSK kendi verdiği bilgilere göre yüzlerce "rejim askerini etkisiz hâle getirdi". Harekâtın adı bugün "Bahar Kalkanı" olarak kondu ve devam ediyor.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

ENGLISH:

I started this year in a positive tone; observed the relative calm in Turkish society in region of upheaval and expressed my wish that provokations cease at home and beyond our borders, allowing peaceful co-existence to take hold once again. (See: "2020-Unprovoked", 20 Aralık-December 2019.)

Since then, President Erdoğan has started showing worrying signs of returning to his old domineering self. It is certain he is not aware of the potential harm to his country and himself.

Erdoğan's momentous parting of ways with Gülen and his resistance to US policies had diminished objections to his administration, even though the changes he brought to the country's political system still rankled with the Kemalists. Erdoğan set about rooting out Gülen cult adherents in the government, military, police, judiciary, press, in short, almost everywhere he and his party had been instrumental in placing them. But not everywhere- most disturbingly, not the party, the very same party that had once been one with Gülen! The net result was that the small fries got prosecuted and the big cheeses didn't even bother to retreat discreetly into the wings.

Then on Jan. 28th 2020, on Haber Global TV, ex-Chief of Staff Ret. Gen. İlker Başbuğ came up with a statement that

Ex-Chief of Staff İlker Başbuğ.
(Image from the media.)

was deemed as provokative by some, though he was pretty much stating the obvious: he suggested investigating those parliamentarians who voted for a new law authorizing "Specially Assigned Courts" to try military men. This resolution, passed on June 26th 2009, delivered any and all military men directly into the hands of Gülen's judges, which was very handy during the Ergenekon, "Sledgehammer" and related show trials. Başbuğ was sentenced to life on the terrible day of the Ergenekon verdicts on August 5th, 2013. (See.: "Ergenekon Trials and Tribulations", 30 Ağustos- August 2013.) After Erdoğan parted ways with Gülen and started coming down on the adherents of Gülen's cult, it was only a matter of time before the verdicts were overturned. Başbuğ was released from the notorious Silivri prison on March 7th, 2014. (See: "Melting the Mountain of Iron", 4 Kasım-November 2014.)

One would expect that a wisened Erdoğan would find an ally in Başbuğ, opposing the common enemy Gülen, but President Erdoğan's reaction was quite the opposite. He threw all presidential reserve and dignity aside and hurled invective at Başbuğ, with a vocabulary very reminiscent of Gülen's press, which Eroğan had in the meantime closed down! Going further, he instructed said parliamentarians to sue Başbuğ. (And they followed suit!) He accused Başbuğ of attempting to violate the immunity of the members of parliament, which rings hollow when one considers Selahattin Demirtaş, chairman of the HDP, is in prison for his party's separatist agenda.

Opposition CHP did the right thing (something it does not always do) and stood by the general. What followed was a war of words between Erdoğan and CHP's Kılıçdaroğlu, who accused each other of being pro-Gülen. 

Anyone capable of evaluating objectively already knows both are right! Erdoğan and his AKP were once allied with Gülen- Erdoğan has enough honesty not to deny it, but seems reluctant to pursue persecutions beyond a certain point. Kılıçdaroğlu and his CHP have often coveted US support, which meant looking favourably on Gülen, the US tool in playing the religious card. The public watches the show like a cockfight.

Meanwhile, without even noticing, we have found ourselves engaged in war with the Syrian government. On February 10th 2020, five Turkish soldiers posted in Syria were killed, apparently by Syrian government forces. There was immediate retaliation and our government boasted about how many more Syrians were killed. Erdoğan kept talking revenge, ignoring the fact that we are in Syrian territory uninvited. Erdoğan's administration has persistently resisted contacting the Damascus government, preferring to use Russia as an intermediary.

We were supposed to be there to keep the PYD/YPG from creating a Kurdish state. Turkey sees the PYD/YPG as the PKK under a different name, and any state formed by them would be a permanent threat. (Turkey also fights DAESH , a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL, which is the excuse for the US presence in Syria- though it is all but certain that DAESH was custom-created by the US for just this purpose. The US considers PYD/YPG as allies in the fight against DAESH, so what springs to mind is that DAESH was created so that PYD/YPG could defeat it, and claim the land- Syria's land.)

Another reason for Turkey's presence in Syria is to keep safe areas within Syria for refugees escaping the fighting, and thereby avoid having to let them stream through the border.

All of that seems to be forgotten now; the close friendship with Putin has soured and Erdoğan's language has begun to remind the neo-Ottoman invective of the party's pro-Gülen days. (See: "War Drums of a Non-Militarist Government", 18 Eylül-September 2012.) Now it's all about what a demon President Assad is, and how necessary it is to remove him. It is interesting that these shifts- a sudden switch of objectives in Syria, defensiveness regarding alleged pro-Gülen MP's- came after Erdoğan's visit to the US in November 2019. That may or may not be significant, but US Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey's flash visit to Turkey certainly is; flying in right after the loss of five Turkish soldiers by Syrian fire, Jeffrey immediately assured us of US support, going as far as to steal our hearts with some broken Turkish. A haranguing, aggressive Erdoğan spouting neo-Ottoman rhetoric is obviously more to the liking of the US than a disobedient one that concentrates on the interests of his own country. The preference is for the kind of Erdoğan that had partnered with Gülen, in fact!

With all the talk about Gülen, accusations and counter-accusations about who is pro-Gülen and who isn't, it is mistifying to see these leaders even talking to a US representative, let alone be guests of the US President. With even the coup attempt of July 15th, 2016 ascribed to Gülen, clearly a US tool and resident in the US, there were grounds for expelling the US ambassador and raising a great international fuss. Conducting continuous manhunts in Turkey while doing nothing more than mumbling on the international scene begs some questions: how serious is anybody about trying to purge the country of Gülen's influence?

Two presidents and two first ladies in Washington, in November 2019.
Why are we even talking to them? 
(Image from the media.)

The Gülen cult was insturmental in the Islamizing and de-nationalizing of Turkey during the first decade of AKP rule. This new Turkey was being lulled into subservience, wrapped in a neo-Ottoman dream, to serve as tool for US designs in the Middle East. If we equate Gülen with AKP before Erdoğan's shift in 2013, the Gezi riots would be the greatest public reaction to Gülen, if not to him personally, but to what he represents. Now that Erdoğan too has become Gülen's sworn enemy, it would be most natural for him to make a truce with that movement. Indeed, many officials in authority at the time who attempted the stifle the movement, including the governor of Istanbul of the day, have since been disgraced as Gülen cult members, and the police who confonted the rioters were later vigorously purged for the same reason. Now Erdoğan seems eager to re-write a painfully obvious piece of history and present Gülen as the mastermind behind Gezi, and has recently equated the movement with treason! I believe this is authoritative Erdoğan's way of discouraging any future uprising against himself, but is very ill-advised considering what a large portion of the population

Gezi was Ataturk's nation resisting
AKP's Islamism, and was spontaneous.
(Image from the media.)

was involved in Gezi, and everyone involved would agree the motivation was patriotism and freedom, and had absolutely nothing to do with Gülen's dreamy mystical nonsense or subservience adulation of a foreign power. Nor had it anything to do with the Kurdish seperatist cause, as the CHP inexplicably tried to present it!

At this juncture, we have an increasingly authoritative President offending half the population and whipping up the passions of the other half, as he was once in the habit of doing, we have men engaged in combat and dying in Syria against that country's government (and cheered on by the US), more men, also dying, in Libya propping the government there, and a straining economy! Fathers and mothers who have resigned themselves to losing their sons in the fight against seperatism, whether inside Turkey against the PKK or south of the border against PYD/YPG, might not be so accomodating when it comes to sacrifices in distant deserts. The taste for Ottoman glory goes only so far.

Fallen in combat against the Syrian Government, inside Syria.
(Image from the media.) 

Note added on February 2nd 2020: The morning after pubication of this article, the media reported that 33 Turkish soldiers had fallen in an air attack by Syria. The Turkish Armed Forces retaliated in force and reported putting hundreds of soldiers of the Syrian "regime" out of action. Today the operation was given a name: "Spring Shield". It is continuing at the time of publication. 

2020- KIŞKIRTMASIZ

TÜRKÇE: (For English see "2020- Unprovoked")

Yıllar ilerledikçe bölgemizde yaşanılan rahatsızlıkların arkasında küresel menfaat odakları olduğu, bunların merkezinde ise ABD, onun yörüngesinde dönen güçlü batı devletleri, perde arkasında da çokuluslu şirketler, finans

Özgür Suriye Ordusu Halep'te hükümet yanlısı bir
militanı idama götürüyor, 2012 Ağustos başı. O
zamandan beri Özgür Suriye Ordusu müttefikimiz
oldu; bugün "Suriye Milli Ordusu" diyoruz,
kavramlar karışsın diye.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

merkezleri ve İsrail olduğu fikri ülkemizde geniş çapta kabul görmüştür. Karşı tarafta ise abluka altındaki Şam hükümetine silahlı destek veren Rusya var. Bölgenin lâneti olan farklılıklar, hassasiyetler, zaaflar ve önyargılar sistematik bir şekilde kaşınmakta, çatışmalar alevlendirilmekte, bundan da hep perde arkasındaki üst akıllar faydalanmaktadırlar- görünüşte olaylarla alâkasız, eller temiz.

ABD'nin Suriye'de varlığının bahanesi canavar terör örgütü İŞİD, ama onun bile bir ABD/ İsrail projesi olduğu da

İdlib savaşın kucağında. Mülteciler Türkiye'ye
(Görüntü medyadan.)

ülkemizde çok kabul görmüş bir değerlendirme; bölgenin en iflah olmaz, en fanatik unsurlarından biraraya getirilmiş bir sadistler sürüsü. Sözde varlık savaşı veren bu "İslâm devleti", uluslararası alanda tanınmak için hiçbir teşebbüse geçmiyor. (Bkz.: "İşid ya da Daeş", 2 Şubat 2016.) İşid'in yayınladığı ve çok yankı yapan idam videoları yapmacıklıkları ve acemilikleriye hiç de ikna edici değildi. Sözde idamdan önce sahne kararıyor zaten. Tabii iş batılı kurbanlarla ilgili olduğunda bu böyle. (ABD vatandaşıJames Foley ve David Sotloff ile İngiliz David Haines.) Ürdünlü pilotu yaktıklarını düpedüz göstermişler oysa. Bundan 8 Ocak 2015 tarihli "Next Year has to be Better" (Türkçesi yok) başlıklı yazımda bahsettim ama orada verdiğim link artık işlemiyor.

Fakat mesele Suriye ile kalmıyor- casus Lawrence'den beri Ortadoğu'nun hikâyesi bu! Şimdi geriye dönüp made in ABD, RAND Corporation ürünü Erdoğan-Gülen ittifakının bize yaşattığı Ergenekon ve Balyoz kâbusunu hatırladıkça ABD'nin ne kadar güvenilmez, arkadan vuran bir müttefik olduğunu unutmamız mümkün değil. Bugün Türkiye'de Putin'in çok takdir edilen bir lider olması hiç şaşırtıcı değil, Erdoğan'ın Rusya'ya yaklaşması ve ABD'yı darıltmak pahasına Rus füzeleri satın alması da geniş çapta kabul gördü. Yalnız şunu unutmamalı ki Rusya da bütün devletler gibi kendi menfaatlerini ön planda tutar; yakınlaşmayı enayilik noktasına getirmemek gerekir, NATO müttefiklerimizle yaptığımız hataya döneriz yoksa.


Ülkemiz dahil yaşadığımız coğrafyanın vekâlet savaşlarına bir arena hâline geldiğini hepimiz anladık, ama kaçımız provokasyonlardan etkilenmeyecek kadar bilinçli ve soğukkanlı olabiliyoruz? Dolduruşa gelince duygularımıza, hiddetimize yeniliveriyoruz. Gülen'le yolunu ayırdığından beri Erdoğan köktendinci, Osmanlıcı, Cumhuriyet karşıtı söylemlerini hafifleterek ve vatanperver, milliyetçi, hatta Atatürkçü bir görünüm da sergileyerek yurtsever ve lâik çevrelerin korkularını yatıştırdı. Fakat başta Erdoğan ve muhalefet lideri Kılıçdaroğlu olmak üzere siyasilerin mahalle ağzıyla atışmaları siyasi prim için halkı birbirine karşı tetikleyen tehlikeli bir oyun. Basın da sürtüşmeleri sorumsuzca dev aynasında büyütüyor.


Bölge barut fıçısı, ya da infilak halinde. Suriye iç savaşı devam ediyor, mülteciler Türk hududuna kaçışıyor. Lübnan

Irak, Kasım 2019.
(Görütü medyadan.)

ve Irak kaynıyor, Gürcistan ve İran'da da çalkantılar var.

Erdoğan ABD'ye diklenmeye başladığından beri ABD ve küresel menfaatler Türkiye'yi sıkıştırmaya çalışmakta ve ekonomimizi zorlamakta. Bütün bu şartlarda, bu gergin ortamda ülkemiz şaşırtıcı derecede sakin.

Türkiye'de toplumun fay hatları 2013'te Gezi olaylarıyla kırıldı ve halâ Gülen'le ortak olan, ABD'ye hizmet eden AKP'yi ve Erdoğan'ı ciddi şekilde salladı. Mayıs 2013'te Erdoğan Beyaz Saray'da onur konuğuydu, Gezi olayları birkaç gün sonra patlak verdi. (O senenin olaylarını 27 Aralık 2013 tarihli "Gezi Yılını Kapartırken" başlıklı yazımda özetledim.) ABD'nin Türkiye'yi dönüştürme, lâik cumhuriyeti tasfiye ederek uysal

Erdoğan ve Gülen, geçmiş zaman olur ki...
(Görüntü medyadan.)

bir din devleti haline getirip ABD'de oturan bir imamın aracılıyla yönetme operasyonu tehlikeye girmişti. Erdoğan ile Obama'nın aralarına soğukluk girdi. ABD/ Gülen etkisinin Türkiye'deki son büyük zaferi 5 Ağustos 2013'te verilen Ergenekon hükümleri oldu; Türkiye'nin aydınları, Atatürk'ün lâik cumhuriyetinin bekçileri uzun ve ağır hükümler giydi. (30 Ağustos 2013 tarihli "Ergenekon Trials and Tribulations" başlıklı yazım, Türkçesi yok.)

2013 sonbaharında Gezi direnişini canlandırmak için bir teşebbüs oldu, ama artık muhalefet CHP oyuna girmiş, Kürt bağımsızlığı davasını Gezi'ye bağlamaya çalışıyordu- bu da Gezi direnişini başlatıp yürüten halkın beklentilerini aksetmiyordu. (Buna 23 Eylül 2013 tarihli "Turkish Protest Rocks" başlıklı yazıda değindim, ama derinlemesine girmedim. Türkçesi yok.) ABD daima bağımsız bir Kürt devleti istemiştir, ve AKP'nin en önemli misyonlarından biri bunu

Kürt şarkıcı Şivan Perver ve Irak Kürt Yönetimi başkanı
Mesut Barzani, ikisi de paramiliter kıyafetli, Başbakan
Erdoğan ile Kasım 2013'te Diyarbakır'da.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

gerçekleştirmekti. Gerçekten de "açılım süreci" ile AKP bu yolda çok çaba harcadı, bunu yaparken batıdan alkış alırken ülke içinde destek kaybetti. Nihayet halkın nefret ettiği PKK ile görüşmeleri dondurdu. AKP'nin boşalttığı yeri CHP tereddütsüz aldı.

Müteakip aylarda Erdoğan Gülen'le yollarını sert bir şekilde ayırdı, Beyaz Saray da buna paralel olrak Erdoğan'dan uzaklaştı. Kılıçdaroğlu'nun CHP'si Türkiye'de iktidar yarışında destek karşılığında ABD'nin isteklerini yerine getirebileceği sinyalleri vermeye başladı.

Erdoğan'ın AKP'si eski günahlarına mesafe koymaya başladı, bazen inkâr etti, bazen özür dilemeye varan ifadeler kullandı. (Bkz.: "Hatasız Kul Olmaz", 12 Şubat 2014). Toplum

Operasyonlardan sonra Diyarbakır Sur, 2017.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

içinde gerginlikler azaldı, büyük gibi gözüken meseleler (başörtüsü gibi) önemsizleşti. Kürt bağımsızlığı davası ise halkın büyük çoğunluğunun benimsemediği bir meseleydi. "Açılımcı" Erdoğan üç sene sonra, 2017'de PKK'ya karşı operasyonlara başladığında itiraz eden pek olmadı. (Edenler de daha ziyade CHP'dendi.)

Genelde halkımız PKK'yı Kürt vatandaşlarından ayrı tutar, birbirleriyle karıştırmaz- bu batılı dostlarımızın göstermediği bir incelik. Toplumumuzda genelde Kürtler dışlanmaz, karşılıklı evlenmeler de olağandır. Provokasyon olmadıkça huzurlu bir beraberlik mümkün. Ama 2014'e dönelim.

Çok geçmeden Ergenekon ve Balyoz kumpas kurbanları özgürlüklerine kavuştu, bu sefer yargıya, polise, orduya sızan, basına çöreklenen Fetöcüler takibata uğramaya başladılar. Kimi kendilerini hapiste buldu, kimi kaçtı. Orduda kalanlar 15 Temmuz 2014'de bir darbeye teşebbüs ettiler. Erdoğan'ın destekçileri sokaklara döküldü, ama sadece onlar değildi sokaklara dökülen. Halk darbeye karşı durdu ve silahlı kuvvetler içinde Gülen cemaatine mensup olmayan askerler darbe teşebbüsünü sona erdirdi. O gece çok kan döküldü

15 Temmuz 2019- kanlı darbe gecesi.
(Görüntü medyadan.)

(240 üzerinde can kaybı) ama toplum içinde kalıcı bir yara açmadı- bütün partiler ve medya Gülen'i ve ABD'yi suçlamakta birleşti. Gerçi CHP destekçileri arasında darbeyi Erdoğan'ın kendi tezgâhladığı, bunu daha sıkı ve otoriter bir yönetim için bahane olarak kullanmak istediği yolunda bir rivayet dolaştı ama pek inandırıcı değildi. Neticede ABD yine yanlış hesap yapmıştı. Gezi direnişinden beri çok şey değişmişti. Görüş ayrılıkları bitmedi gerçi, bitmemesi de gerekir, ama Türk toplumu uzlaşma yoluna girmişti artık.

Düşmanlarımızın en çok istediği şey, birbirimizle düşmemiz- o zaman bizimle istedikleri gibi oynayabilirler. Sağ-sol çatışmasını hatırlayın, sonra dinci-lâik, cumhuriyetci-Osmanlıcı, Alevi-Sünni..! Ve bir milletin aslında bir aile olduğunu hatırlayın- hiçbir aile ferdi bir diğerine benzemez ama birlik ve dayanışma vardır. Yaşadığımız coğrafya da mahallemizdir, komşunun evindeki huzursuzluk bize de zarar verir. 

Kışkırtma olacaktır. Her zaman olmuştur. Önemli olan dolduruşa gelmemektir.

Büyük bir insan vaktiyle "yurtta sulh cihanda sulh" demişti.

Bunun için yüreklerimizde de sulh olması gerekir!

Hepimize mutlu yıllar!

Bu seneki yeni yıl mesajımız.

2020- UNPROVOKED

ENGLISH: (Türkçe için bkz. "2020- Kışkırtmasız")


As the years go by, more and more of our people have come to regard it as a given that a globalist power base is and has been the source of the region's woes- and the US is at the center of this power base, the Western Powers pretty much

Free Syrian Army militia leading pro-government militant
to execution in Aleppo, early August 2012.
Since then the Free Syrian Army has become our ally in Syria.
Today we call them the "Syrian National Army",
apparently to confuse the issue.
(Image from the media.)

the sattelites, with multi-national corporations, financial players, and Israel playing the eminences grises. Russia, on the other hand, gives armed military support to the beleaguered Damascus regime. The differences, sensitivities, weaknesses, biases and prejudices that plague the region have systematically been provoked and the conflicts escalated, always to the profit of the masterminds who lurk backstage, keeping an appearance of clean hands and distance. 

The terrifying ISIS, sometimes called ISIL, is the pretext for US involvement in Syria, but it is practically taken for granted here in our country that it is no more than a US/ Israeli operation; a band of sadists cobbled together from the the worst and most fanatical elements the geography has to offer. The "Islamic State" stands alone in the history of armed conflict as a would-be state conducting warfare without ever seeking recognition. ( See: "About 'ISIS' or 'ISIL' or 'DAESH'", 2 Şubat-February 2016.) The much-publicized execution videoclips released by the group look embarrasingly amateurish as long as the purported victims are westerners (US citizens James Foley and David Sotloff and Briton David Haines), with a fade-out before the actual act. (I mentioned this in my article "Next Year Has To Be Better", 8 January-Ocak 2015 but the video link to the alleged execution no longer works.) The Jordanian pilot burned to death was visibly real, however!

DAESH, a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL, the excuse for US presence in Syria!
(Image from the media.)

(Why is it called "ISIS" or "ISIL" anyway? They're acronyms of English words, "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria", and "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" respectively, whereas the Arabic equivalent "Daesh" is easy and snappy enough for English speakers. Is it because the English names were hatched first?)

War has raged on sovereign Syrian soil for years, and everybody and his brother have their fingers in the pie. Our country has been involved first in one way, then another over

Embattled Idlib. The refugees head for Turkey.
(Image from the media.)

the years. But most of all, it has been a war waged by small players, paramilitary groups with different acronyms, willingly or, as more often the case, unwittingly serving the interests of masterminds, puppetmasters who keep in the shadows, off the stage, in the wings, never getting their hands dirty: US, Western powers, gobal interests, major corporations, Israel, or all of the above. 

But this is not only Syria- it has been the story of the Middle East since Lawrence of Arabia. Now with the hindsight of the nightmare days of the US-backed, RAND Corporation concocted Erdoğan-Gülen alliance and the Ergenekon and "Sledgehammer" frame-ups, NATO ally US is a proven back-stabber not to be trusted. No wonder there is such a rising admiration in Turkey for Putin, and widespread support for Erdoğan moving closer to Russia and opting for Russian missiles, braving US discontent. We only need to keep in mind that Russia, like any state, will act in its own interests and there is no need to push rapprochement to gullibility- as we once did with our NATO allies.

We have all come to understand that our region, including our country, has become an arena for proxy wars, but we are still not wise and cool-headed enough to resist provokation, letting our tempers and our emotions get the better of us when goaded. Since parting ways with Gülen, President Erdoğan has toned down his fundamentalist, pro-Ottoman, anti-republican rethoric and taken a patriotic, nationalist, at times even Kemalist stance that has done much to soothe nationalist and secular anxieties, and reduce friction. But the bickering of politicians, particularly President Erdoğan vs. opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu, often using abusive language, is a dangerous game of amassing political points by triggering fellow citizens against each other. And the press only magnifies the differences, irresponsibly adding stress to the fault lines.

The geography is explosive; the Syrian civil war is raging on, with refugees streaming to the Turkish frontier once again. There are upheavals in Lebanon and Iraq, and unrest in Iran

Iraq, November 2019.
(Image from the media.)

and Georgia. With Erdoğan no longer the willing tool, the US/Globalist interests are applying pressure on Turkey in various ways, squeezing the economy. Turkey, however, is surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances.

The stress in Turkey peaked in 2013, when the Gezi uprising shook Erdoğan's AKP government, then still very much Gülen's partner and a tool of the US. Erdoğan was an honored guest in the White House in May 2013, the riots

The Gezi uprising of June 2013.
(Image from the media.)

broke out just days later! (I encapsulated the year and the Gezi riots in my article "Closing the Gezi Year", 27 December-Aralık 2013.) The US operation to transform secular and nationalist Turkey into an obedient theocracy led by America through a US resident imam (Gülen) was thrown into jeopardy. Coldness started to creep in between Erdoğan and Obama. The last hurrah of the US/ Gülen influence was the Ergenekon verdicts of August 5th, 2013  when Gülen's

Erdoğan and Gülen, way back when...
(Image from the media.)

judges, infiltrated through AKP's collusion over the years, passed out heavy verdicts to the cream of secular, Kemalist intelligentsia, the guardians of the Republic (See: "Ergenekon Trials and Tribulations", 30 August-Ağustos 2013). 

There was an effort to revive the Gezi movement in the Fall of 2013, but by then the opposition CHP had jockeyed in and launched an attempt to hijack the movement for the Kurdish seperatist cause- which did not gel with the public. (I notice this without dwelling on it in "Turkish Protest Rocks", 20 September- Eylül 2013). A seperate Kurdish state was ever

Kurdish singer Shiwan Parwar and Masoud Barzani,
leader of the Kurdish Autonomus Region in Iraq, both in
paramilitary attire, with Prime Minister Erdoğan
in Diyarbakır, November 2013.
(Image from the media.)

endorsed by the US, and was one of the most important missions of the AKP. Indeed, Erdoğan's AKP did much to bring it about, was applauded by the West for it, but lost much support at home, eventually freezing the talks it was

conducting with the hated PKK. The opposition CHP proved more than willing to take up the slack. 

In the ensuing months, Erdoğan broke off with Gülen

radically while the White House further distanced itself from Erdoğan. It certainly started to look like Kılıçdaroğlu's CHP was setting itself up to be the new tool of US interests in return for backing at home.

Erdoğan's AKP distanced itself from its previous sins, sometimes through denial, sometimes actual apology (See:

"To Err is Human", 26 January-Ocak 2014). Tensions started

Diyarbakır Sur district in 2017 after the crackdown.
(Image from the media.)

to ease, big issues (like the head-scarf) started to fade into insignificance. The Kurdish separatist cause left the general public cold. When the  new Erdoğan cracked down on the PKK in 2017, three years down the line, few voices (and those mostly CHP) had anything to say against it.

By and large, the public has made a clear distinction between ethnic Kurds and PKK's militants- a distinction the West does not make! So while Kurdish seperatism is not eyed with sympathy, Kurds as an ethnic group are not generally ostracized, and intermarriages are common. So there is a potential for harmony if not provoked. But back to 2014.

Before long, the victims of the Ergenekon and "Sledgehammer" prosecutions were free, and the Gülenist moles in the police, army, judiciary, and the press found themselves targeted instead. Many found themselves behind bars, others went on the run. The ones planted in the military attempted a coup on July 15th 2016; Erdoğan's supporters, but not only Erdoğan's supporters, poured out and did much to stop it, and the non-Gülenist elements in the military brought the attempt to a halt. (See: "Turkish Coup Attempt, July 15th 2016", 16 July-Temmuz 2016). Apart from the unusually large loss of life on the night of the

The bloody night of July 15th, 2016.
(Image fromthe media.)

coup (240 plus), the event didn't cause a major rift in the citizenry- all political parties, and the media, were unanimous in blaming Gülen and the US, though CHP supporters circulated the unlikely rumor that Erdoğan had staged it himself to create an excuse for strengthening his grip. The US had miscalculated- again. Too much had changed since the days of the Gezi riots. The political differences continue, as they should, but Turkey's citizens were already on their way to reconciliation.

There is nothing our enemies wish more than discord- it gives them a chance to manipulate us. Remember the days of Right vs. Left, followed by fundamentalist vs. secular, republican vs. pro-Ottoman, Alevi- Sunni..! Then remember a nation is a family: there will be differences between the members, but there should be unity and mutual support. And our geography is a neighbourhood, a community; discord in our neighbors' house spells trouble in our home as well.

There will be provokation. There has always been provokation. The thing to do is to resist!

As a great man said: "Peace at home, peace abroad."

And that can be achieved with peace in our hearts!

Happy new year!

Our seasonal message this year.