Sledgehammer on Turkish Justice System

Anyone who is following Turkish news closely will, no doubt, believe that the Turkish government under Erdogan is so much tainted that it would probably take longer than the Ergenekon case to try first Erdogan and his cabinet members and then all the AKP local council leaders all over the country due to the massive corruption they have been involved in during the past 11 years.

The amount of money they have illegally raked in is billions of dollars considering that only Bilal Erdogan (PM’s son) still had 30 million euros to clear after a full day of money clearance work on 17^th December, when there was a major graft probe that involved the arrest of ministers’ sons and key businessmen. The money, dirty networks, and the empire of power they have illegally gained and built are a big scandal, doubtless. However, to me, a bigger scandal than this is the weakened and threatened judiciary which is now unable to touch any corrupt person related to the AKP party! Hundreds of prosecutors have been discharged of duty with a hollow “parallel state” bubble and around 10,000 police officers have been appointed to positions where they would not dare investigate a corruption case.  

Especially, since the HSYK bill was passed, the Justice Secretary has been the Supreme Judge in the country who has been granted the power to meddle in any case he wishes to. Within hours after the bill was passed, ministers’ sons and Reza Zarrab (said to be Iran’s money laundering tool based in Turkey) were all released! Just to remember, Baris Guler, former Interior Minister’s son, was caught with 1 million Turkish liras (£250,000) cash in his house. Suleyman Aslan, general manager of Halkbank, was caught with $4,5 million dollars in his bedroom. Do I still need to comment on how nasty Erdogan and his AKP party are? There is also no point in emphasising the danger the Turkish justice system is facing. We have seen this film before in Saddam Hussain’s Iraq, Muammer Gaddafi’s Libya and now in Assad’s Syria. The calamities and chaos the dictators in Iraq, Libya and Syria have caused not only in those countries but worldwide are sufficient to tell us how gross the chaos and security problems of an emerging dictator like Erdogan will be.

In the leaked recording below, PM Erdogan and Former Justice Secretary Sadullah Ergin are heard talking about how they can put pressure on the judge of a trial dealing with a media tycoon (Mr Aydin Dogan)’s case. The voice recording, which was leaked onto the Internet late on Monday, revealed that Erdoğan ordered Ergin to pressure the judge to give the desired result by convicting Dogan of a violation of the Capital Markets Law:

In the same voice recording Ergin is also heard saying “Nearly 2,000 friends who were lawyers practicing in the private sector are being transferred into the system”. The bubble of parallel state is now fully exploded onto the face Erdogan and et al who actively meddle in the judiciary system but blame Gulen, who has on many occasions denied the allegations. 

* For those still unsure about the authenticity of the recordings, Erdogan admitted that the conversation took place between him and Ergin. Ref: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/25948686.asp 

Turkish PM Erdogan’s Mutah* with Iran

Turkish PM Erdogan’s Mutah* with Iran

It is not surprising that Erdogan said that he had felt 'in his second home' on his visit to Iran after two years since his last visit. One wonders why Erdogan found Iran so welcoming particularly considering the tension between Turkey and Iran over Syria until only two months ago. He blamed Iran on a number of occasions for adding more fuel to the fire in the Syrian conflict. Iran did not deny its political and military support to the Assad regime which is responsible for around 100,000 people’s death. Moreover, the Assad regime has become more empowered and encouraged by Iran’s large-scale support through which Shia groups claim ownership of the country in their fight against the opposition.

Just next door to Turkey, several Syrian cities have fallen into the Nusra Front, which is a branch of Al-Qaeda. On the other hand, another terrorist group PYD, which is part of the terrorist group PKK, also supported by Iran, was offered an opportunity to position itself on the northern part of Syria bordering Turkey.

Now that Iran is so much engaged in producing support for terrorist groups that will create long-lasting tension in the region and particularly destabilise Turkey’s democratic gains, why has Erdogan needed to have this mutah (temporary marriage esp for sexual enjoyment, a pre-Islamic tradition) with Iran? There is not just one answer to this question; Erdogan is now so tainted with corruption and deadly political manoeuvres that he is about to sink the ship that he has been the captain of for 11 years. The alleged amount of corruption Erdogan and his ministers and close business allies are involved in is said to be tens of billions of dollars. However, this is not as dangerous as Erdogan’s turning its back to the West and facing the East to form partnerships with his like-minded radical dictators. As his nasty relations with the terrorist groups have now been made public, Erdogan will increase his violent tone to find a culprit for the revelations of his empire of massive and endemic corruption.

Erdogan and the Turkish intelligence chief were caught with the “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” Yasin Al-Qadi less than a year ago. Al-Qadi is a blacklisted terrorist funding the operations of Al-Qaeda worldwide. Erdogan is in serious trouble now. After the flotilla crisis which he and his party were the reasons for, this revelation will put him in great danger not only domestically but also abroad. According to reports these dirty relations with the radical groups which have been pouring fortunes into terrorist activities globally will most likely lead to Erdogan’s being tried at the Hague.

Erdogan can no longer hide his fundamentalist Islamist views which he and the current President Gul, who has approved almost all the draconian and anti-democratic bills prepared by the AKP government, inherited from their first leader, Erbakan, the founder of the National View, the Islamist political ideology and movement.

According to the report published on Karsi, the Turkish daily, on 21^st February 2014, the shadowy meeting took place at Halic Congress Centre on 14^th April, 2013.

This revelation is one of tens of recent revelations about Erdogan and his party’s corruption and dirty relations that add no more than fuel to the tension at home and abroad.

The Turkish public is now braced for the local elections that will take place on 30^th March. Everyone knows that the result of the election is so crucial. It is so crucial that if Erdogan gets fewer votes than the previous elections, the mutah between Erdogan and Iran may last only for a short while with painful joy, especially on Erdogan’s side. However, it should be noted here that the mutah of Hakan Fidan, the Turkish Intelligence Chief, Turkey’s No.2 man, with Iran may last longer as, according to the report in Wall Street Journal, he has reportedly been a close ally of Iran passing intelligence to them and shaping Turkey’s policy in line with Iran’s benefits.

Finally, an important note here for the UK is that Hakan Fidan’s deputy,  Abdurrahman Bilgic, is on his way to London to take over the Ambassador role from his predecessor in June 2014. His appointment to London is considered as retaliation to the UK, which allegedly wiretapped Erdogan and his ministers. It is my firm belief that we should revisit our foreign policy in dealing with the new Turkish bureaucrats and politicians who are very close to Iran.

* Private and verbal marriage contract between a man and an unmarried woman for a specified period of time; a temporary marriage. A pre-Islamic tradition that still has legal sanction among Twelver Shiis, predominantly in Iran. … Sunni jurists reject the validity of this type of marriage.  The object of mutah is sexual enjoyment and not procreation.

References: 

http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100218940

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/08/world/meast/syria-civil-war-compare/

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303643304579107373585228330

http://www.aksam.com.tr/siyaset/erdoganin-istegiyle-c2londraya-ince-ayar-c2-c2/haber-274484