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4 August 2013 /ALİ ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA
It seems that several critical issues will occupy the country's agenda during the month of August.
Among the top items that are anxiously awaited are new developments in the settlement process launched by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to find a peaceful and political solution to the decades-old Kurdish dispute and armed conflict as well as the announcement of the democratization package prepared by the government to address problems faced by different groups of people in society. However, it is also feared that there may be a new wave of protests soon, similar to the Gezi Park protests, in order to re-escalate social tension.It seems that marginal groups, terrorist organizations and their external supporters will not look for a new excuse to increase social tension and present the image of a chaotic atmosphere of street demonstrations in the international media. They will try to maintain the Gezi Park-Topçu Barracks tension. They will use the commemoration ceremonies for those who lost their lives in the Gezi Park protests, the arrests and trials of those who are suspected of organizing protests and being involved in violence in the course of the protests as an excuse to re-escalate the tension and organize new street demonstrations. The fact is that it is not difficult for those who want to raise the level of tension in society to find an excuse.
They would also consider the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases an opportunity to create tension. It is expected that the court hearing the Ergenekon terrorist organization case that started six years ago after 27 hand grenades were seized in a small house in Ümraniye will announce its final verdict on Aug. 5. There are 275 Ergenekon defendants in the case and 66 were detained, including former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ and Republican People's Party (CHP) deputies Mustafa Balbay and Mehmet Haberal. Haberal is also a former Başkent University rector. Neo-nationalist groups have called on Gezi Park protesters to come together in İstanbul's Silivri district on Monday in order to support the Ergenekon suspects.
As a counter-attack against the attempt to get people to take to the streets and force the government to resign, the government will announce the democratization package to prevent provocateurs from manipulating ordinary citizens. Most importantly, the package includes items that will contribute greatly to the settlement process. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) officials and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leaders in the Kandil Mountains have been trying to apply psychological pressure to the government to move into the second stage of the settlement process and increase people's expectations about the package. The latest remarks of the imprisoned leader of the terrorist PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, about his deep discontent with the slow progress being made in the ongoing settlement process is just one example of these efforts.
The ministers and AK Party executives who are members of the commission established to prepare the democratization package consider the BDP and PKK statements an attempt to take the leadership role away from the government. It seems like the BDP and the PKK are trying to tell their supporters, “The government took all these steps because we forced them to.” This is why the AK Party underlines that they did not prepare the democratization package via negotiations and this is why the package aims to address the losses of all social segments who were greatly victimized by the military guardianship regime.
When the package meets the demands of not only the Kurds but also religious people, Alevis and non-Muslims regarding fundamental rights and freedoms, the provocateurs who want to manipulate these people by using their demands will be weakened.
The second step that will defuse social tension is the new constitution. Depending on the effects of the democratization package on society, the government may save the new constitution card until October, but the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission has already increased the number of articles on which the members have reached consensus from 48 to 60. An increase in the number of articles that the commission agrees on is very important for social peace because it, too, will weaken the hand of those who seek to escalate social tension.
August looks to be a challenging month for Turkish politics, since both those who want to ensure social peace and the others who try to create social tension and chaos will exert their best efforts to achieve their goals.
Greek FM spokesman distorts facts
After a Today's Zaman article titled “Terrorists sheltered by Greece may attack Turkish, American interests” was published on July 26, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Konstantinos Koutras responded by saying, “The heavy death toll Greece has paid in the struggle to combat terrorism precludes our even commenting on, much less denying, such articles, which are well beyond the bounds of bizarre and inexplicable conspiracy theory.”Before the publication of the story, Today's Zaman asked Greek Ambassador to Turkey Kyriakos Loukakis about the allegations of Greece shifting terrorists to Syria in an email on July 23. The Greek ambassador said he would give a response to Today's Zaman within 24 hours. However, after 48 hours elapsed without a response, we decided to run the story and published the article in both the online and print editions. We also noted that the Greek Embassy was asked to comment but did not respond to the paper's inquiry.
The reply from the Greek Embassy was sent to Today's Zaman on the evening of July 25 by Georgios Dimitriadis, chargé d'affaires of the Greek Embassy in Ankara. Because the piece had already gone to publication, the response only appeared on the website of Today's Zaman. Therefore, Koutras' claims that the government was not given a chance to comment on the article are not true; the Greek Embassy sent a response to the claims in the story after the publication of the article. We put the belated comment on our website in order to be fair.
By the way, the events of July 30 -- the apprehension of Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) suspects that were captured bringing arms and explosives to Turkey from the island of Chios, Greece, confirmed our story.