There is talk that during its final meeting of 2014, the National Security Council (MGK) decided to first declare the “parallel structure” an “internal threat” and then to conduct research on the extent to which it poses an “external threat.” Following that, in April, when the “Red Book” is revised, this structure will be classified as a “National Security Threat.”
(The parallel structure and community are terms used to refer to the Fethullah Gülen-led movement, and the Red Book is a top-secret national security policy document.)
Following the coup attempts of Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013, I penned two articles that delved into the dimensions of the “internal threat” and “external threat.” In my article dated Jan. 20, 2014 which was titled “The community is becoming an external force,” and article dated Feb. 6, 2014 which was titled “First the community became an external force; now it is becoming an external threat,” I drew attention to the fact that the parallel structure’s connections with regard to its Turkey project surpassed by far the community’s own ambitions, and in operational terms were connections meant to “strike Turkey from outside.”
Using someone else’s stick to beat Turkey with is not a new disease. For years some people with links to circles and institutions with real influence in the United States used the U.S. stick to spread terror domestically; businessmen, intellectuals, and media outlets backed by them, formed and dissolved governments; and soldiers backed by them, carried out coups.
People and circles with strong connections to the European Union joined this group at a later stage. They, too, carried out political operations, issued threats on occasion, and forced Turkey into certain actions on the back of the strength that they drew from European capitals. Both circles were the forward extensions of pro-Atlantic tutelage in Turkey. They drew their strength from that, and had no fundamental principles on the basis of which they could be taken seriously inside Turkey.
COMMUNITY REPLACES WASHINGTON AND BRUSSELS’ ‘MEN’
Let us not confuse the defending of good relations with the United States, and supporting harmony with the EU, with being extensions of these forces. They are different things. What I mean by using someone else’s stick to beat Turkey with is carrying out effective operations to bear influence; such as issuing orders, bringing it into line, bringing it to its knees when deemed appropriate, shaping politics based on their wishes, directing the economy, and managing the perceptions and interests of society.
These circles acted like office holders of tutelage and heaped pressure on Turkey for years, declared war against anything that would erode their influence domestically, and when required, presented an image of a well-formed front. During the last 10 years, however, they began to rapidly lose their impact. Many of their extensions in the media are nowhere to be seen these days. A native quest, unique to itself, came to prominence in Turkey, and an extraordinary public initiative of self reliance gained in strength.
The calculations made by these forces to take power were weakened and they were no longer capable of shaping politics based on that. The Gülen community was used to overcome this loss. In this respect, the community was newly discovered and spurred into action on the basis of its strength within the state, its strong connections abroad, and its extensive reach in society.
Community circles were given the role of “using someone else’s stick to beat Turkey with,” to drag it back to manageable proportions, and to make it dependent once again.
THE MASTERMIND IS MERGING THEM INTO A SINGLE FRONT
The Dec. 17 intervention needs to be seriously examined within these dimensions. Just like the external links of the Feb. 28, 1997 military intervention should be examined. They increasingly resemble one another.
The secret behind the anti-Turkey howls issued by the same circles in the wake of the failed intervention lies in this. They are settling accounts with Turkey by resorting to EU institutions and their spheres of influence in the United States. They try to depict an image that injustice was done, and that the world’s conscience is being mobilized to confront this injustice.
Whereas in truth, the mastermind behind the intervention launched on Dec. 17, which was intended to reshape the domestic political system and put a halt to Turkey’s great march and to re-impose tutelage, is now taking revenge on Turkey based on these claims of victimization.
This is the reason behind the sudden alignment on the parallel level of circles that seemed totally unrelated to one another, and were known to have previously resorted to using the sticks of the United States and Europe. People and circles that don’t see the community as a problem, and have no connection to their world view, can also suddenly join this “common front,” partially due to their personal resentment of the political leadership. These days someone must be bringing together all those tasked with wielding a stick to form a single front.
IT FIRST BECAME AN EXTERNAL FORCE; NOW IT IS AN EXTERNAL THREAT…
When I say “the community is becoming an external force,” I am taking into account its actions of the last 20 years where it established close ties with circles that have proved destructive for Turkey and the region, its sympathy for the neoconservatives and the Israeli extreme right, and its collaboration with circles that Turkish society is enraged with. Every single one of these circles has a stained record when it comes to political and economic actions directed against us. Each one is powerful, central, and has strong influence in the Western system.
It is striking that the manner in which Fethullah Gülen and his circle choose to address Western media, the centers they choose for this purpose, and their attempts to cooperate with these centers and generate an anti-Turkey breeze; are the very centers that voluntarily support the thesis of “we couldn’t bring down the government via domestic means, so let us attack it from the outside.”
I had tried to draw attention to the issue that in the immediate wake of Dec. 17, the Gülen group quickly became disassociated and estranged from Turkey and took on the shape of an external force. In time, it used its foreign extensions to form a strong anti-Turkey lobby.
But there was something even worse than becoming an external force and becoming estranged. There was a strong possibility that the parallel structure would use its external connections and backers to start an attritional war and become an “external threat.” This, too, materialized.
The process to wear down the MİT (National Intelligence Organization), the attempted purge of the AK Parti (Justice and Development Party) leadership on Dec. 17, and the dimension of the war on capital waged on Dec. 25 clearly reveal external influences. The web of relations is clear to see when it is taken into account that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was even used to tap German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Merkel in turn eavesdropped on Turkey; and the truth is out in the open that the parallel intelligence web is the NSA’s extension in Turkey.
If you listen to what the parallel structure’s circles with influence in the EU and the United States, who move in concert, have to say, you will then see who the organizers behind this organization are.
IT WILL EVEN POSE A THREAT TO THE ‘MASTERMIND’
The strange part is that it looks like the parallel structure, which has become an external threat for Turkey and is being exploited by certain centers for their anti-Turkey operations, will later become an “internal threat for the countries that are now exploiting it.” It is then that real hell will break loose. When that time comes, the countries that are urging it to strike at Turkey will dismantle this structure that is using them to strike at Turkey today, and will throw it out by declaring it a threat.
The parallel structure now presents both an internal and external threat to Turkey. In all probability, it will continue to be a National Security Threat for years. What I am really curious to know is when will the countries that are currently exploiting it declare it an internal threat.
Once it loses its power of being an effective card to use against Turkey, then the countries that it has tied its hopes to will also declare it to be a threat. Wait and see…
