Opposition can’t be bothered with politics

The opposition parties in Turkey want to end the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's rule by any means possible, which is hardly surprising, considering they have not won an election in 12 years. Here I am not talking about their political campaigns or meetings. The majority of opponents are accustomed to overthrowing conservative governments via military means, and have been taking their seats in parliament via such means for years. And thanks to this comfort zone, they prefer to take power through conspiracies or coups together with other dominant forces instead of the more demanding methods of public persuasion.

Turkey's recent history, which has seen three explicit coups and innumerable memorandums and coup attempts, presents clear evidence of this shameful record of the opposition in terms of their attitude toward democracy.

Their latest attempt has been via the Constitutional Court, which was founded after a military coup, and now dangles over Parliament like Damocles' sword. Moreover, they cooperated with a structure that was illegally organized within the state by going beyond political and democratic limits. Their latest adventure, which ended with a defeat, started on Dec. 17, 2013.

A scandalous investigation was launched by a group in the police department and judicial bureaucracy, which is alleged to have ties with Fethullah Gülen, a former imam who fled to the U.S. in 1999.

The investigation had so many unlawful and strange aspects to it, that media outlets with links to the Gülen Movement had to lend a hand to the prosecutors that were alleged to be affiliated with Gülen's network, which is also known as Cemaat. Since the prosecutors did not have much data, the investigation was conducted through the manipulation of the press. Arrest warrants were issued for the defendants without the packages where proof was stored being opened. Even the record of proceedings was written beforehand.

As a result, Turkish jurisdiction said it would stop the unlawful behavior. The prosecutor's office gave a verdict of non-prosecution during the investigation on the individuals, including the ministers from the AK Party. So, according to the decision of the Turkish court, which is a member of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and all the relevant international agreements, there was no offence to investigate or prosecute. Lately, the prosecutors of the investigation launched on Dec. 17 were suspended from duty on the grounds of bribery and violation of defendant rights.

However, the opposition has been making use of the arguments of this operation, believed to be perpetrated by the Gülen Movement, even though they see the movement as a threat to democracy. The AK Party government, on the other hand, has overcome two elections after those claims were legally refuted. Consequently, it confronted the voters with the political charge of the claims.

But nevertheless, the AK Party government proposed the foundation of a parliamentary inquiry commission to investigate the claims that are clearly regarded as a judicial coup by the public. The opposition parties were also represented in the commission. According to the commission's decision, either the ministers from the AK Party who were charged, would be retired in the Constitutional Court, or the charges made against them would be completely discarded.

After much work and effort, the Parliamentary commission announced its decision on Monday. The Commission decided on the retrial of the ministers with five votes in favor, while nine deputies voted against it.

All the judicial decisions in Turkey are open to the supervision of the ECHR. Moreover, Article No. 90 of the Constitution guarantees that in the case of a conflict between international agreements, the provisions of international agreements shall prevail. Also, each legal step in Turkey is supervised by the EU through the chapters they open.

However, the opposition is not confident in the decisions of the court, which has the authority over Parliament of which they are members. Despite this, they have embraced the arguments of an illegal group that autonomously acts within the state and violates the political and democratic limits; and what is worse, they also recognize the illegality of this group.

We often speak about how the Gülen Movement, which boasts an effectual lobby abroad, manipulates the incidents. However, the picture is serious for the vast majority of the Turkish public, as they have witnessed these incidents. The Turkish opposition, which has cooperated with the military in the past, now behaves as if it did not have a role in the judicial coup staged before the eyes of the people, and it still investigates the causes of its inability to come to power during the last 12 years.

Is this situation tragic or comic? The answer comes from Karl Marx: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."