Last week, I began to pen the story of Turkey's parallel state, and summarized how Fethullah Gülen's organization replaced themselves with the deep state. As I discussed in that article, the year 2011 saw a number of suspect actions by the police and justice system following the Gülen Movement's infiltration of the judiciary. Almost every day there was a new raid or investigation. Not only was the magnitude of the witch hunt disturbing, but there were serious allegations of forgery.
In the lawsuit concerning the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) coup plot, which allegedly dates back to 2003, the Gülen Movement was accused of planting evidence. Or in the Oda TV case against an ultra-nationalist news website, Turkey witnessed several bizarre kinds of journalistic activities. For example, Samanyolu Haber, a news channel of the Gülen Movement, reported an interim verdict for the Oda TV trial 21 minutes before the judges made their declaration. These kinds of peculiarities convinced people that there was a direct connection between the Gülenist media and the authorities of the courts.
Meanwhile, not only Kemalists, but other groups were suffering from the parallel state's victory too. Gülen media networks tried to link the rigging case against football club Fenerbahçe with Ergenekon. A charismatic Sufi preacher who dared to raise his voice against Fethullah Gülen was arrested on charges of alleged human trafficking, extortion and running a prostitution ring. In the recent Dec. 14 operation against several prominent Gülenists, the movement is accused of producing fabricated evidence in 2010 against a group called "Tahşiye." A religious community which - like Gülen - follows the teachings of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, Tahşiye is led by Mehmet Doğan, who was critical of Fethullah Gülen. It is now revealed that hand grenades allegedly found by Gülenist police during the Ergenekon investigation were the same ones claimed to be found in the Tahşiye raids. This, of course, shows that the Gülenist police planted the same evidence at two different scenes.
In short, all who refused to bow to Gülen were portrayed as criminals by the Gülen media network before being arrested, or vice versa. By 2012, almost everyone except the Gülenists themselves considered Gülenists to be the new shadow state in Turkey. Even ordinary people were suspicious that their phones may have been wiretapped. On Feb. 7, 2012, Gülenists put the government in their sights. A Gülenist prosecutor summoned the chief of national intelligence, Hakan Fidan, and two retired officials for questioning related to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) investigation, where around 2000 people - mostly Kurds - were detained on charges of founding a clandestine Kurdish network.
It is often reported in the news media that Erdoğan and Gülen were once allies and that they recently became enemies. However, contrary to common belief, Erdoğan's AK Party and the Gülen Movement were already in a state of cold war, due to the fact that ever since the last general elections, Erdoğan has rejected the movement's demand for more power within the state and the government. An attempt to detain Fidan, a bureaucrat trusted by Erdoğan, was the first direct attack of the Gülenist judiciary, and it occurred when Erdoğan was undergoing surgery. Erdoğan expressed his anger with the words "Put me [in jail] if you will [dare]," against those prosecutors, implying that he was the main target. The struggle with the emerging Gülenist deep state commenced less than one-and-a-half years after the movement seized power with the constitutional referendum. The Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 operations in 2013 were the last attempt by a parallel state to overthrow the government. Corruption allegations and the doctored tapes of wiretapped conversations were their last remaining hand. They could not trick Turkey's public, even if they are successful at deceiving the world. Regardless of what they claim, the story of the Turkish parallel state is about to end.
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