During a recent interview by Turkish newspaper Taraf, American journalist Henri Barkey said nobody in the U.S. believed that the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 operations were coup attempts to topple the government and that they even ridiculed these arguments. The same newspaper had the most preposterous fabricated news against the government under the cloak of journalism. In another interview published in the same newspaper, a professor named Ayhan Aktar explained the reason why bonzai use is escalating in the country: "The Kabataş-Üsküdar ferries were banned. When I was a student in the 1970s, ferries used to operate until morning. The public administration says that if you go to Beyoğlu in the evening, you should return home at 1:00 a.m. at the latest. These are small tricks." According to Aktar, since the government prevents youngsters from drinking alcohol, they are inclined toward such cheap drugs such as bonzai.For a week now, we have been making fun of Barkey and Aktar's statements as we took the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 operations very seriously. Turkey hardly survived a coup that was staged under the pretense of a corruption operation. It is impossible for Barkey to fathom this reality, but those Americans who wonder about the matter may obtain evidence about the Gülen Movement's organization from the Turkish government. The same evidence was also delivered to U.S. authorities.As the U.S. and other European countries are not familiar with that organization, which infiltrated the country's bureaucracy and attempted to stage a coup, they may have difficulty in understanding Turkey's situation, which is quite understandable. If they need to know about the facts in Turkey and world correctly, rather than making fun of them, I highly recommend they look at the events a little more closely and avoid trusting prejudiced sources.Just like the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) base and Turkish society, every society is of course extremely sensitive to corruption. The Turkish society was not convinced that these two successive operations were not ordinary corruption probes. Therefore, they supported the AK Party and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the March 30 local elections and Aug. 10 presidential election.Corruption may take place even in the most advanced democracies, but there is no room for autonomous structures that dominate judiciaries in those democracies. When the public was pushed to make a choice during past elections, they found claims of tutelage coups more realistic and dangerous than so-called corruption. The case file of the Dec. 25 operation, which targeted Erdoğan's son and wife as well as 30 giant companies' managers, has been nonsuited, while the file of the Dec. 17 operation has turned into an indictment.This is an important point in that Dec. 25 was literally a political operation staged to Erdoğan. The news prosecutors who have been assigned to examine this file were unable to hide their astonishment. The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which is the administrative jurisdiction unit that regulates duties, powers and responsibilities of judges and prosecutors, is still under the dominance of this parallel structure. The HSYK elections that will be held on Oct. 12 is considered just as critical as the presidential election. We cannot expect Americans to understand this since the judiciary in Turkey is an ideological tool taken over by the parallel structure of the Gülen Movement.Henri Barkey, who has served in Turkey for many years and knows Turkey very well, may have negative opinions of the AK Party government and some of his arguments may be true. However, this should not harm his journalistic objectivity. Otherwise, just like Ayhan Aktar and many others, he will lose credibility in Turkey, which means a dramatic end for him rather than being a laughing matter.