CHP threatens to seize media if it comes to power


Last week, the daily Turkish newspapers Star, Akşam and Güneş were threatened by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Secretary General Gürsel Tekin since they published the alleged private messages between CHP member Umut Oran and daily Taraf columnist Emre Uslu and claimed that Uslu was behind the FuatAvni Twitter account through which the "parallel structure" leaks confidential state information. Tekin said they would make an operation to seize the media if they win the June 7 general elections. In a press conference he held, Tekin said: "On June 8 and 9, our first job is to seize these filthy newspapers. We will not only seize them, we will ask for the accounts of all the businessmen who are involved with them."Tekin is not an ordinary person. He is the right hand of CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and one of the influential figures in the party. One could possibly even consider him as the next chairman of the party following Kılıçdaroğlu. The CHP and the other opposition party in Parliament, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have been stuck in a contradiction for a long time. This party, which regards itself as the founder of the country and as the party of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, used to have a certain stance until its previous leader Deniz Baykal started to chair the party. Positioned on a point close to the nationalist and bureaucratic state, this stance posed serious problems. It formed a convention that had problems with religion, saw large masses as a threat and leaned on elite capitals and media. And within this convention, they felt as if they were always in power since they were the party of the oligarchic bureaucracy. However, they had never deviated from their nationalist discourse and Kemalism. But they went under a change after the videotape operation against Baykal that broke out just before the elections on June 11, 2011. Baykal was discharged from his seat due to a sex tape scandal that eventually turned out to have been organized by the "parallel structure," and Kılıçdaroğlu took over his position. The same videotape operation was also made on some 11 deputies and party members of the MHP. Strange things started to happen in the CHP following that date. Particularly within the last two years, the CHP started to produce discourses and policies under the influence of the Gülen Movement. Kılıçdaroğlu even released illegal wiretapping records of police officers and prosecutors affiliated with the "parallel structure" in a parliamentary group. But he never mentioned the leaking of the secret talks held in the dead rooms of the Foreign Ministry, illegal searches of the aid trucks sent by the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) heading to Syrian Turkmens and wiretappings of all the state officials, including himself, press members and businessmen, a total of 5 million people. And lately, they reacted to the recent operation that was held to relocate the Tomb of Süleyman Shah to a safer place to save 38 military officers at the military outpost guarding the tomb. Their reaction was in a "non-national" trend reminiscent of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. However, the operation was conducted against the danger of a possible massacre that might have been organized by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) or intelligence members leaked in ISIS. Also, according to the CHP's known persona, this case was supposed to be regarded as a success that would be praised. CHP Deputy Faruk Loğoğlu responded to the developments by saying: "You attacked Syrian territory." However, when ISIS took 49 officers hostage at the Turkish Consulate in Mosul on June 11, 2014, the same CHP accused the government of not foreseeing the incident and not organizing an operation.The CHP even fell behind its own conventional and outdated nationalist line. And lately, its secretary general went too far saying that they would seize the media and arrest the businessmen close to the government if they come to power.It looks as if the genes of this party were modified. Probably it is closely related to the "parallel structure" and the videotape operation in 2011. As the investigations and cases on the "parallel structure" progress, we could have better insight into the content of this operation. But to be honest, I don't think we will be surprised by the results at all.