Turkey has a busy agenda. I think the efforts to discipline Russia through oil prices and Russian President Vladimir Putin's laying down his Turkey card by announcing that gas will be transferred to Europe through Turkey are among the agenda topics that deserve the most thorough analysis. I might have discussed this strategic move of Russia and focused on the move's effect on Syrian politics or disadvantages for Turkey, although it seems a profitable step for Turkey.
Several weeks ago, there was a second development. The reconciliation process, which became turbulent after the Oct. 6-7 Kobani demonstrations, was put back on the rails. Did it really get back on the rails? Does the PKK really want peace? Which incidents caused a crisis of trust in Ankara? I could also have analyzed this.
I will discuss all these topics in detail later, but now it is time to complete the task I left unfinished in my previous column. Previously, I pointed out that secularists, Turkish nationalists and the Kurdish political movement in Turkey have problems with Gülenists due to the unjust arrests and operations of prosecutors and police officers affiliated with the movement and the various claims revolving around them. And due to the latest developments, Gülenists are now encountering conservative circles in Turkey. I also portrayed the "worthless solitude" of Gülenists in Turkey.
This solitude of the Gülen Movement is also reflected in the reactions against the operations conducted for illegal wiretapping and some offenses the movement is alleged to be involved in. So far, many Gülen Movement-linked police officers have been either arrested or discharged from duty due to illegal wiretapping. Secularists, nationalists, the Kurdish political movement and conservatives did not object to the operations on illegal wiretapping since there is a strong belief among these groups that these prosecutors and police officers were involved in various illegal practices that could be regarded as interference in the private lives of citizens.
I exclude the opposition parties such as the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from this evaluation due to their quest for politically manipulating the Dec. 17 operation and their political conflicts with the government. Here I will focus on the reactions of the masses voting for these parties. I have observed that these constituencies, who saw Gülenist prosecutors and police as being behind the previous operations, now expect justice to be served.
Serving justice does not mean charging only those who are proven guilty. It also demands the Gülenist structure, which has promoted many irregularities due to its interests in intelligence and private life and aroused suspicion, to be transformed into a more transparent and civilian structure. In this scope, the dubious structure of the Gülen Movement, which acts within legitimate limits, practices arbitrary implementations within the state to don the guise of a reputable civil society structure and ravages the laws, is required to be clarified again in legitimate limits and within the bounds of law. And thanks to that, they would lose their greatest weapon, which means 'disarming' the movement, which arbitrarily manipulates the public through civil servants affiliated with them.
As an ally of Turkey, the U.S. should help Turkey in the process of turning the Gülen Movement into a transparent structure and bereave it of the public force it arbitrarily uses. This help can begin with the return of Pennsylvania-based Fethullah Gülen to Turkey, for whom a Red Notice is expected to be issued.
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