MİT won this time, but be careful
Finally it’s over. The prime minister has ended a fight that we could never understand why and by whom was started and what was going on behind closed doors.
He stood behind the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). The prosecutors withdrew their demands.
Now, everything seems to be calm. From now on, MİT is the only boss of Turkey’s intelligence and the only body responsible in the state’s secret operations.
Hakan Fidan has the position of having been the luckiest and the strongest undersecretary of MİT for the last 20 to 25 years. No other undersecretary has received such support.
This situation will bring both its significant advantages and its problems. It is an advantage because MİT officers will now work without watching their behinds, with the support of the government. They will be more self-assured and will not be afraid of being “sold.” This goes for all civil servants.
But there is another side to the medallion.
There will be bad apples inside MİT, as there are in every institution. There are those who abuse their positions, their missions, who make use of opportunities, who escape control, who act independently.
If the “organization” does not make a good elimination within and is carried away with the intoxication of the government’s support, then it will fall into the trap of other police officers tomorrow or the next day.
This is the heavy responsibility waiting for Fidan. As an undersecretary who has revived MİT, who has achieved intelligence’s management by a single body and who has earned public support with the Oslo talks, he will have to monitor his organization more strictly from now on.
Erbakan’s only wish
I’m sure the documentary “Last Coup: February 28” has made you say, “Oh my God, what have we gone through?” This documentary is almost a mirror showing from whence to where this country has moved. It was as if a scenario was written.
Tonight’s episode features the year 1996. The leading role is the leader of the Welfare (Refah) Party Necmettin Erbakan.
Erbakan has been publicized as the chief reason for the Feb. 28 military intervention. The fact that Refah shared the government was considered a “disaster.” Erbakan was a leader who was “trying to transform the country into a religious state” in the eyes of the secular segment. He was a “dangerous man.” He should never have been ruling. Each of his rallies, each of his speeches would send gooseflesh to the military.
Whereas, was he really such a person?
No. Now I look back and see that we have all been misjudging him. Erbakan’s intention was never to form a “Turkish Islamic Republic.”
On the contrary, he wanted to reconcile with the “state,” the secular system and the military. Because this was the only way he could stay in power, he wanted to avoid fights with the military.
In fact, he accepted everything the military wanted. Even though Israel was his archenemy and even though this was his party’s most important policy, he signed the most comprehensive agreement ever between Turkey and Israel. Actually he did everything to ingratiate himself.
Erbakan’s biggest problem was not being able to control his party, not being able to demonstrate the sensitivity required. He could not stop the anti-Atatürk speeches that fueled the fears of the secular segment. He could not see the negative effect of the rallies with green flags. He could not feel the pulse of the secular segment. He could not control marginal groups.
He did not listen to the “reformist movement” inside the party led by Abdullah Gül.
The biggest criticism that could be made about Erbakan is that he eased the way to the February 28 intervention as a result of his mistakes.
