Open call to the president

AHMET HAKAN ahmethakan@hurriyet.com.tr

Esteemed President,

The country of which you are at the very top has become a country where

- Court orders are not executed;
- Police ignores the prosecutor’s directives;
- Prosecutors who investigate corruption are declared “members of the mob;”
- Judges and prosecutors are viewed according to whether they are “sympathizers of the community or the government;”
- Certain people are not investigated despite verdicts;
- Some people are considered “immune;”
- The assertion “There is a mob in the judiciary” is voiced, at the highest tone, by the prime minister;
- The perception that bribery and corruption are covered up has peaked;
- Claims of “There is a mob of 2,000 people; all of them will be cleansed…” are abundant;
- Serious claims such as “There are imams at the Supreme Court of Appeals; there are imams at the police; there are imams at the courts” are coming from the government wing every day;
- The prime minister has declared a war of independence;
- Cabinet ministers explain the events as “American conspiracy;”
- Any businessman who raises his voice is forced to shut up;
- Citizens waving shoeboxes are brought down to the police station;
- The chief advisers of the prime minister, by saying, “There are scary traditions of the state; let me remind you,” imply that “You may be the victim of an unresolved crime any moment;”
- There are government supporters who say that unresolved murders would bring peace to the country;
- Everybody threatens everybody else;
- The government front, who once said, “We are the prosecutors of these cases,” totally invalidates cases such as the ones into Ergenekon, KCK, “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) and match-fixing…
- The Chief of General Staff files official complaints as, “Our staff has been plotted against;”
- In order to overcome the ongoing deep crisis, an exit is being sought by showing the carrot of a “general amnesty;”
- The economy has been turned into a mess;
- Screams of anger, calls for revenge and the drums of war are heard everywhere;
- Unease, instability, uncertainty and the inability to see ahead are increasing each day.

Dear President,
This is the picture.

And in this picture, you are only saying these two sentences:

- ONE: The judiciary is independent.

- TWO: There cannot be a parallel state.

Your first sentence is like a plastic flower thrown to government opponents; your second sentence is another one for the government supporters…

And, you, with the comfort of having thrown plastic flowers, are getting along quite well.
Esteemed President,

The situation of the country is too serious to be passed off with these two sentences... The judiciary has publicly and officially collapsed… The trust in law is down to below zero… The government has declared a war of independence against intangible, non-dimensional, abstract enemies… Internal conflicts have affected everybody from top to bottom; polarization has increased at full speed… Nobody trusts anybody else…

And you, in such terms and conditions, are only trying to pass off the situation, trying to manage affairs…

Whereas you should know that, in such circumstances, presidents can do nothing except steer a middle course.

Dear President,

If you are thinking, “Let this crisis deepen a bit more. It will push me to the front anyway. At the end they will hand over the keys to me.”

You are absolutely wrong.

No society will ever hand the keys to a statesman who is thought to have avoided adopting an effective and just stance not to jeopardize his personal career before this grave picture the country is displaying.

While clouds of dust are rising from the country, you cannot achieve anything by avoiding taking the smallest risk; on the contrary, you will also be lost inside that cloud of dust.

Dear President,

There is wide-open decay over there; there is overt rottenness.

This decay and rottenness are taking in and dragging along politics, institutions, the government, the “community,” justice, the police, top-level law establishments, the intelligence organization, the media, governors and the Armed Forces.

Unless you immediately adopt an effective stance, this decay and rottenness will also take you in and drag you along.

Dear President,

Please act immediately.

Perform your constitutional duties.

Ahmet Hakan is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was published on Jan 3. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.