How many other like-minded officers do we have in the police force?

According to news reports, the assassin who killed the Russian Federation’s ambassador was on duty for eight of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s events in Ankara. 

I don’t understand what kind of business this is. The murderer is known as a “Fethullahist” but at the same time, he is able to enter the immediate outer circle of the president’s protection squad. 

We actually know the reason: They thought, “He is a Muslim guy; he does his prayers.” Because of this, they trusted him twice; they appointed him to the post with peace of mind. How many people similar to him are there in the police force? Now, it is even impossible to estimate their numbers. How many of them are members of the Fethullahist gang? How many others are sympathetic to other Islamist-jihadist organizations? It is impossible to know that either. 

The other day, the 17th-term special operations police took their oaths at a ceremony in Balıkesir, a Marmara town. According to Anadolu Agency, 903 special operations police chanted the “Fetih March” (Conquest March) altogether. Then they took oaths over their guns and the Quran. 

This “Fetih March” is a march that is written for Arif Nihat Asya’s poem. It is one that is chanted at every jihadist demonstration in Turkey. What has it got to do with the police oath-taking ceremony? 

Well, it is apparent what business it has: They are trying to create an army of police raised with Islamist and jihadist ideals. 

Before that, based on the same reasons, they had filled the police force with Fethullahists; they had handed over the entire Interior Ministry to Fethullahists.  

Now, while cleansing them, they are trying to replace them with Islamist staff. For this reason, religious cults are racing to hold posts in the ministry. Nowadays, those who say they are from al-Nusra are also infiltrating the force. 

Thus, the assassin could be a Fethullahist or from al-Nusra, but this dimension of the responsibility should be focused on. 

Preventing news instead of attack 

One of the criteria to determine whether a regime is democratic or authoritarian is freedom of press. If this freedom is restricted this way or that, then you cannot talk about a democracy there; an authoritarian regime rules. Exactly like in Turkey. 

Daily Hürriyet’s reporter Haşim Kılıç was also at the art gallery to cover the opening of the exhibition when the assassination against the Russian ambassador was carried out.  

Journalism is speed; hurriyet.com.tr was the first internet site to report the attack on Dec. 19 that happened before the eyes of everybody. Hundreds of sites from Turkey and around the world, as well as television channels such as CNN International, all took the first images from Hürriyet. This report was read more than 1 million in a short time. 

By the time it was 11:15 p.m., hurriyet.com.tr administrators realized that access to the story suddenly dropped. 

The next day, it was understood why the “interest” in the news had fallen. The Office of the Prime Minister had ordered the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to block those sites which had a photo of the ambassador lying on the floor. The BTK needs not be told twice... 

There is no need for a court order anymore because now we have the state of emergency; they are able to prevent any kind of news story or comment they do not like. 

Well, when the ban is so arbitrary, then the practice becomes the same.   

While the pro-government media was able to post the same photograph, Hürriyet’s report was blocked. 
The Office of the Prime Minister cannot prevent an assassin who killed an ambassador entrusted to our country, but believes that if it blocks the news story, then it can act as if the incident never happened.  

The place at the end of the road the government is taking is this: They can as well, for instance, give the order tomorrow to remove my or some other commentator’s piece or block it. They can remove any story, photograph or any kind of content they do not like. They can stop access to stories they do not wish to be heard.  

Turkey has started to resemble countries such as China and Saudi Arabia where freedoms are restricted arbitrarily by the government. 

Democratic rights have been put on ice.