The duo that controls Turkey

Professor Hamit Bozarslan tries a really different and politically interesting approach to the Erdogan-Erdoganism phenomenon in his conversation with the well-known and self-exiled Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar.

Recent events in Turkey have shown that there are limits to the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the country’s red lines drawn by far-right ally and ally of Turkish President Devlet Bahceli and his infamous friend. Alatin Cakici. This is supported by Hamit Bozarslan who teaches at the Higher School of Social Sciences (EHESS).

Bozarslan spoke with Ahval website reporter Yavuz Baydar about the importance and role of the far-right Bahçeli Party (MHP). This party has the organization that controls the mafia that runs the streets, the famous Gray Wolves. However, he also has a “superspace” from the infamous leader of his Turkish mafia, Alatin Çakıcı, who is closely associated with the party, far from the sphere of parliamentary political practice and in the context of the Asian type of political metaphysics that flourishes so much. in Turkey.

Erdogan is trying to hold onto power with his claws and teeth, trying to correct his past mistakes in the economy. He “pruned” his son-in-law and finance minister disappearing from public view. Erdogan, crowded, announces reforms, but even Turkey’s strongman proves he has less room to act undisturbed due to the Bahá’í presence of the MHP.

These red lines imposed by the extreme right-wing nationalists of Bahceli and even Erdogan, despite their power, cannot cross or challenge them, says Professor Hamit Bozarslan. These lines are not defined by the laws or institutions of Turkey, but by Bahceli and Cakici, who see themselves not simply above the law. They firmly believe that it is the law itself or rather how the true owners of the State are.

This is the current state of the cartel-state as defined by Bozarslan: a network of state services, far-right extraterrestrial forces, and person-centered mob structures like Çakıcı that move around as if he were their “alpha and omega.” Of law “.

This is a historical pattern that comes up over and over again. It appeared at the end of the 20th century with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It reappeared during the rise of the left movement in the 1960s. The peak of oppression and the mixing of power with the institutional and extra-institutional underworld is also observed with the development of the war against Kurdish rebels in Turkey in the 1990s .

“Today,” explains Professor Bozarslan, “we are witnessing a much more brutal repetition of such structures and patterns, involving” uniformed Turkish gangs “that often have government officials in command.” Erdogan, while still president, “has kept silent. It is the mafia boss Çakıcı who determines the fate of Turkey. Turkey’s foreign policy, especially in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, is also influenced by such radical paramilitary structures of extreme These paramilitaries have kept Erdogan in power in recent years, mainly destroying Kurdish cities such as Cizre and Sur.

The reason Erdogan is still president is that Bahceli “would not step down by claiming the presidency. The presidency is just one role, while the MHP leader is the absolute ruler.

The far-right leader “has shown that politics in Turkey is not about legitimacy,” according to Professor Hamit Bozarslan, who argues that the country is shaped by the concept of an eternal state whose essence, in turn, is shaped by Bahceli. and not for Erdogan. The so-called protectors or saviors of the Nation by definition do not obey the laws since they are above by definition. They believe that they have a historical mission that cannot be limited or limited by any kind of legal, institutional, constitutional way. This is how the “saviors” behave. Every 10-15 years, a new generation of these “saviors” from Turkey appears to be activated through coups.