Police with unlimited powers, partisan media

The reaction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to the tense situation in Palestine with the words - "It is time to show our unity and determination. The ummah expects us to lead. Turkey is ready to take any necessary step" - caused a sharp reaction from the secular class inside. It should not be confused. But the dark side of the matter from the point of view of "ummah politics" is that these words can no longer create the excitement of the past even among the sharia class.

Since the early 1990s, I have not only watched Turkish political Islamists' rallies on the Palestinian issue many times. When I remember how excited the crowd in the maidans were as soon as the late Necmettin Erbakan and later Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pronounced the letter "P" of the word "Palestine" at pre-election rallies, I have lost hope for political Islam so that it will not be able to use this issue as effectively as before. The main reason for this, of course, was Ankara's desperate observation of the relocation of the Israeli capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, and the Arab world's behind-the-scenes cooperation talks with Israel in those days.

These steps by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, especially Egypt, did not exclude Ankara from the "Palestinian struggle", left it largely isolated (as Ahmet Davutoglu expressed it in a humorous phrase such as "precious isolation"). The current situation shows that political Islam can no longer turn the Palestinian issue into a dividend of ratings in the way and to the extent it wants through religious symbols; therefore, it would be the right way to maneuver in the political arena by introducing the concept of "human rights" (political Islam calls it "oppressed rights").

Turning away from the monarchist Arab regimes and directing the Palestinian struggle to the West is the greatest good to be done to the "oppressed." And most likely, Mevlüt bey turns the gas on the grill for the last time with the words - "The ummah expects us to lead". Because it is a requirement of politics to take a different approach to an issue that does not bring ratings as before, both inside and outside, and it will be a demonstration of the diplomacy’s own maneuverability.

What to do? All expectations are indexed to the Erdoğan-Biden meeting at the next NATO summit in Brussels on June 14. Putting aside the embargo periods of the second half of the 1970s, this is the first time that such a cold atmosphere has been observed between Turkish and US heads of state (or government). Undoubtedly, the main reason for this is Turkey's attempts to radically change the paradigm in military cooperation, to which the US responded with the same radicalism.

Although a one-on-one meeting between the two presidents is scheduled for June 14, the exact date, agenda, and format of the meeting are still unknown or not disclosed. Therefore, the meeting is open to both positive and negative results.

If positive results are achieved and relations are re-heated, there will be opportunities for Turkey to take the Palestinian issue to Western platforms in the context of "human rights". This will further actualize the condition for Turkey to become more transparent and strengthen its democracy. Because the videos posted on YouTube in recent days reveal a strange picture: the fact that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Süleyman Soylu, who considered it his main task to put pressure on the opposition in the parliament and the municipalities controlled by the opposition until recently, was subjected to the salvo of a mafia leader (who was given official bodyguards) not only led to the government's interrogation but also shook the system.

As the rotten, smelly, rusty natures of people, who call themselves a journalist thanks to the current government, with abnormal wealth unfold like guts and pour out in front of society in these cases, we are faced with horrific examples of what swamps those who capture the pen not for the conscience but for personal gain can drag any country into. No, the relations of the Turkish police with the mafia look very small compared to the phenomenon of Haji Mammadov in Azerbaijan. Mammadov's identity and gang, which indirectly gave "encrypted" messages to the public in oil paintings painted in the basement of the intelligence agency, have no analogs in the world and probably never will. When comparing the situation of journalists fed by the government, there is no doubt that Azerbaijan is far ahead.

One of the differences between the state and mafia relations is that this time, not only the rights of an Azerbaijani businessman were raised by the mafia leader but also the photo of the mafia leader with the vice-speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament was posted on social media. This means that the slogan "One Nation, Two States", which has been in circulation since the early 1990s, has not been empty in any field, from a businessman to a high-ranking politician, who has contributed to the enrichment of the slogan.

Reports from Ankara say that the President will take a step in the coming days regarding the Minister of Internal Affairs with unlimited powers. Failure to take this step will intensify the wars of interest in front of and behind the scenes.

The two-week-long video war has once again confirmed Turkey's bitter truth that the media, created to support the unlimited power and authority of the police, has the power to drag even the most democratic country into the abyss.

But why do democratic systems need to give the police unlimited power and create a partisan media?

Mayis Alizade