Erdoğan's parallel state (2)
In my last piece, I argued that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been creating a parallel state in Turkey.
According to Robert Paxton, the originator of the term, a parallel state is a collection of state-like organizations, organs, associations or institutions which are not officially part of the legitimate state or government. These parallel structures serve primarily to promote the political and social ideology of the executive. A parallel state is unconstitutionally created and financed by the executive branch of the government.
In normal liberal democracies, the judiciary, law enforcement officers, courts of accounts, intelligence agencies, police force and the like are state bodies that regulate the activities of everyone in the country, including the elected politicians so that illegality and corruption do not occur. Nevertheless, in the case of Turkey, Erdoğan has been decisively diminishing the powers of all these authorities, either de jure or de facto, so that they cannot effectively uphold the rule of law and cannot monitor or question the legality of the government's actions. For example, he tried to take away the power of prosecutors to pursue clandestine investigations so they can chase corrupt politicians. He changed a decree to order prosecutors to let him know the content of any future investigations. This effectively means that prosecutors will not be able to monitor any corrupt practices by his government. The Council of State repealed this decree, but Erdoğan ordered police officers not to obey the prosecutors and not to bring suspects before the courts. Then, he had all these prosecutors changed with “safer” ones. His party is now bringing a new law before Parliament to ensure that he can control the judiciary.
Erdoğan is also creating a religious community (Cemaat) through a foundation called TÜRGEV which is controlled by his children. Hundreds of millions of dollars were “donated” to this foundation by businessmen given public tenders amounting to billions of dollars by Erdoğan. Some public premises were also given to TÜRGEV. The foundation supports thousands of theology students and there are rumors that they have been indoctrinated in line with Erdoğan's religious ideology. The prime minister has said repeatedly that after his retirement, he will head this foundation.
Erdoğan has also been engaged in creating a sort of parallel economy. With public tenders, a loyal business class has been created. The public thinks that these tenders are open to competition but the legal wiretaps show that the loyal businessmen who donate money to Erdoğan's “unofficial purse” are promised these tenders before the competition and other competitors are told when to stop. They simply act as if they do not know who Erdoğan has decided will be the winner of the competition beforehand.
A parallel media has also been created by Erdoğan. The loyal businessmen are asked to buy certain media outlets, but are then not allowed to control them. They only carry the financial burden. Erdoğan appoints a loyal man such as a former Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy as editor-in-chief, and this editor-in-chief fires several critical columnists and hires Erdoğan's mouthpieces. Dailies Akşam and Sabah and the ATV broadcasting station are well-known examples.
Erdoğan has also been creating a parallel so-called civil society. Many religious groups have been allegedly funded directly (from the state purse, covert budge, or similar) or indirectly by the parallel businessmen. Erdoğan defends this as completely legal. As a result, these religious groups, associations and foundations staunchly support Erdoğan's actions and take out full page advertisements to defend him. There are also several newly emerged and ostensibly secular civil society groups with dubious financial backing and which continuously defend Erdoğan. These groups have filled Turkey's billboards with pictures of the prime minister.
It seems that he is also creating a parallel legal structure based on so-called Islamic law. All the above-mentioned things have been approved by Yeni Safak columnist Hayrettin Karaman with fatwas. This was a little known secret until recently. But after Dec. 17, Karaman has been openly writing about these fatwas in order to legitimize Erdoğan's actions in the eyes of practicing Muslims.
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