The Unaccredited Accreditor
Two newspapers were dropped from the list of unaccredited media organs: Yeni Şafak, labeled by previously revealed army intelligence reports as "close to the Justice and Development Party [AK Party]" and Star, which was rejected after it changed hands in 2006.
This is no good news for Turkish democracy. The invitees from these two newspapers may have felt happy, and this is all understandable. This is a "courtesy issue" in the end. But the fact that the accreditation problem continues for several other newspapers is still a shame on the General Staff.
Why does the General Staff do that? It is already under the protection of the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). Whether you are invited or not, you cannot pass the limits of criticism, which are, by the way, set by the army itself. Why keep journalists from critical newspapers out of military buildings in an age where the computers of the army are "emitting" highly confidential information, both to the unaccredited newspapers like the Taraf daily and to members of terrorist organizations like Ergenekon?
In the past we could sense the reason. They were afraid of the "religious" and "civilian" coming into the army buildings and looked for "secular" and "soldier-minded" journalists to step through their gates. This is an extension of the pre-19th century military paradigm: "Not letting the soil of the fatherland be stepped on by the boots of the enemy."
Today we don't know why Yeni Şafak and Star were invited to the General Staff and not others. The Akşam daily claimed yesterday that the General Staff was making peace with newspapers close to the government, but keeping a distance from newspapers labeled by the army as "close to Fethullah Gülen." This is not an all-inclusive analysis. The newspapers close to any "civil society group" are still excluded from the accreditation list of the army. Taraf is happily unaccredited. I personally feel the same for two reasons.
First of all, I want to live in a society where the majority of people do not know the name of the chief of general staff. I want the army to be strong, professional and out of civilian and political life. Many people praised the recent visit of the chief of general staff to the Southeast and his meeting with nongovernmental organizations. I didn't. In my understanding, the army should be a part of the military solution to security threats, not a part of the civilian, political and economic solutions. I want the army to make sure that we won't experience the shame of Dağlica once again. Inviting the government to improve the economic situation in the terror-stricken region, coordinating the civil society organizations, organizing doctors and teachers to volunteer in the region -- these have to be left to us because these things have to be done with a civilian mindset that does not know the command-obedience culture. I want the army to keep a distance from all the media organizations and, particularly, from the headlines.
In my newspaper, I have to admit, we are in good shape about this. When I heard that certain newspapers had been invited by the General Staff, I decided to write this article but had to check, out of journalistic principle, whether Today's Zaman was invited but didn't receive the invitation for technical reasons. I realized that none of us in the office knew the phone number of the General Staff. It is not just that we are unaccredited by the General Staff; they are unaccredited in my office, too.
The second reason why I feel happy to be unaccredited is this: It makes me feel like a civilian. It makes me feel on the same side with the Taraf daily; on the same side as the minority newspapers; on the same side as the outspoken civilian organizations like Young Civilians; on the same side with the proponents of civil democracy; on the same side with the supporters of Turkey's European Union membership; on the same side with the civil society organizations the chief of general staff calls "cemaat," (congregations).
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