“Fine, send the people away. Lock them up. Force them to be silent, since the lights of Europe are more important than the people.” The Nobel-prize-winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk borrowed this from The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, in beginning his novel Snow. It is a novel that portrays the conflict between Islamists and secularists and the role of the security agencies in this conflict, to conclude that these organizations have nothing to do with secularism as a European value, or with Islam, as inherited values. In fact, a quick look at the political course of Turkey confirms Pamuk's take on things. The Turkish army has sent away the people and locked it up. The army has made itself a sultan who rules in the name of European values, using the cultural and military elite, which are cut off from the roots of the country's history and culture, and have no true relationship with European culture. They fought the left when the European left was prospering. They punished the Kurds and the Armenians when Europe was sheltering and defending minorities. They used radical Muslims to fight everybody. They carried out four coups against elected civilian governments. They turned loyal elites into gangs with commercial, financial and media institutions. They intervened in the judiciary and parliamentary legislation. They sponsored armed organizations. The most famous of these was the Ergenokon, resembling a mafia, and skilled in “disciplining” anyone who did not follow orders, and in planning for a coup in 2003. The army kept Turkey from its “backward” neighborhood and plucked it from its history in this region, to establish for it supposedly European roots. But these roots have not grown soundly, as corruption flourishes everywhere, backed by the threat of violence. Leaving behind these conditions, we find that another Turkey has also grown. This Turkey is attached to its history, without this obstructing its progress. This appeared first with the Islamist parties, beginning with the National Order Party, led by Necmettin Erbakan, followed by Rafah, which he also led. Even though the man became prime minister, his party was banned and he was prohibited from engaging in politics. But the core of this party then appeared as the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which rules today. Ever since the AKP came to office in 2001, it has waged a struggle with the country's military institution and secret agencies. The “hammer” of populist Islam prepared to confront the “hammer” of the army. Leaders Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gul have announced more than once that the Islamist party is conservative and not opposed to secularism, just like conservative Christian Democrat parties in Europe. However, this has not convinced the army, or the secret organizations, which have decided to resort to a coup. When this was discovered, these institutions were unable oppose the arrest of leading figures, some of them retired, and some still in service. However, the army claimed that the coup plot was part of a maneuver “that all armies use” in the event of emergencies. This unconvincing pretext might be used to arrive at a settlement of the confrontation between the army and the civilian political authority, represented by the ruling AKP. However, the details, and the civilian government's daring to confront the other side confirm that the military no longer controls all facets of the state and its institutions. Just as the army enjoys influence in Parliament, the judiciary, the media and the diplomatic corps, so does the AKP. The documents about the coup that were published show that the military were using this influence to obtain support from these institutions. This confrontation might end with a compromise. However, the conflict will continue between the army, exercising its prerogatives and publishing the people in the name of democracy and secularism, and the AKP, which does not repudiate the Ottoman Sultanate and relies on the people to wage this struggle.
