Le coup d’état bureaucratique de la Turquie

Jan 10, 2014 Ertan Aydin

ANKARA – La semaine dernière, le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a intensifié la réponse de son gouvernement aux enquêtes de corruption qui secouent le pays depuis décembre en restructurant les directions du système judiciaire et de la police. Mais ce serait une erreur d’y voir un conflit entre l’exécutif et le système judiciaire, ou une tentative de couvrir les accusations qui ont entrainé la démission de trois ministres. Il est surtout question ici de l’indépendance et de l’impartialité des autorités de renforcement de la loi. En effet, compte tenu d’accusations de fabrication de preuves, Erdoğan déclare maintenant ne pas être opposé à ce que certains cadres de l’armée accusés de complot contre son gouvernement soient rejugés.

Les récents développements reflètent l’ampleur du fossé qui sépare le gouvernement Erdoğan et le mouvement Gülen, dirigé par Fethullah Gülen, prédicateur islamique auto-exilé résident actuellement près de Philadelphie. Le mouvement Gülen fut un soutien important du Parti de la justice et du développement (AKP) au pouvoir, et à ses efforts pour établir un contrôle civil sur l’armée pendant les deux premiers mandats de l’AKP. Aujourd’hui cependant, le mouvement semble avoir fomenté son propre coup.

De nombreux membres du système judiciaire et des forces de police, impliqués dans la vague d’accusations pour corruption de responsables du gouvernement, d’hommes d’affaire et de familiers d’hommes politiques, sont liés au mouvement Gülen. Ce qui avait commencé comme une simple enquête pour des faits présumés de corruption s’est rapidement transformé en une campagne de sabotage orchestrée par l’opposition.

We hope you're enjoying Project Syndicate.

To continue reading, subscribe now.

Already have an account? Log in

Support High-Quality Commentary

US President-elect Joe Biden may have promised a “return to normalcy,” but the truth is that there is no going back. The world is changing in fundamental ways, and the actions the world takes in the next few years will be critical to lay the groundwork for a sustainable, secure, and prosperous future.

For more than 25 years, Project Syndicate has been guided by a simple credo: All people deserve access to a broad range of views by the world’s foremost leaders and thinkers on the issues, events, and forces shaping their lives. At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, that mission is more important than ever – and we remain committed to fulfilling it.

But there is no doubt that we, like so many other media organizations nowadays, are under growing strain. If you are in a position to support us, please subscribe now.

As a subscriber, you will enjoy unlimited access to our On Point suite of long reads and book reviews, Say More contributor interviews, The Year Ahead magazine, the full PS archive, and much more. You will also directly support our mission of delivering the highest-quality commentary on the world's most pressing issues to as wide an audience as possible.

By helping us to build a truly open world of ideas, every PS subscriber makes a real difference. Thank you.

Subscribe Now

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 3 in all 3 Comments on this article

Mazhar Can Feb 11, 2014

It may be easy to deceive locals with these canards but informed outsiders will simply not buy it.

By the way, not a single word about the graft scandal?

Well as Schopenhauer once said 'will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity'.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
j. von Hettlingen Jan 12, 2014

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's senior adviser, Mr. Aydin is trying to shed a different light on the political scandal, that might undermine prime minister's undeclared ambition to be elected president this summer and tarnish Turkey's image as a successful Muslim democracy with a future in the European Union.
Mr. Aydin writes, "amid charges of fabricated evidence, Erdoğan now says that he is not opposed to retrials for senior military officers convicted of plotting to overthrow his government". Prime minister's apparent political turnaround can be seen as an opportunity to correct possible injustices, or an overdue chance to reform Turkey's discredited judicial system.
Yet many are sceptical about the timing and motives behind this move. In the Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) trials, many innocents are said to have been convicted. That Erdogan now urges for retrials could be part of a strategy to embrace the military in his power struggle with the Gulen movement.
How is this going to end, depends on whether the two political rivals - Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen can reconciliate. Both had once been allies in weakening the all-powerful military's hold over politics. After that achievement mutual distrust grew and the power struggle began. The government had Gulen schools shut down, which - possibly - has triggered this corruption probe.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Mehmet Akgunay Jan 10, 2014

The timing and the way the charges came about can be questioned, however the government is doing everything it can to stop the investigations with no respect to democracy and the rule of law. The following questions remain unanswered, and I am afraid will be left that way.

1-All and any police officers who came even close to the investigation was assigned to other duty stations. If there was an unlawful action undertaken by these officers why weren't they suspended pending investigation?

2-There is a standing judge order for the Prime Ministers son to come into questioning, which he has not honored, is the son of Mr. Erdogan above the law and why hasn't he still not given the statement he was ordered to give?

3-11 Years of being in power, has the government just realized that there is something wrong with the system?

4-The government through legislation is trying to give complete power of the Judiciary to the Executive branch. Is this the Democracy AKP is rooting for? The mindset of AKP is that they have received 50% of the votes and that entitles them to an unchecked reign of power.

5-There are numerous orders by Judges for persons of interest to be be brought in for questioning but the Government is not allowing the police force to execute these orders, is this not against the rule of law?

6- Every action the government has taken since December 17th has been to derail the investigations and to break the division of powers for the benefit of the executive branch.

While these questions and many more remain unanswered the only issue discussed by the officials, the only discussion point is the timing and the way it came out. Lets put that aside and discuss the horrendous charges.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.