Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) of tapping phones yesterday. He compared the Council to cancer and said that it was planning treason by wiring phones for foreign intelligence services. The accusations were made on the anniversary of the corruption scandal. On February 5, 2014, Turkish media reported that the telephones of about 7,000 officials, including high-ranking politicians, opposition parties, Prime Minister Erdogan and his family, Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan and the president were wired in the light of a counter-terrorism operation against Salam in 2011.
On December 14, 2014, the Turkish police detained Zaman paper Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanli. Samanyolu staff were arrested. They were all accused of working for an unofficial organization inspired and financed by Islamic theologian Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the U.S.
Erdogan claims that Gulen wants to organize a coup d'etat in Turkey. He says that the theologian was the one behind protests in 2013 and publications of mudslinging materials about the government. The Istanbul Court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen last week.
Togrul Ismail, a docent of the TOBB Faculty of International Relations, said that the new arrest meant that the internal political struggle continues. In his words, the social attitude towards the events was uncertain because no one has proven the existence of the so-called parallel structures Erdogan has been talking about.
The expert reminded that the Justice and Development Party and Fethullah's followers had started their political path together. Erdogan blames TUBITAK for spreading information on social networks to undermine the country.
Faruk Akkan, a Turkish expert, political analyst and journalist, does not believe in parallel structures. He says that the government is deliberately making a fuss over Gulen to draw social attention from actual problems in the country. Akkan insists that Erdogan made the accusations up to justify the arrests in December 2013, considering that Turkey has different religions, communities and ethnicities.
Akkan added that Erdogan's rejoice over "beating" non-existent organizations and that arrests had been made to close cases on corruption involving his functionaries. And many believe in Erdogan's words, according to the expert. In his opinion, Erdogan's statements prove that the country has been in political crisis for the last 2 years.
