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What is deep state?
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302319-what-is-deep-state.html
26 December 2012, Wednesday
MARKAR ESAYAN
[email protected]
In response to a question on bugging devices found in his home and
office, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an made a reference to the
deep state.
As we all know, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a
political party which maintains that it is fighting against the deep
state and attracting popular support for this. The vast majority of
people who voted for the AK Party are in favor of change, and they are
aware that for a thorough change, it is necessary to eliminate all
traces of the deep state. The AK Party extends support towards this
end. However, combating the deep state is not an easy task. It
requires decisiveness and political prudence. This was not something
the judiciary could have taken on alone. The deep state first seeps
into the judiciary. In this way, it secures immunity for the crimes of
the deep state, and it also uses the judiciary as a tool for deep
state activities as evidenced in the campaigns provoked before the
murder of Hrant Dink.
For this reason, the political administration should remain decisive
in its fight against deep structures and the deep state, and it should
renew the entire state structure amid the deep state investigations
and cases. In other words, the state should be cleansed of the deep
state virus. Is that possible? At this point, Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an
seems to be indecisive because he gave the following response to the
deep state question I referred to at the beginning:
`Every state has its own deep state; it is like a virus; it reappears
when conditions are suitable. We continue fighting these structures.
We cannot of course argue that we have completely eliminated and
destroyed it because as a politician, I do not believe that any state
in the world has been able to do this completely.'
Of course, there could be any structure within the state organization
of a country that is involved in clandestine acts and uses its power
to maximize its interests. To achieve success, continuous efforts are
required to address their effects, which can be hard. This is why
countries have intelligence units. Like in any other structures, such
corruption in the state structure can be seen as normal.
However, the deep state is more than this abuse and these offenses. In
the case of Turkey, the deep state is the state itself. The manifested
part of the state has been democratic, but the latent reality suggests
that the remaining parts have always been totalitarian and savage.
This is a state model created in the 1913 coup by the Committee of
Union and Progress (CUP); Mustafa Kemal transferred this model. A
state that governs its own country like a colonial governor and relies
on the cruelest methods against its people is our own deep state.
However, saying that it is not possible to get rid of this type of
state is different from pointing out that there can always be state
officials committing crimes.
Of course, the prime minister might have meant something else. He
might have wanted to say that it was hard to completely eliminate the
deep state. True, we are talking about an experienced structure that
has been in control of Turkey and ruled it for a century. It is also
true that this experience and mentality are embedded within the state.
We observe this frequently in the decisions of the judiciary. We, as
people who have been living in such a state, have been negatively
influenced by this experience. Our understanding of democracy reveals
some flaws.
However, arguing that it is impossible to get rid of the deep state
means that you accept defeat. Besides, this is not true. After
introducing reforms in state institutions, taking measures towards
transparency and establishing the rule of law, there is nowhere left
for the state to hide its actions in this era of the Internet and
social media.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-302319-what-is-deep-state.html
26 December 2012, Wednesday
MARKAR ESAYAN
[email protected]
In response to a question on bugging devices found in his home and
office, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an made a reference to the
deep state.
As we all know, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a
political party which maintains that it is fighting against the deep
state and attracting popular support for this. The vast majority of
people who voted for the AK Party are in favor of change, and they are
aware that for a thorough change, it is necessary to eliminate all
traces of the deep state. The AK Party extends support towards this
end. However, combating the deep state is not an easy task. It
requires decisiveness and political prudence. This was not something
the judiciary could have taken on alone. The deep state first seeps
into the judiciary. In this way, it secures immunity for the crimes of
the deep state, and it also uses the judiciary as a tool for deep
state activities as evidenced in the campaigns provoked before the
murder of Hrant Dink.
For this reason, the political administration should remain decisive
in its fight against deep structures and the deep state, and it should
renew the entire state structure amid the deep state investigations
and cases. In other words, the state should be cleansed of the deep
state virus. Is that possible? At this point, Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an
seems to be indecisive because he gave the following response to the
deep state question I referred to at the beginning:
`Every state has its own deep state; it is like a virus; it reappears
when conditions are suitable. We continue fighting these structures.
We cannot of course argue that we have completely eliminated and
destroyed it because as a politician, I do not believe that any state
in the world has been able to do this completely.'
Of course, there could be any structure within the state organization
of a country that is involved in clandestine acts and uses its power
to maximize its interests. To achieve success, continuous efforts are
required to address their effects, which can be hard. This is why
countries have intelligence units. Like in any other structures, such
corruption in the state structure can be seen as normal.
However, the deep state is more than this abuse and these offenses. In
the case of Turkey, the deep state is the state itself. The manifested
part of the state has been democratic, but the latent reality suggests
that the remaining parts have always been totalitarian and savage.
This is a state model created in the 1913 coup by the Committee of
Union and Progress (CUP); Mustafa Kemal transferred this model. A
state that governs its own country like a colonial governor and relies
on the cruelest methods against its people is our own deep state.
However, saying that it is not possible to get rid of this type of
state is different from pointing out that there can always be state
officials committing crimes.
Of course, the prime minister might have meant something else. He
might have wanted to say that it was hard to completely eliminate the
deep state. True, we are talking about an experienced structure that
has been in control of Turkey and ruled it for a century. It is also
true that this experience and mentality are embedded within the state.
We observe this frequently in the decisions of the judiciary. We, as
people who have been living in such a state, have been negatively
influenced by this experience. Our understanding of democracy reveals
some flaws.
However, arguing that it is impossible to get rid of the deep state
means that you accept defeat. Besides, this is not true. After
introducing reforms in state institutions, taking measures towards
transparency and establishing the rule of law, there is nowhere left
for the state to hide its actions in this era of the Internet and
social media.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress