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Today's Zaman, Turkey
July 14 2013
Machete attacks raise fears over widespread violence
14 July 2013 /Ä°PEK Ã`ZÃ`M, Ä°STANBUL
Machete attacks on protesters at Gezi Park demonstrations in Ä°stanbul
and Ankara have raised the specter of the 1980s and '90s, when the
involvement of paramilitary organizations in social and political
conflicts opened a dark period in Turkish history characterized by
violence and impunity.
Protests erupted in late May over a government plan to demolish Gezi
Park in Ä°stanbul's Taksim Square and broadened into an anti-government
movement in cities across the nation. Recently, people armed with
sticks, machetes and firearms -- some say acting in cooperation with
police forces intervening against the demonstrators -- have been seen
at protests. In the latest incident, video footage broadcast in the
media showed civilians armed with machetes attacking Gezi protesters.
The fact that the police shown in the video failed to respond, not
even taking the attackers' machetes, sparked public outrage.
Suspicions were raised when one machete-wielding man, Sabri Çelebi,
who was detained after the footage was broadcast on Monday, was
released pending trial by an Ä°stanbul court on Tuesday, setting off a
new round of protests. The Ä°stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office
appealed the court's decision, and an arrest warrant was issued for
the man by the Ä°stanbul 1st High Criminal Court on Thursday. Media
outlets reported on Friday that Çelibi fled to Morocco to evade
arrest.
A similar incident of violence against protesters took place on
Ankara's Dikmen Street on Wednesday. A group armed with machetes
attacked demonstrators as they were marching to protest the death of
19-year-old Gezi Park protester Ali Ä°smail Korkmaz, who died in a
hospital on Wednesday after being attacked by a group in EskiÅ?ehir on
June 2. On Thursday evening a different armed group confronted
civilians attending a forum on Gezi protests in the KocamustafapaÅ?a
neighborhood of Ä°stanbul's Fatih district. The attackers, also
wielding machetes, reportedly threatened to kill forum attendees if
they gathered there again.
Ergin Cinmen -- the lawyer who organized the "One Minute of Darkness
for Light Forever" protest after the 1996 Susurluk incident, a car
crash that exposed links between the Turkish state, the criminal
underworld and security forces -- shared with Sunday's Zaman his
concerns over the attacks on civilians as security forces stood by.
Cinmen said that people armed with machetes and guns walking around
freely, facing little or no consequences from the justice system,
would encourage more of that kind of action in the future.
Hinting that the `deep state' is still operating in Turkey, Cinmen
said: `The Justice and Development Party [AK Party] has gone up
against some clandestine structures within the state in recent years.
The trial of Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network charged with
plotting to overthrow the government by creating large-scale chaos in
the country, and the Balyoz [Sledgehammer] military coup trial prove
this fact. However, if bugging devices are still found in the prime
minister's office at his Ankara home; if 34 civilians are killed by a
military airstrike in the Uludere district of Å?ırnak; and if nobody
can put forth a clear explanation of the incident yet; and if the
government still can't satisfactorily reveal the details of Reyhanlı
bomb attacks, these all might be the deeds of old "deep state.' Cinmen
also said the government should take a firm stand on illegal acts.
Will Turkey return to dark '80s and '90s?
Many paramilitary groups nested within the state operated during the
1980s and 90s, and were involved in assassinations, kidnappings and
many other illegal acts. The '90s is known in Turkey as the era of
murders by unknown assailants.
A court document in the Ergenekon case revealed in 2008 that the
National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) had paid regular salaries to
ultranationalists to carry out illegal operations. Some members of a
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) affiliated extremist nationalist
group, the Grey Wolves, were armed and funded by the state to carry
out political murders. These nationalists -- including Abdullah Çatlı,
Oral Çelik and Mehmet Å?ener, all publicly associated with the drug
trade, extortion, and the kidnappings and murders of businessmen in
Turkey's Southeast -- were paid in the 1980s to carry out
assassinations. Most of their targets were members of Armenian
terrorist organization the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia (ASALA), which frequently attacked Turkish diplomatic targets
abroad. Çatlı was killed in the Susurluk accident.
The president of the Human Rights Agenda Association, Assistant
Professor Günal KurÅ?un, who is also a criminal lawyer, told Sunday's
Zaman that cooperation between paramilitary groups and Turkish law
enforcement officials in organizing assassinations and kidnappings
during the 1990s was also confirmed by verdicts from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
KurÅ?un called the machete attacks on Gezi protesters dangerous because
they could easily lead Turkey, still a fragile democracy, back into
'90s. `As a criminal lawyer, I found the court's decision to release
the attacker with the machete a bit controversial. This attacker
should have arrested from the beginning because there is a harsh
public reaction against him because his full name was revealed in the
press,' he said.
In an interview with Sunday's Zaman, Association of Human Rights and
Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) Chairman Ahmet Faruk
Ã`nsal attributed the recent armed attacks to hostile discourse from
both ruling and oppositions politicians during the Gezi Park protests.
Ã`nsal said: `The politicians used very hostile remarks during the
rallies, directing people to violence. Some politicians accused the
interest rate lobby and Turkey's international rivals of fueling the
nationwide anti-government protests. All these remarks led to
unforeseen reactions among some groups of people. The politicians
should stop using such a hostile tone as the reactions from the people
can turn into uncontrolled acts, as was the case with the attackers
injuring civilians with machetes during the Gezi demonstrations.'
A small group of environmentalists began a sit-in protest in Gezi Park
in the heart of Ä°stanbul on May 28, attempting to block the
government's plan to build an Ottoman-style barracks on the site.
Following a heavy-handed police crackdown on the peaceful protesters,
thousands across the country took to the streets, and the rallies grew
into broader action against what critics see as Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's increasingly authoritarian style of government.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-320660-machete-attacks-raise-fears-over-widespread-violence.html
From: A. Papazian
July 14 2013
Machete attacks raise fears over widespread violence
14 July 2013 /Ä°PEK Ã`ZÃ`M, Ä°STANBUL
Machete attacks on protesters at Gezi Park demonstrations in Ä°stanbul
and Ankara have raised the specter of the 1980s and '90s, when the
involvement of paramilitary organizations in social and political
conflicts opened a dark period in Turkish history characterized by
violence and impunity.
Protests erupted in late May over a government plan to demolish Gezi
Park in Ä°stanbul's Taksim Square and broadened into an anti-government
movement in cities across the nation. Recently, people armed with
sticks, machetes and firearms -- some say acting in cooperation with
police forces intervening against the demonstrators -- have been seen
at protests. In the latest incident, video footage broadcast in the
media showed civilians armed with machetes attacking Gezi protesters.
The fact that the police shown in the video failed to respond, not
even taking the attackers' machetes, sparked public outrage.
Suspicions were raised when one machete-wielding man, Sabri Çelebi,
who was detained after the footage was broadcast on Monday, was
released pending trial by an Ä°stanbul court on Tuesday, setting off a
new round of protests. The Ä°stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office
appealed the court's decision, and an arrest warrant was issued for
the man by the Ä°stanbul 1st High Criminal Court on Thursday. Media
outlets reported on Friday that Çelibi fled to Morocco to evade
arrest.
A similar incident of violence against protesters took place on
Ankara's Dikmen Street on Wednesday. A group armed with machetes
attacked demonstrators as they were marching to protest the death of
19-year-old Gezi Park protester Ali Ä°smail Korkmaz, who died in a
hospital on Wednesday after being attacked by a group in EskiÅ?ehir on
June 2. On Thursday evening a different armed group confronted
civilians attending a forum on Gezi protests in the KocamustafapaÅ?a
neighborhood of Ä°stanbul's Fatih district. The attackers, also
wielding machetes, reportedly threatened to kill forum attendees if
they gathered there again.
Ergin Cinmen -- the lawyer who organized the "One Minute of Darkness
for Light Forever" protest after the 1996 Susurluk incident, a car
crash that exposed links between the Turkish state, the criminal
underworld and security forces -- shared with Sunday's Zaman his
concerns over the attacks on civilians as security forces stood by.
Cinmen said that people armed with machetes and guns walking around
freely, facing little or no consequences from the justice system,
would encourage more of that kind of action in the future.
Hinting that the `deep state' is still operating in Turkey, Cinmen
said: `The Justice and Development Party [AK Party] has gone up
against some clandestine structures within the state in recent years.
The trial of Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network charged with
plotting to overthrow the government by creating large-scale chaos in
the country, and the Balyoz [Sledgehammer] military coup trial prove
this fact. However, if bugging devices are still found in the prime
minister's office at his Ankara home; if 34 civilians are killed by a
military airstrike in the Uludere district of Å?ırnak; and if nobody
can put forth a clear explanation of the incident yet; and if the
government still can't satisfactorily reveal the details of Reyhanlı
bomb attacks, these all might be the deeds of old "deep state.' Cinmen
also said the government should take a firm stand on illegal acts.
Will Turkey return to dark '80s and '90s?
Many paramilitary groups nested within the state operated during the
1980s and 90s, and were involved in assassinations, kidnappings and
many other illegal acts. The '90s is known in Turkey as the era of
murders by unknown assailants.
A court document in the Ergenekon case revealed in 2008 that the
National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) had paid regular salaries to
ultranationalists to carry out illegal operations. Some members of a
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) affiliated extremist nationalist
group, the Grey Wolves, were armed and funded by the state to carry
out political murders. These nationalists -- including Abdullah Çatlı,
Oral Çelik and Mehmet Å?ener, all publicly associated with the drug
trade, extortion, and the kidnappings and murders of businessmen in
Turkey's Southeast -- were paid in the 1980s to carry out
assassinations. Most of their targets were members of Armenian
terrorist organization the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia (ASALA), which frequently attacked Turkish diplomatic targets
abroad. Çatlı was killed in the Susurluk accident.
The president of the Human Rights Agenda Association, Assistant
Professor Günal KurÅ?un, who is also a criminal lawyer, told Sunday's
Zaman that cooperation between paramilitary groups and Turkish law
enforcement officials in organizing assassinations and kidnappings
during the 1990s was also confirmed by verdicts from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
KurÅ?un called the machete attacks on Gezi protesters dangerous because
they could easily lead Turkey, still a fragile democracy, back into
'90s. `As a criminal lawyer, I found the court's decision to release
the attacker with the machete a bit controversial. This attacker
should have arrested from the beginning because there is a harsh
public reaction against him because his full name was revealed in the
press,' he said.
In an interview with Sunday's Zaman, Association of Human Rights and
Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) Chairman Ahmet Faruk
Ã`nsal attributed the recent armed attacks to hostile discourse from
both ruling and oppositions politicians during the Gezi Park protests.
Ã`nsal said: `The politicians used very hostile remarks during the
rallies, directing people to violence. Some politicians accused the
interest rate lobby and Turkey's international rivals of fueling the
nationwide anti-government protests. All these remarks led to
unforeseen reactions among some groups of people. The politicians
should stop using such a hostile tone as the reactions from the people
can turn into uncontrolled acts, as was the case with the attackers
injuring civilians with machetes during the Gezi demonstrations.'
A small group of environmentalists began a sit-in protest in Gezi Park
in the heart of Ä°stanbul on May 28, attempting to block the
government's plan to build an Ottoman-style barracks on the site.
Following a heavy-handed police crackdown on the peaceful protesters,
thousands across the country took to the streets, and the rallies grew
into broader action against what critics see as Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an's increasingly authoritarian style of government.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-320660-machete-attacks-raise-fears-over-widespread-violence.html
From: A. Papazian