Stocks plummet as Turkey names Gulenists top security issue
Following the decision to add the Gulenist "parallel state" to its Red Book of national security priorities, companies with ties to the Gulen movement have suffered huge stock market losses.
Last week, the Turkish government’s war on the movement led by Fethullah Gulen reached the National Security Council (MGK), the body that shapes the Turkish state’s security policies. Battling the “parallel state,” as the government calls the Gulenists, was the top issue at the Oct. 30 meeting, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chairing the MGK for the first time after his election as head of state in August.
The council, which met for 10½ hours in its longest session ever, said in a written statement that a “resolute struggle” would be waged against “internal and external parallel structures engaged in illegal activities in a legal guise that threaten our national security and disrupt public order as well as illegal formations.”
What does this mean? In remarks to journalists on a flight back from Paris last week, Erdogan described the “parallel state” as a “close threat” the council wanted to add to the so-called "Red Book," Turkey’s national security policy document, in 2014, but the move was delayed to 2015 to allow for certain preparations to be completed. According to Erdogan, the MGK's decision to tackle the “parallel state” will be relayed to the government as a “recommendation.” The government, in turn, will submit it to the Council of Ministers and on to the MGK General Secretariat, which will add it to the Red Book.
The Red Book is widely regarded as the state’s secret constitution. It lists the entities seen as a threat to the Republic of Turkey, determining the security targets to be prioritized.
