Could the graft investigations that, since Dec. 17, have all but overwhelmed Turkey’s political-legal system and have led to resignations of three cabinet ministers change the power balance in the country and push Turkey back to its factory settings? Or, to speak bluntly, will the political earthquake we are living through nowadays bring back the days of the “military tutelage"? Could Turkey wake up to yet another military coup?
Defensive tactics the government has deployed to downplay the corruption investigations seem to have prompted unexpected reactions from the military. The government, in its response, has counterattacked the police and the prosecutors carrying out the investigations. Accordingly, the objective of those police and prosecutors affiliated with the Islamic faith community of the Gulen movement is to topple the government. This “police-judiciary” gang — a title pro-government media came up with — is charged with developing false evidence to bring down the government. No wonder there are a dazzling variety of conspiracy theories being circulated nowadays, with pro-government quarters claiming that the operations are the brainchild of some power centers of the United States, Israel and Europe and their Gulen movement extensions inside the state of Turkey.
