The first victims of the AKP versus Gulen movement [Cemaat] warfare that dramatically escalated with the Dec. 17 corruption and bribery operation and culminated with four cabinet ministers losing their seats were the judiciary of the country, law and therefore Turkish democracy.
According to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesmen, the investigations and operations launched against ministers, high-level bureaucrats, businessmen close to the government and the prime minister’s son Bilal Erdogan are nothing but a “coup attempt” of international dimensions against the government. AKP leaders think that the target of this operation is, at the least, “an AKP without Erdogan,” and indicate that a “parallel state” is managing the project. What the AKP spokesmen and their supportive media mean by "parallel state” is the Gulen Cemaat supporters within the security and judiciary institutions. Organized and coordinated actions of these people toward a political objective are described as manifestations of the “parallel state."