It is generally held and accepted that what has a beginning must have an end. With the death in US exile of the Turkish Muslim cleric and scholar with international repute, Fethullah Gülen, at 83, two previous articles focused on a range of responses. These included President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s condemnation of Gülen’s life and a state vow to eliminate the Hizmet Movement completely. This concluding article examines what remains in stock after Gülen’s passing for Turkey, its politics, economy, and whether this could actually signal Erdogan’s and the ruling AKP party’s departure in his declared “dishonorable, demon in human form” mode. How did I arrive at this conclusion?
FIRST LANDING was on the properties, implications, and connotations of the Saturday Mothers of Turkey. On November 2, 2024, about two weeks after Gülen’s death, Turkey’s Saturday Mothers movement protesters gathered at Galatasaray Square in Istanbul for their 1,023rd weekly demonstration, bearing carnations and photographs of their missing relatives. This time, the demonstration focused on six individuals, including three children, who disappeared in custody in Dargeçit, Turkey, in 1995. Some of their remains were later discovered between October 29 and November 8, 1995, bearing signs of torture.
According to a daughter of one of the victims, Gülen’s passing has left Turkey with a policy of impunity in state-perpetrated disappearances, creating a legal black hole threatening society as a whole. The daughter described how heavily armed soldiers and village guards conducted house raids in Dargeçit, Mardin Province, detaining numerous individuals, including four children, two high school students, and two women.
One protester said, “We’re seeking justice, but there is no justice in this country.” In Turkey, the three pillars of democracy – parliament, judiciary, and executive – have since disintegrated. The judiciary is controlled by the executive. The government is the complainant, investigator, prosecutor, and judge. As a result, in 2022, a lower court acquitted all 18 Dargeçit defendants, and an appeal to the Gaziantep Regional Court of Justice was rejected in May this year. Additionally, the state of the Fourth Estate – the media, a complementary democracy pillar – is bleak in Turkey. One editor who sent condolences on Gülen’s passing has already been arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. Journalism is an endangered profession, with Turkey being one of the leading jailers of journalists in the world.
SECOND LANDING: It is often said that children/youth represent tomorrow’s nation, but this is contradicted by what Gülen’s passing has left behind in Turkey. According to reports, the youngest Dargeçit victims were 12-year-old Davut Altunkaynak and 13-year-old Seyhan Doğan. The burnt body of Süleyman Seyhan, without its head, was found in a well on March 6, 1996. How cruel can a government be? A Staff Sergeant who provided information about Seyhan’s location disappeared two days after the child’s body was found. Excavations between 2012 and 2015 revealed bones of detainees bearing severe torture marks. Cruel cases like that of 8-9-year-old Ahmet, who was denied a chance to receive free treatment in Germany and see his pro-Gülen imprisoned father one last time, remain unforgettable. To understand the impact of Erdogan’s Decree Laws on Turkish children, one should watch the documentary The Other Children, which shares the heartbreaking stories of 13 children, including 3 who lost their lives.
THIRD LANDING: About three months before Gülen’s passing, the UN Committee Against Torture released a report highlighting the continuation of strip searches in Turkey and expressing concerns over forced abductions. The committee urged Turkey to review its life imprisonment sentences without parole. It emphasized that inmates were still subjected to unlawful strip searches, which Turkish authorities refer to as “detailed searches,” during transfers, hospital visits, and meetings with their lawyers or families. It also noted that postpartum female prisoners are held without adequate health services and proper nutrition. Necessary conditions for breastfeeding are not provided, and some women are detained and handcuffed in the hospital shortly after giving birth.
The report expressed concern over incidents of individuals associated with the Hizmet/Gülen movement being systematically abducted and forcibly returned from countries such as Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Gabon, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Pakistan, in coordination with the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT). These abductions reportedly involve forced disappearances and other forms of torture and ill-treatment. Before Gülen was laid to rest, there were reports of such events taking place in Kenya, from where Gülen’s nephew, currently held in a Turkish jail, was abducted in broad daylight.
FOURTH LANDING: The 2016 attempted coup left a deep mark on Fatih, Istanbul’s historic district. Many people have stories about where they were that night. A memorial for all those killed (251) stands at the center of Fatih, featuring photos of the deceased. Erdogan claims the coup was military in nature and orchestrated by Gülen and his associates. This was the first coup that ordinary citizens were able to prevent. According to a study conducted shortly afterward, several religious orders concentrated in Fatih and Uskudar were among the first to organize opposition. One eyewitness recalled after Gülen’s passing: “I was in Fatih that night. After the coup attempt, I went to Vatan Street, in front of the Istanbul police headquarters. There were two tanks, but they were inactive. Thousands of people had gathered outside the police station.” How military was the coup when the tanks were inactive? Was it religious? What was it? Can Erdogan provide a post-Gülen version?
FIFTH LANDING: Thousands of citizens are incarcerated under “terrorism” charges. Daily dawn raids are conducted to detain people, and even prisoners who have completed their sentences are not being released. Trust in the government is nearly nonexistent, even among ruling AKP party members and ordinary citizens. The government has lost all credibility. Its last links of trust have been severed. What else can be inferred from the recent imposition of a 750 TL “Defense Fund Fee” on credit cards? All said, Erdogan’s eyes must be set on his government’s survival. But who will support it this time? Could he be on his way out in the “dishonorable, demon in human form” mode he ascribed to the peace and justice-loving departed Gülen? Could Tarik Toros’s words, published a day before Gülen’s last breath, be correct? That is the question.
