Gumer Isaev: ‘Conspiracy theory is Erdoğan's favourite topic’
A columnist of Realnoe Vremya: how citizens of Istanbul perceived the attempt of coup in Turkey
The coup that several military leaders attempted to stage failed. While the state power is arresting the participants of the putsch, looking for the authors and putting things in order, famous political expert and Orientalist scholar Gumer Isaev, who is in Istanbul, prepared his column for Realnoe Vremya about the events he witnessed. It should be noted that his professional position on Fethullah Gülen – Erdoğan's rival – is markedly different from the opinion of the other experts of our newspaper.
How it was
The attempted coup in Turkey failed. The events passed quite unexpectedly. I crossed the bridge over the Bosphorus Strait from Europe to Asia in the evening, and it was blocked 30 minutes later. Initially, nobody understood what was going on.
There was given quite controversial information: military workers possibly closed it for safety reasons – something linked with a terrorist attack. Then messages about an attempted coup started to appear in social networks. The most dramatic messages came from Ankara, it is where the key events took place.
Despite the presence of armoured vehicles, there were not any active military operations like in Ankara. There were not any bomb strikes or explosions. The only problem personally I faced was that it was impossible to get the European part of the city because of the blocked bridge over the Bosphorus Strait. This is why I had to stay overnight in my friends' house and wait for the bridges to open till midday of the next day.
Despite the presence of dramatic events nearby, nobody could understand what was going on. Controversial information was given by the mass media and social networks. At a moment, at 1 a.m. approximately, the coup seemed to finish: militaries were in power, it meant the change of the administration of the country. But then when Erdoğan's speech was transmitted in the mass media, it was clear he was not arrested. The appearance of the representatives of the state on the air of TV channels and radio stations became one of the turning points.
'Despite the presence of dramatic events nearby, nobody could understand what was going on. Controversial information was given by the mass media and social networks.' Photo: vk.com
Potato became expensive because of Gülen
Accusations that Gülen organised the coup are more than expected. Those people who try to find a connection between Gülen and the army forget the only clear thing: the militaries were for the protection of the secular state, Kemal Atatürk's ideas. It is difficult to imagine they are Fethullah Gülen's allies who is an Islamic activist. And the idea that Gülen can 'rule' the U.S. militaries is more absurdist. Fans of world conspiracy theories like this version, but it is unlikely to take place in reality. Why do the militaries need Gülen who lost all media resources a long time ago, in general? How can he benefit the putschists? I do understand the desire of the Turkish power to unite all enemies and present them as an offender in this coup. Kurds and ISIS (Editor's Note: the organisation is banned in Russia) can be also enlisted then. I think Erdoğan doesn't want to blame the army: this is why he is speaking about a 'part of the militaries'. And the 'parallel state' is an old and reliable offender of all Turkish misfortunes from the turbulence in Geza to high potato prices. It is good when a country has an enemy who is guilty of all disasters.
In fact, conspiracy theory is Erdoğan's favourite topic. The same thing happened to the case of Ergekenon that united militaries, the Left and nationalists in order to mount a coup and overthrow the power. The story repeats itself but with new participants. Suffice it to say that Mayor of Ankara's words who stated the Turkish pilot who downed the Russian military jet took part in the riot against Erdoğan. He also supported Gülen and deliberately wanted to worsen the Russia-Turkey relations. It all reminds a tragicomic performance. It is maybe an acceptable version for a certain contingent when enemies are united in different characters: the inner enemy with the outer enemy – everything is like in George Orwell's 'ideal' society.
'Why do the militaries need Gülen who lost all media resources a long time ago, in general? How can he benefit the putschists? Photo: haber1.com
As for Gülen, he is a Turkish Islamic activist, theologian and one of the many religious scholars in the Near East. Gülen's image is very demonised because of political intrigues. Today his name can be written together with ISIS in the official mass media. He is guilty just because he had power in Turkey. A conflict with another influential person – Erdoğan – stems from here.
The most interesting thing is that Turkish government fails to prove that Gülen's movement is terrorist. There are no facts that prove it. I wonder how the government is going to find a link between the role of the militaries and Gülen in the attempted coup. Fortunately, hundreds of officers were arrested who are likely to give evidence by force. I won't be surprised if we know about hundreds of hidden Gülen's supporters who marvellously turned out to be a muscle of secularism and Kemalism – armed forces.
How President and religious activist quarrelled
I think an ordinary conflict between Erdoğan and Gülen is behind all this anti-Gülen history. They used to be on the same side of the fence in the old days. They had similar Islamic positions but then suddenly broke up. There were several versions of their break-up. One of them is that the representatives of the Turkish elite laundered the Iranian money, illegally took oil from Iran that was under sanctions. Police revealed the criminal scheme whose threads led to Ankara.
Directly to Erdoğan. His supporters thought it was Gülen who organised it and influenced the police who solved the case. It is not an imaginary story but the greatest corruption scandal in 2013 that sank Erdoĝan's several close people. By the way, the key participants in money laundering, Iran-Turkey intermediary Reza Zerrab is in prison in the USA and threatens to give evidence on this headline-making case.
There is another explanation of the conflict connected with Erdoğan as a political leader with serious ambitions. Where are such people as Abdullah Gül and Ahmet Davutoğlu who were close to him? The list can be continued. We should admit that Erdoğan doesn't stand any rivalry. Gülen is an extremely serious figure to be pushed and thrown away like Gül and Davutoğlu. It is the origin of the conflict between strong people. History is awash with such conflicts.
'We should admit that Erdoğan doesn't stand any rivalry. Gülen is an extremely serious figure to pushed and thrown away like Gül and Davutoğlu. It is the origin of the conflict between strong people.' Photo: pravda-tv.ru
Unprepared revolutionists
Nobody supported the putsch outside the country. The very putschists made many mistakes. They did not have enough resources and power. Why did not they shut off all communication channels? Why did not they arrest the heads of the government? Pro-governmental channels worked all night long… While the opposition's channels were turned off! Shutting off communication channels is a commonplace truth of any revolutionist who prepares a coup. Obviously, there were made mistakes in the planning or just there was not any opportunity to fulfil all plans. It is very important that the militaries were supported by neither the population nor other countries.
It is characteristic that unknown militarists were among the organisers: it is not a general but colonels and lieutenant colonels – they usually stage coups.
I don't see significant consequences for Russia and its citizens. Citizens' safety was under question during these events. Undoubtedly, any civil destabilisation is an unpleasant incident for the people who can be passing by. But most Russians who were in Turkey were in resorts that did not experience any turbulence.