What is happening inside Turkey's ruling party?

"Taking advantage of the narrative of 'FETÖ', Erdoğan has decided to readjust the network of 'distribution'. Of course, some political consequences will arise from this situation; however, it should be noted that financial interests are skirmishing, not different programmes or ideologies. They are fighting to the death and striking major blows against each other so as to save both their power and money"
Turkey's PM Binali Yıldırım and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are speaking during a meeting of AKP lawmakers in parliament.
Wednesday, 04 October 2017 19:21

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), soL columnist, Kemal Okuyan wrote an article on Oct. 3 regarding the intra-crisis of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) amid the head of the party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan-imposed resignations of some mayors from the ruling party. Okuyan argues that the fight of profit distribution underlies the intra-AKP tension even though the Turkish media attempts to attribute a different meaning to the fight:

İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş resigned from his post following the mobbing of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) administrators. It is obvious that Topbaş was removed in consequence of a quite thorough operation. Now, it is alleged and reported that some other mayors, including Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Melih Gökçek, will also be compelled to resign. Apparently, Erdoğan favours resolving some disputes by means of mobbing; he will continue to do so.

But why?

Some claim that Erdoğan has decided to purge the supporters of [U.S.-based Islamic preacher] Fethullah Gülen within the AKP party. However, that is wrong. Those who suppose that the Gülenist religious cult is only made up of a dark conspiracy have always made the same mistake. The imams and 'big sisters' [of the Gülenist organisation] are only one of the aspects of the question. As we have said all the time, Fethullah Gülen’s primary force derived from the fact that the system officially placed his movement as an operation force in the centre of the establishment. With the system, we mean the bourgeois politics as a whole as well as the capitalist class, which calls itself business world, the civilian and military bureaucracy and the governmental institutions.

The Gülenists, therefore, did not infiltrate into the state, but the international and "national" forces dominating Turkey attributed a historical mission to Gülenism. In this respect, it is possible to question whether a prosecutor, a police chief, or a colonel is Gülenist or not, but it would be impossible to search for the Gülenists among higher ranks. Apart from those who resisted this situation and thus paid the price although they acted within the boundaries of the system in Turkey, almost everyone became a part of the same mission.

Hence, it would be absurd to question whether Melih Gökçek is a Gülenist, because the questioner should also ask, "Is Erdoğan a Gülenist, or not?" Actually, it would be absurd to say, "Let's purge the Gülenists of the AKP," or to assume that they are being "purged" without asking that question.      

The answers to these questions would be both 'yes' and 'no,' and the answers would be meaningless after a certain point.

The AKP cannot purge the Gülenists of the party because Gülenism cannot be reduced to "bylock" messages [an encrypted messaging app used by the members of Gülen network]!

Then, why has the AKP turned into a mess?

Are those who secretly undermine Erdoğan being put aside?

Doubtlessly, Erdoğan-like personalities desire an "absolute obedience," they would not forget even the slightest disobedience for a lifetime. Nevertheless, just like everyone else, Erdoğan knows that he cannot find anyone with whom he does not have any "personal matter" in such an insincere environment. We are talking about someone who experiences problems even with his [Prime Minister] Binali Yıldırım, so what else!

Have the ideological and political distinctions reappeared within the AKP? For instance, is the fight escalating between those, who are disturbed by the tension with the EU and NATO, and the others?

In any case, that is the part of the problem. Moreover, today it is apparent that the U.S., Germany and the UK have activated their affiliates. However, it would be naïve to assume that the ideological distinctions within the AKP, which created such a culture of politics in which everyone could advocate many different opinions at the same time, have become the driving force of a real settlement. Do you even understand at what points Erdoğan, Topbaş, Gökçek or [former PM] Ahmet Davutoğlu diverged from each other? You cannot understand it; and apart from many other facts, you cannot reach a consistent consequence at this point.

Such a consequence will not emerge…

Because the AKP is a syndicate organized for the purpose of generating profit. All the leading cadres, lawmakers, and mayors of this party are "entrepreneurs" personally or through their families, they play with big money, generate unearned incomes, and seise a part of the incomes.

The fight of distribution underlies the intra-AKP tension even though the media attempts to attribute a different meaning to the fight. They grew up so much that the equation of politics-money-politics has turned into the equation of money-politics-money; thus their positioning within the party has stemmed from the needs arising from this fight of distribution. The political issues are the offset of this fight, yet it would be worthless if it could not be converted into money. The AKP has mounted this situation, which is usual under capitalism, to such extreme scales.       

The religious cults are an efficient instrument in this fight, and the equation of cult-money-cult has diverged to the phase of money-cult-money in this field, too.

Erdoğan's skills stemmed from his capability of well administration in this field of distribution. However, the grip was lost, some figures became discontented with small-scale unearned incomes, elbowing their opponents to get the upper hand. From now on, Erdoğan cannot manage this process without exposure to languishing since the economy is stagnating. There is not any other source to endure such the distribution of unearned incomes. The 'Chief' [Erdoğan] has to restrict and even eliminate the other decision makers.

The volume of sources controlled by the mayors of big cities cannot be comprehended only in consideration of their budgets. The İstanbul Municipality’s 2017 budget equals to 42-billion lira, which is a huge volume per se, but the point is the authority to "rule" the looting and plundering of a giant city in such a system in which no mechanism has remained to hinder the looting and plundering. The metropolitan mayors do not provide services, but they administrate the distribution of unearned incomes.

Taking advantage of the narrative of FETÖ [the network of the Fethullah Gülen, referred to as the Fethullahist Terror Organisation], Erdoğan has decided to readjust the network of "distribution". Of course, some political consequences will arise from this situation; however, it should be noted that financial interests are skirmishing, not different programmes or ideologies. They are fighting to the death and striking major blows against each other so as to save both their power and money.

Also, the opposition parties have taken part in the system of looting and plundering as much as they could, which is why some of them are raising voice in support of Topbaş.

I can understand those who seem happy thinking that "Finally, we are getting rid of Melih Gökçek," but…

But, do you think we are that foolish!