The Imam’s Order

By ZAFER YÖRÜK

According to Max Weber, for an entity to be a State, it must retain a monopoly on the use of violence in law enforcement within a given territory. Consequently, the main signifier of radical politics has been the engagement in “armed struggle”: radical political groups, from the Spartacists of medieval Rome to the Libyan rebels of our time, have formed armed groups to undermine the State’s monopoly on violence. This has formed a crucial aspect of their challenge against the state authority. 

A second tactic of radical political groups attempting to seize state power has been to infiltrate the state apparatus, particularly the institutions of violence, i.e. the police and military. According to a book by journalist Ahmet Şık, The Imam’s Army, this strategy has been successfully pursued by the Fethullah Gülen community in Turkey.

Sik was arrested and imprisoned last month, accused of membership in the organization Ergenekon, and his uncompleted book was banned before it was published. Moreover, possession of his manuscript, including electronic copies, was declared a criminal offence. The prosecutors and the police desperately conducted a raid on the offices of the mainstream daily Radikal in order to erase the electronic traces of the “forbidden manuscripts”.

Şık is renowned for his former disputes with deep state elements, including members of Ergenekon, and the police action against the book vindicates suspicions that the real reason for his arrest, contrary to the prosecutors’ claim, is the potential threat that The Imam’s Army poses to the rise of the Gülen community within the Turkish state. 

Power/Knowledge: The Imam of the “Deep State”

Through a popular act of disobedience, “forbidden manuscripts” were made available online, and subsequently downloaded by tens of thousands of readers (including myself), in defiance of the official ban. 

The Imam’s Army narrates the trajectory of Fethullah Gülen’s rise from humble small-town preacher to the spiritual leader of a great number of Turkish Muslims and other followers around the world. The book looks at the Gülen community’s investment in education at a global scale, and its economic ventures, from the financial sector to media, as well as the collaborations between the Gülen community and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

This much, however, has already been publicized in dozens of previous Gülen biographies. What distinguishes Şık’s book are the three features outlined below, which are likely what led to the unprecedented “legal” reaction from the “Imam” and his “army”.

First, Şık portrays the Gülen community as an ally of the “deep state,” which was formed and promoted by the Turkish establishment in keeping with the dominant nationalist ideology. The “forbidden text” elaborates on the history of ideological and political connections with the Turkish regime, beginning with Gülen’s founding of Erzurum Anti-Communism Association in 1963, and continuing through the junta of 12 September 1980 and its promotion of Gülen’s philosophy.

The Gülen community depict themselves as liberal dissidents who have been oppressed by Turkey’s authoritarian “oligarchy.” Şık’s biography peels off this façade to reveal the community’s deep association with the same “oligarchy.”

Second, according to Şık, the infiltration of the police force by the Gülen Community has reached such heights that they effectively rule this major apparatus of the Turkish state. Gülen derives his power over the police force from two primary sources: his decades-long recruitment within the ranks of the police; and his control of the Police Intelligence Department. Şık’s analysis implies that Gülen maintains his power through the collection of intelligence material, which he uses to blackmail top figures in the Turkish government, including, allegedly, General Yaşar Büyükanıt, the former Chief of Staff, and Deniz Baykal, the former leader of the opposition. 

Finally, Şık documents police negligence in a number of “unresolved murders,” including the assassination of the prominent Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. The directors of police intelligence in both Trabzon, where the assassination was planned, and Istanbul, where it took place, were members of the Gülen Community. 

This implies that the community knew of the plot to assassinate Dink assassination, which was subsequently linked with the Ergenekon gang, but remained inactive. More shocking still is that the same senior officers have been involved in investigating Ergenekon’s role in the crime. 

Imam’s Powers

Şık’s imprisonment is based on allegations of his involvement in Ergenekon is unlikely. Rather it seems to be an attempt to intimidate opponents of the ascending “Imam’s order” within the Turkish state and society. The “Şık affair” further vindicates the ongoing criticism of lengthy detentions that turn into jail sentences without trial. 

However, the threats by the “Imam’s Army” against their opponents have backfired. Last week, amid popular protests, the special powers of the Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, who is responsible for associating Şık’s case with the Ergenekon investigation, have been removed.

Nevertheless, Ahmet Şık remains in prison and the “Şık Affair” raises serious questions regarding the nature and the near future of political power in Turkey. The government claims that Turkey is in transition from military rule to democracy, while the developments indicate that this is a transition from the “Generals Order” to the “Imam’s Order”. This new order is not manifested merely in the transformation of the police into the “Imam’s Army”, but also heralds a comprehensive transformation of Turkey’s legal system into the “Imam’s judiciary”, the political system into the “Imam’s government” and the “Imam’s parliament,.” all of which have already been preached by the “Imam’s media.”

Zafer Yörük taught political theory at the University of London between 1997 and 2006. His research interests range across politics of identity, discourse analysis and psychoanalysis. He is a frequent contributor to Rudaw from Izmir.