By YUSUF KANLI
TDN- In the aftermath of the April 27 e-memorandum, unlike previous political administrations that "behaved well" and "packed and left," the administration of the country either directly to the military or to some technocrats blessed by the strong army, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came up with a rather strong and unexpected move... refuted all the contents of the memorandum. The end result was an outstanding electoral victory three months later on July 22.
The AKP is definitely not like any of the other existing or long vanished parties, either closed down or lost support of the people and became buried in the election box. Compromise, or particularly when faced with a major challenge, stepping back from its position are not issues that popular in the jargon of the AKP. Regarding some minor issues the party may make some tactical retreats, but even on such points after some time it often comes up with an even further consolidated position and imposes what we have been complaining of "majority rule" and brushes aside norms and requirements of participationist and pluralist democracy.
Similarly, the AKP is now countering the indictment of the chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals demanding its closure with a "full country press" not only on the judiciary - through humiliating attacks on the chief prosecutor and explosive statements trying to influence the Constitutional Court - but also on the nation with claims that the closure case aimed at "closing the nation" not the party itself... At the same time, apparently the ruling party has started pondering some "legislative reforms" that would make closure of parties more difficult, if not impossible and to transfer the power of the chief prosecutor to file a closure case against a party to the General Council of the Court of Appeals.
While it is difficult to reconcile with democracy closure of parties through judicial decisions, it is equally incompatible with the notion of law to change the procedures of trial and even the laws covering a case while the case is still continuing at a court. Besides, it was of course obvious that the judiciary would be angered with the tone and content of the criticisms of the premier and his AKP over the closure case.
The increasing harsh rhetoric of the prime minister and the AKP deputies - mayors and local administrators of the party were ordered to hush up by the premier - against the chief prosecutor and the closure case indictment on the one hand a possible move to change the procedures of trial and constitutional articles covering closure of parties on the other will definitely lead to some unprecedented dangerous situations that could unleash developments that we would not even wish to consider at this moment.
AKP burns all possible bridges to avoid retreat
But, in view of the behavioral pattern the AKP has demonstrated over the past several years, we may easily conclude that the ruling party will definitely avoid a "defeatist" approach but instead would "continue fighting by burning bridges of possible retreat..." That approach, which best can be described as "confrontation culture," anyhow, helped the AKP in both the July 22 polls and later at sending Abdullah Gül to the presidency despite the declared opposition of the conservative secularist establishment, including the military. Apparently now AKP counts on past experiences and hopes that this closure case controversy may payback the party with an increased success at next year's local elections.
Are the developments we are living part of a well-planned long-term scenario? Just assume: The systematic "erosion of the image of the military" campaign has succeeded locking the military in their barracks. Universities have been taken under a process which the latest by July - when some 22 university rectors retire - will effectively be placed under firm control of government's hand-picked Higher Education Council President Yusuf Ziya Özcan. If the closure case can be utilized well to erode the image of the judiciary as well, what will be left from the hard-core secularist and Kemalist establishment to stop AKP's advance to an Islamist Turkey? Is it really so? Or, are the developments somehow just helping the AKP advance its so-called "secret agenda?"
In any case, however, the fact is that while we would not even consider a closure case being filed against the AKP until last Friday, now, we are reading volumes of post-AKP closure scenarios. We definitely oppose it and firmly believe that even the worst civilian administration is far better than an interim, technocrat Cabinet or a full-fledged military takeover, but there are several articles floating around since Saturday on all kinds of such "fantasies", including a coup staged with the support of Russia... Markets, on the other hand, are going wild...
We better return to our senses and contain developments within their own specter... Otherwise, we might all be losers.

(Yusuf Kanly can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected])