Ten influential people whose stars are rising or falling

Four writers from Daily Hürriyet selected Turkey’s 10 most influential people. This is an interesting subject regardless of geographic location. We, a group of eight friends, also selected the 10 most influential people in Turkey. And we compared our list with Hürriyet’s four writers’ list.

Interestingly, there was consensus on four or five names: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Abdullah Gül, Fethullah Gülen, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Abdullah Öcalan.

I am sure in those lists you will make, these names will also appear. The rest might be different, but the top names will be these.

When comparing this list to similar lists from 10 to 15 years ago, here is the picture:

The most distinguishing difference is that the chief of general staff used to be in almost 90 percent of the lists. He used to be at the top, in fact, before prime ministers. This situation does not minimize Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) importance; it only means that its influence in politics has decreased.

There is no media name, either. None of the writers or the owners who used to topple governments, give the green light to coups, direct politics, in short, those who set the tone, are left out now.

Another interesting fact is that our daily lives are generally affected by political figures. There is no significance of nongovernmental organizations, artists or academics left. In fact, what surprises me the most is that even though we have a Nobel laureate writer, several marginal names entered the lists.

It is natural that the prime ministry is influential and the presidency position has become effective with the Abdullah Gül term (also during Özal term for a short period).

The most important change is probably that Fethullah Gülen, in spite of the fact that he is thousands of kilometers away and that he does not have any direct interference in daily life, takes one of the top places of almost every list. A name who was trying to be prosecuted only a short while ago climbing up to such an effective place is an indication of the dimension of the change in the country.

Businessmen have also lost their strength. Some names who looked as strong as one and only lords have been replaced by various other names, and instead of one very influential businessman, several new names have emerged.

Öcalan’s name may be written on the lists with a lot of fear, but it is obvious that he is one of the top people who would affect this country’s daily life and its future. As a matter of fact, if some more courage is gathered, even Karayılan has to be on the list. This in fact demonstrates how important the Kurdish issue is.

Thank you Hürriyet team.

KCK arrests shut political doors

The alleged urban wing of the PKK (KCK) arrests are spreading. As they spread, those names familiar to the public and even those names that are respected in many circles are added to the lists.

 According to security forces, KCK is a very dangerous formation. Those arrested are the staff that the PKK has assigned to rule the autonomous Kurdish region. Thus, the new formation is prevented. Human resources assignments are averted.

A struggle is ongoing between the state and the PKK in an utterly different field. From an outsider’s point of view, it looks as if the logic of security forces is to detain all political personnel close to PKK or working with PKK. Thus, it is assumed that an attempt for autonomy is averted. This approach erodes human resources of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). At a certain point, they will not be able to find management staff.

Does this strategy facilitate the solution to the Kurdish issue or, on the contrary, does it make it more difficult?