The wars of brotherhood in the security department

Apparently the reason behind the appointment of the head of İstanbul Security Department as the minister of interior in the cabinet set up by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was the “wars of brotherhood” within the security department.

Following the “cleansing of the Gülenists,” a new war of brotherhood broke out, according to the article written by Tolga Şardan in daily Milliyet.

A struggle of authority started between the “Közcüler” group, which consists of men loyal to Kemalettin Özdemir, allegedly known to be from the Gülen group and called “the imam of Security,” and the “reader” and “writer” groups from the Nur brotherhood. 

Members of the security department who are loyal or sympathizers of religious groups and brotherhoods like “Kırkıncı Hoca Grubu” or “Süleymancılar” or “Menzilciler” or “İsmailağa Grubu” have also joined this struggle. 

As a result, those expecting to be promoted were not promoted while those who did not merit a promotion were promoted.

According to the article, those members of the security department who were used on operations against the Gülen group were intentionally not promoted.

Apparently, while the promotion of certain police officers are being discussed, information on their dossier such as “whether they do their daily prayer and use alcohol or not” is being evaluated.

When the president and prime minister were informed that the promotion of those who fought against the Gülen brotherhood was suspended, the prime minister had to change the interior minister and appoint to that post the head of İstanbul Security Department.

Şardan is a journalist that closely covers security issues and has important news sources inside the security department; I therefore trust what he writes.

Look at the situation the security department has ended up in. Professional merit and talents are left aside and what became important in promotions has been membership in the brotherhoods. How can a security institution like that provide protection for the citizens in a country under the heavy threat of terrorism?

Operation vengeance

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a message for the start of the judicial year.
 
“It has made us all sad that there has been establishment of certain factions and that certain members of the judiciary have taken decisions in line with the instruction from the structures they were members of, instead of their conscience. It is a must that the law functions as an intuition away from any negative debates, doubts and to which all confide itself comfortably.”

This is an advice forgotten for a long time in our justice system.

And interestingly, at the time the message of the president is being published, the police operation conducted against Koza İpek Group, owned by a dissident media group, was based on a court order. What was interesting in the court order is this:

The court already ruled that the Fettullah Gülen brotherhood is a terror organization and that the Koza İpek Group is assisting terrorist activities by providing financial resources of the “Fettullah Gülen Terror Organization.”

There is need for the judge who made the decision to read the words of the president one more time.

Jugdes take their decisions according to the instruction of the structures they are member of, instead of according to law.

This “structure” in the past was “the brotherhood;” now, it seems to be replaced by the [Aksaray] Palace.