By Marcos Kabuga
With uttermost dismay, I read, once again, the write-up of one Cemal Yigit in the Leadership edition of Friday, February 3, 2017. That write-up was everything which a true Turk should not rant about outside his country. I would dare Yigit to go to his country and show this fervor which he purportedly has for Turkey to his fellow countrymen. Of course, since, as it is, he is bent on offering his countrymen salvation form outside the shores of Turkey.
In his piece, Yigit claims that President Erdogan is using his Maarif Foundation, the TIKA and Hizmet movements to raise a generation of religious zealots sympathetic to the cause of ISIL. While it is one hell of an observation to make, it is one of the many lies he told.
First off, it is clear to see that Erdogan, like many leaders of nations today, is far from perfect. No, he is not. However, Erdogan is not the monster Yigit and his financiers make him out to be.
For a president who was almost ousted from power by a well-articulated coup which came a few inches short of being successful, he has been calm.
It is obvious that he is taking these issues as gradual and quietly as he can, while he tries to verify and investigate the faces behind the hideously bold move to not only move to get him out of office but eliminate him, as well.
As Yigit rightly pointed out, the accusation against Fethullah Gullen as the master-mind of the coup has not been proved. Well, that line of thought should be upheld, because the fact that Gullen cannot be distanced from the coup is something to think about.
Yigit said journalists are in prison. Agreed, but what kind of journalists would be thrown in jail for airing their views? Journalists who are using their write-ups to promote Gullen’s ideals, plant seditive motives in their minds and help propagate an anti-government impression. No sensible government worth its salt should allow that.
Yigit may posture all he wants, but the Fethullah Terrorist Group (FETO) may pose a greater threat to Turkey than any other terrorist group has. FETO uses its smokescreen of ‘legitimate’ businesses around the world in unsuspecting countries who mistake it for ‘the businesses of individual Turkish investors’ (as Yigit aptly put it) to finance its activities and continue to make Turkey ungovernable. Gullen is believed to be Messiah by his followers and his orders are obeyed to the letter. Despite FETO’s attempts in the international arena to show itself as a representative of moderate Islam, it has been guilty of severe human rights abuses and has no qualms about the use of violence, the book says.
FETO member terrorists used 35 military planes, 37 military helicopters, 74 tanks, 246 armored vehicles, three military ships and 3,992 guns and that more than 10,000 FETO members, including soldier and civilians, took part in the coup attempt, the book adds. On July 15, the F-16 fighter jets bombed the presidential complex three times, the parliament 11 times, police department six times and Turks at the building were attacked by four F-16 jets and two cobra helicopters, according to the book.
On July 15, a coup attempt in Turkey left 248 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. Those who have been imprisoned do not all belong to FETO, because FETO did not work alone, but in tandem with other groups. The Turkish government, therefore, is doing all it can to ensure that every attempt to transport terror into its borders is nipped in the bud. Only a sensible government can do that.
With the killings in the Raina Nightclub and other places in recent times, it is clear that someone somewhere is working to destabilize Turkey and every Turk who likes peace in his country should be able to root for this and not try to distract the government with blatant ramblings and falsifications with anther nation’s media. It could give the eternally false impression that Nigeria is in cahoots with FETO.
Yes, as Yigit boasts, Nigeria has not closed any of the FETO-sponsored businesses because of the absence of evidence. Believe me, when and if the Turkish government comes up with tangible evidence, the Nigerian government would not think twice about doing the needful.
To give further proof of what I mean here, it is clear that 42 Asian nations have declared FETO, the group blamed for the July 15 defeated coup in Turkey, a terrorist organisation. Turkey is not the only nation wary of their influence.
The fact that Gullen lives in the USA is not proof of his innocence, as Yigit points out, but proof of the negligence of that country in not investigating and monitoring the activities of Gullen more thoroughly before and during his residency there. If Yigit is fighting a legitimate course, he should borrow a lift from Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Martin Luther King Jr of USA who defied all odds despite the challenges. Yigit must know that no man fights from outside his country, unless that man is a coward.
Kabuga, a member of the Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Forum for National Development (NYEFOND), wrote from Abuja.
