WAR WITHOUT BLOODSHED

Abdulraman Sadik writes on the futile attempt to extradite Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, from the United States

When Marxist-Leninist theorist, Mao Zedong defined politics as “war without bloodshed” several decades ago, the Chinese philosopher arguably gave no thought about the ugly events that now hold the political space of Turkey on the jugular.

Since the July 15 failed coup in Turkey, politics in that country has assumed chilling dimension, with the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s led Justice and Development Party (AK Party), capitalising on every possible opportunity to nail perceived enemies and trample on the rights of significant number of Turks in a menacing manner.

But the move by Erdogan and his co-travellers in the ruling AK Party to further take this persecution to foreign lands without minding international boarders and sovereignty of other countries appears to have hit a unshakeable brick wall. This is not unconnected with the Turkish government recent quest to willy-nilly extradite from the United States the highly respected Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen. The move apparently has now fallen like a pack of cards and literally suffered its well-deserved death as the Intelligence Committee of the United States (US) Congress has dismissed the claims upon which the extradition is being sourced.

Gulen is the Pennsylvania-based moderate Sunni cleric the Turkish government accuses of masterminding the failed July 15 coup, despite having no concrete evidence linking him to the aborted coup.

Over the past few months, Turkey has been mounting pointless pressures on the US authorities to extradite Gulen even as it continued to clampdown on members of the Gulen’s inspired Hizmet Movement, which the Turkish government now brands as Fethullah Gulen Terror Organisation. Thousands of perceived sympathisers of Hizmet Movement and other right activists now languish in various prisons cells without trial, while many more have been forced out of government jobs.

Erdogan has not stopped there, scores of charity organisations, universities, businesses, media organisations, among others, linked to Gulen or Hizmet Movement have been shut down by the authoritarian Turkish leader, who is now seeking more dictatorial powers in the executive presidency referendum scheduled for April this year. But despite the condemnations that continues to trail his undemocratic actions from far and near, especially the European Union (EU) which the country seeks membership, the Turkish president appears to be more ruthless and highly obsessed by his ill-conceived quest to humiliate and extradite Gulen by using the failed coup as a smokescreen.

But Devin Nunes, chairman of the powerful Intelligence Committee of the US Congress in an interview on Chris Wallace’s “Fox News Sunday” which was aired on FOXTV recently, made some important remarks about Gulen’s extradition quest and his alleged involvement in the failed coup.

Nunes, a member Republican Party and a close ally of President Donald Trump, did not mince words in the interview when he made it clear that there is no evidence linking Gulen to the failed coup. “I haven’t seen evidence that Gulen was involved in the failed coup,” he said.

Though this response can be construed as a hard knock on the stubborn head of President Erdogan, following his regular trademark boasts that the moderate Islamic cleric would be extradited, the US congressman did not end there. He continued: “The Erdogan government has becoming very authoritarian.” and added, “our relationship with Turkey is strained and going to become even more complicated as we begin to try to get ISIS out of Iraq and Syria.”

Though Nunes did not elaborate why would Turkey-US relations will get complicated as the coalition tries to get the dreaded Islamic States out of Iraq and Syria, the Head of German Intelligence Agency (BND) Bruno Kahl in an interview published recently also believes that there is no serious evidence linking Gulen to the failed coup.

Despite these near foolproof views from Germany and US, Erdogan, in a clear case of a man afraid of his own shadow, is bent on using underhand tactics to get Gulen extradited. The Turkish government was allegedly said to have recently engaged some individuals and firms using third party in US to help in lobbying for the extradition of Gulen and also spy on businesses associated with the cleric. Some former Turkish generals, journalists and others have also helped press the government’s case at assorted Washington panels against what it calls the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organisation.

Though it is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Turkish government would engage Washington, DC lobbyists to help out in its case to extradite Gulen in order to score cheap political point, what is clear is that the United States will not stoop so low to allow for the unwarranted extradition of Gulen under any guise, knowing fully well of the present nauseating human rights abuses and authoritarian credentials of Erdogan.

Sadik wrote from Kaduna