 AYDINLIK TÜRKİYE'NİN HABERCİSİ |
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AYDINLIK TÜRKİYE'NİN HABERCİSİ |
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Conspiracy theory
Little bit of conspiracy doesn't hurt, does it? I know from experience that there are those who are more likely to invite accidents into themselves, I'm sure you also know the type, those "accident-prone" people. I don't know if there are people who attract conspiracies and if "conspiracy-prone" is the correct expression in English. If it is, Deniz Baykal, social democrat leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) is certainly one of them. Almost every year we learn of a new conspiracy targeting Mr. Baykal. He's now at the center of a new controversy stemming from a television revelation by a famous singer claiming that Mr. Baykal had demanded a huge amount of money in return for his services to solve a "judicial problem" in the past. The singer, who was bold enough to undergo a sex-change operation, was forbidden from performing after an official decree issued by an Istanbul governor prohibited transvestites from taking the stage. This happened after the military coup in 1980. The event took place almost a quarter of a century ago and its revelation came after more than two decades. Mr. Baykal is a lawyer by profession and a lawyer's service involves solving judicial problems. The amount of money he supposedly demanded is not relevant since no money changed hands. In sum: There is nothing concrete to incriminate the CHP leader. A non-issue has been made an issue thanks to the media. This is the conspiratorial aspect of the revelations of a transsexual singer. Conspiracies are rampant in Turkish politics, but they happen to bump into Deniz Baykal more than any other politician in recent history. Last year, some time before he was to renew his candidacy for his party’s leadership, another conspiracy came into the limelight in the form a document claiming that Mr. Baykal had accepted bribes. The document was designed as an exact copy of those produced by the Pentagon's Office of Special Operations (OSO). In the document, two members of the Office were notifying their superiors to the effect that the CHP leader had accepted bribes from people who were eager to become parliamentary deputies. Garry Schwartz and Paul Aviv, the two Office members, had the information that Baykal used his daughter’s Swiss bank account for transactions. Baykal, during the heat of debate over document, showed real surprise when he found out that there was a unit called Office of Special Operations in the Pentagon and that Schwartz and Aviv worked there. Whoever produced the document took the pain of doing their research. The Swiss bank where the document claimed that Baykal’s daughter deposited her money was genuine too. An official inquiry to prove, or rather disprove, the authenticity of the document ended in Baykal’s favor: There was no financial transaction and the Swiss bank in question had no account opened under the name of Deniz Baykal or his daughter. Money, money, money... That sweet smell of success is what the opponents of Baykal would like to smear his good name with. The only snag is that Baykal, in his long political career, has not been known to indulge in luxurious facets of daily life. He and his family live modestly. The material blemishes, such as bribery, would not stick to him easily. So, in the last two conspiracies, Baykal has been the political winner, coming out of them unscathed. In the ensuing debate on Baykal vs. transsexual singer, an important side-issue has been neglected which would otherwise show that the military rule had provided opportunities for unruly state employees who are on the lookout. If we set aside Baykal's name and the political ramifications of the latest conspiracy, we certainly see the corrupting face of military regimes. Why was the singer deprived of his right to perform? Because the singer who was attracting wealthy audiences to the casino he worked at decided to desert it, and the casino boss asked the good offices of the local police chief to penalize the deserting singer. The Istanbul governor at the time issued a decree on transvestites and the singer was thus unable to perform. It's as simple as this. Out of job, the singer who was ready to pay any price, assumed that the prohibition order came from high above, as high as the head of state, and thus tried to employ people who would use their influence on the state apparatus to solve the problem. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely indeed. Luckily for Deniz Baykal, few people from the CHP have been affected by the news that he offered his services to a transvestite singer in return for huge amount of money. Even most of Baykal's arch-enemies have not tried to take advantage of the accusations against him, only a very few. The leaders of the governing party have come to his defense, vouching for his dignity. The media, usually never lose an opportunity to unleash its destructive power if a politician comes under fire, behaved very cautiously and responsibly, almost all the columnists refuted the accusations as unfounded. All the democratic forces have been in action on this matter, and these forces have won the day. Conspiracies are not always bad if you come out of them safe and sound, as in the last two cases which put Deniz Baykal under fire have proven. I'm pretty sure that one more conspiracy attempt to stain Baykal’s name with bribe, the ungainly suspicious minds would turn their finger to the CHP leadership to accuse it of using conspiracy theories to gain the upper hand in party politics. This would be the conspiracy to end all conspiracies. I believe Deniz Baykal is an honest man, he would never use such hideous means for political gain, but the minds of conspiracy buffs know no bounds you know.
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