The most dangerous person that ever lived!

In the 70s, the situation was quite distressing in the United States. There were problems like morphine, drug addiction, mafia and the great depression after the war in Vietnam. A complete crisis was dominating the American soil. The economic picture was not so bad, but there was quite an unfair income difference between the rural areas and the city. People were not optimistic about their future.

One of the best black comedy novel authors, Thomas Pnychon, described this blurry state of mind in his novel (The Crying of Lot 49) in an amazing language. In fact, he wrote this book in 1966, but the beginning of the 1970s was not so different, either. The police got its best from the corruption in the United States. The NYPD was preoccupied with making a wheel of fortune from bribery instead of catching criminals. The police could balance their salary this way. There was almost no police officer who did not take a bribe.

One day something happens. A young police officer called Frank Serpico begins his career as a police officer in NYPD. He does not like the bribery system that was common to everyone. He even goes further and tells people that he detests bribes. No one actually cares. Serpico files complaints to higher offices. He figures out slowly how the system works, but he is as stubborn as a goat. Finally, some decent politicians show up at the House of Representatives. They establish a commission and Serpico reports the bribe-taking policemen to this commission.

This situation distresses the policemen and their overlooked criminals the most. From the politicians to the mafia on the street, everybody gets annoyed with Serpico. Even though Serpico pays the price for his honesty, he made himself heard. The famous journalist Peter Mass wrote about the story of the decent police officer Frank Serpico. Sidney Lumet"s book in 1973 was made into a movie and Al Pacino was featured in it. The movie"s motto was obvious: "He was the most dangerous person that ever lived, in other words, he was an honest policeman".

Like in every part of the world and in every job field, there are honest and dishonest police officers in security. That applies to Turkey, too. Serpico was not a believer, but he knew what it meant to be moral. At least he did not preach religion with an immoral character unlike those who did. As you know, our police department head offices were filled with the community members. They were regarded as people who prayed, believed and had a fear of God. The idea that the religious person was innocent prevailed.

However, the situation turned out to be the reverse. These police officers, through cases, wore out their colleagues and head officers who did not belong to their community. Among them are Hanefi Avci, Mustafa Gülcü, Celal Uzunkaya, Sabri Uzun and Orhan Gökdemir.

They were finished either through fictive cases or the cold war in the police organization. Those who did all this were supposedly religious, believing people.

They put many people in jail, some of whom I mentioned in this column many times through cases made up on the desk. They simply blackened the lives of those who did not think like them or whom they charged with prevention against themselves. They did not hesitate to call terrorists those who run the office in high status of the state. When it was due, they made the business world stand under their command right at the front of the police stations. Some journalists called them "sir". They knew that these police could put anyone in jail. Well, if they put the Chief of the General Staff in jail, then they could do the same to everyone else. Of course, the police had media snipers. Some of them have already fled abroad.

Serpico did not preach about religion, like these people did, but even his enemy was sure about his honesty. What about the policemen of the community? One has a 3 million dollar villa. If you ask about it, he says he rents it. And how can you pay the 7.500-dollar rental with your 2.500 TL salary? He says, "Well, I rented it for 2.900 TL." Can you believe what he says! Another police officer addresses a businessman "my boss". He says "my boss", but he rips him off. He is a 45-year-old police officer who owns three apartment flats at the estimated value of a million dollars. Wow, check this! Some other happy policemen are enjoying their life in Azerbaijan with another businessman"s money. When this businessman doesn''t carry out their orders, they threaten to put him in jail. Oh, they also have to donate to the Turkish Olympics according to their budget. If anyone of them has a lot of money, he has to be the sponsor.

These were the supposed golden generation. However, they comprehended gold literally as money. Some added up more wealth to their fortune. Some others did not, but got 500 times more raise. They had every kind of means to deal with things. Even the foreigner Serpico was "one of the most dangerous men because he was honest" and our guys are "the most dangerous policemen ever because they may put you into jail without evidence". While one owes his fame to justice, the others accredit it to their gang power in the state.

Our police officers were tapping people as they pleased. They got whomever they wanted tracked or even put hidden cameras in houses. It was a perfect service as you can imagine. They had supporters in the judiciary, TÜBITAK and other state institutions. The operator was Pennsylvania. It was a like a ghost who made itself known, but invisible as a parallel structure.

I don"t know the skills of others, but for the Turkish Republic with the help of the parallel structure policemen, the community became "the most dangerous structure". In police colleges, the life of Serpico is taught in class. Our community-policemen are likely to be put in all the schoolbooks as the "gang case" in the following years. Maybe it won"t be the best seller, but I am sure it will be the long seller.

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