On tendency surveys, Abdullah Gül came first, Binali Yıldırım was second and Davutoğlu was third.

The Pelican Brief: Erdoğanist blog seeks to topple Davutoğlu, an English translation

Erdoğan’s latest step towards total power? A blog appearing to be from within the AKP blew up on Twitter after claiming Davutoğlu wanted to overthrow the government at a time when the party was moving towards removing his authority. Read the whole, strange saga here in English.

5 May 2016 – An anonymous blog post published on May 1, 2016 named the Pelican Brief (Pelikan Dosyası) generated a lot of interest in Turkey. It appeared to be an attempt from within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to actively target Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and discredit him.

The diatribe came just a few days after Davutoglu’s authority over the grassroots of the party were stripped on April 29, a move that was seen by many Turkey observers as an attempt to consolidate President Erdoğan’s power. As Al-Monitor columnist Mustafa Akyol put it, “[The brief’s] significance lay in not just whom it attacked, but also on whose behalf it appeared: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s all-powerful president”.

The Pelican Brief shares its name with a 1993 Hollywood movie, which focused on a political corruption case in the US. What created such as storm over the Turkish version was that it was written from what appeared to be a pro-Erdoğan angle and was supported by several pro-Erdoğan journalists. Its message was clear: There is growing discontent with Prime Minister Davutoğlu from President Erdoğan and his party, the AKP.

The Turkish Twitter phenomenon, whistleblower Fuat Avni — Ankara’s Deep Throat — said on April 19 that Erdoğan was planning a move that would be a “coup against Davutoğlu,” which would be effective on April 29. Avni said the “pelican” of Berat and Serhat had started to fly, implying that Erdoğan’s son in law Berat Albayrak and his brother are behind the brief. It was also said that other “birds” are set to come for Davutoğlu.

The piece begins by talking about the many conspiracies about Turkey, which is a common line from Erdoğan supporters, and goes on to discredit Davutoğlu as a failure and a renegade who has sought to branch out on his own, undermining Erdoğan’s will. It accuses Davutoğlu of trying to overthrow Erdoğan, indirectly supporting the PKK and aligning himself with unscrupulous characters in his quest for power.

Here is a full translation of the brief. We tried to preserve the original style, including preserving the usage of “REİS”, meaning ‘head’ or ‘chief’ and a nickname used for Erdoğan by his supporters, and “hoca”, a name for Davutoğlu’s from his supporters.

Follow The Turkish Sun for further analysis pieces, coming soon.

Further reading: Prime Minister Davutoğlu is about to be replaced, but how did we get here?

 

The Pelican Brief

Greetings!

Hoca’s (a nickname used for Davutoğlu, meaning teacher, academic) team have talked enough.

They have caused enough trouble.

Shall we talk now?

Shall those who would sacrifice their lives for Reis (a nickname used for Erdoğan, meaning leader) talk now?

Very few know what is actually happening.

It’s a nightmare.

It’s like, sometimes, you scream, but nobody hears.

Just like this.

You know, somebody gets killed in front of a crowd and nobody cares.

Like this.

I mean, that is how I feel.

I am screaming from here. Hear me out:

Ladies! Gents! This is a horrible country.

This is a country where all of the superpowers are playing chess on Turkey.

This country will not become a bed of roses in one day just by pacifying Ergenekon or scaring off the parallel structure.

Even if you get rid of a traitor, they will immediately be replaced with a new one.

They will not leave us by ourselves easily.

If necessary, they will turn our own against us.

So, keep your eyes open.

Look around you, see what is going on.

But look carefully. Don’t look superficially.

And see what I see.

*******************************************************************

On tendency surveys, Abdullah Gül came first, Binali Yıldırım was second and Davutoğlu was third.

Even so, Reis made Hoca the party (AKP) chairman.

Gül had some ‘very handsome’ British friends and a spouse who hates Erdoğan and his family loves Hürriyet too much.

Reis didn’t make Gül the head.

Yıldırım was a Reis supporter.

He had done no wrong, he was successful.

He was loved by the party supporters.

But he was not charismatic enough.

They would treat him like a puppet.

So, Reis did not make Yıldırım the chief.

Davutoğlu spoke well.

He was a hodja (teacher).

Also, he was relatively fresh.

Had worked with Reis for years.

Yes, he was arrogant, a big guy.

He knew everything. But only theoretically.

In practice, he had usually failed. I.e. Syria.

He said, “Esed (Bashar al-Assad) will be toppled in 6 months.” Not just said it, but also made his plans according to it.

He did not have a B plan. Because he was very sure of himself, his intelligence, his knowledge, his readings.

Esad stayed and Hoca failed. It caused a lot of trouble.

Reis made the Hoca chairman anyway.

Why?

1. Reis hoped that Hoca would not cooperate with the West, who want to overthrow him based on his Syria and Palestine policies. He thought: “Hoca would not cooperate with the West or its Trojan horses, parallels, and Doğan media group.”
2. Reis also thought that he would defend the presidential system on the transition process and use his academic charisma.

Reis took his word on these two topics.

He said, “You know the tendency surveys – I am making you the chairman (of the party)! But on the condition that you promise on these two topics”.

Hoca accepted. Or he pretended, I don’t know.

But his greedy consultants did not accept this. That I do know.

Ali Sarıkaya, Osman Sert, Taha Özhan, Hatem Ete and Ertan Aydın were the ring leaders.

These are all ‘educated’ kids.

Hoca is also an ‘educated’ man.