AKP's problematic relations with Gülen

I strongly recommend you read Barçın Yinanç's interview with Mahir Ünal, the deputy chairman and spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), in today's Hürriyet Daily News. You can find a concise analysis of the past relations of the AK Parti with Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-resident Islamist preacher who is accused of masterminding the July 15, 2016, coup attempt to overthrow the government, shut down the parliament and seize power in Turkey. 

Rejecting criticisms that it was the AK Parti which let them grow under its rule since they obtained power in the November 2002 elections, Ünal said, "They did not get stronger during our time," elaborating on the relationship as follows:

•"In order to democratize the state, we opened a large space for civil society. We started to fight against the tutelage system and we led this struggle together with the civil society. While this structure, posing as a civil organization, supported democratization, their infiltration into the state speeded up. 

•"Remember how our government faced threats from the General Staff, how we were threatened by the judiciary, and how we faced closure? While we tried to strengthen civil space, it turned out that we jumped out of the frying pan into the fire, because an illegal organization, which presented itself as legal, started to in the meantime infiltrate the state."

In order to fully understand what Ünal is pointing at, we have to use a mini-glossary to analyze the remark.

"Democratize the system" for the AK Parti meant to clear the political sphere, the judiciary and the education system from the influence of the military and the secular-republican establishment, which was fine in principle. 

"Tutelage" meant the...