For justice and normalcy

I am writing to you concerning the editorial “Befitting a democracy” (The Jordan Times, August 16, 2016).

With all due respect to views and wishes expressed in the editorial for what needs to be done in Turkey for the good of our democracy in the aftermath of the foiled coup plot, I would like to emphasise some aspects whose absence compromise the integrity and credibility of the editorial.

Above all, any attempt to analyse or pass judgement on the coup attempt in Turkey should first acknowledge the magnitude of the danger against democracy in Turkey that was evaded thanks to the resolve and unity of the people.

Therefore, it will be “befitting” for all democracy proponents in the region and beyond to condemn this coup attempt in no uncertain terms and to stand by the elected president, government and people of Turkey who all are united in owning up democracy and standing against a plot which, if succeeded, would have plunged Turkey into chaos and would have disrupted constitutional order in the country.

In other words, the danger against democracy in Turkey does not arise from the measures and legal procedures being carried out against the plotters whose mastermind was Fethullah Gülen, as testimonies of the arrested plotters and the collected evidence suggest, but from the treasonous acts of the plotters themselves and their residual potential, should they be allowed to go about their business with impunity, to perpetrate similar acts of terrorism in the future.

Therefore, it would again be “befitting” for all democracy proponents to try to empathise with Turkey, who lost 240 of its citizens and suffered thousands of casualties while resisting the plot, and recognise its right to take all necessary measures within the law to safeguard its constitutional and democratic system.

These measures aim solely at bringing the perpetrators to justice, dismantling the Gülen terrorist network and achieving normalcy as soon as possible. 

Turkey is fully aware and will abide by its obligations as regards the rule of law, human rights and international conventions.

Sedat Önal,
Ambassador of Turkey,
Amman