The Peak of Below-the-Belt Politics: The Tape Wars

Years ago, when a celebrity released a music cassette, that celebrity would be over the moon and boast about it on every platform. Over time, however, the word “tape” came to mean a very different kind of recording, and the format and content of the tapes that surfaced changed. The new generation of tapes mostly causes loss of position and reputation and is seen as a source of shame. When the political history of Turkey covering these days is written many years from now, I do not know what the 2000s will be called, but the name in my mind is clear: the Tape Era…

As the role of the media on the political stage grows by the day, its decisive influence on society has, with social media, reached staggering proportions. We live in a time when people take part in social life wherever they are through the smartphones they carry at every moment. Even at the most absurd times and places imaginable, it is possible to set the country’s agenda or comment on it. Sometimes even tweets of one or two words can help set the agenda. Social media, sometimes used for online harassment and public shaming, at other times serves as a wake-up call for justice. There are even those who have thwarted a coup attempt via social media…

Of course, when the country in question is Turkey, even scandals that would cause an uproar elsewhere can quickly fade from public attention. Sensational events that would shake many countries to their foundations have become ordinary here. That is why, to influence and convince society, one has to appeal more to the eye. As in the last 15 years of Turkish politics, it seems that political moves that appeal to the eye will come through tapes in the years ahead as well.

Despite all the tapes and audio recordings that have come out, it is hard to understand this indifference in society and the choice of leaders viewed through the logic of “he steals, but he works”. It should not be forgotten that behind the fact that some people’s tapes are still coming out today lies the fact that large sections of society turned a blind eye to the immorality of those who governed the country yesterday.

Do the Laws Fall So Silent in War?
As a new election period begins, political parties and their supporters have already started their preparations. In these preparations, politicians’ promises and strengths no longer come to the fore as before. Everyone now knows that politicians’ real aim is neither the homeland nor the nation. The trend of the new period is built on convincing people that the rival is worse and lower than oneself. In such an environment, “tape politics” becomes the most decisive path. I do not know whether Cicero, when he said “In times of war the laws fall silent”, imagined that the level could sink this low, but it is a fact that we have landed in a period when people with no moral laws whatsoever are doing politics.

In the recent past, many tapes that affected Turkey’s agenda have come out. Some of these tapes cost people their seats, others cleared their way. Developments have shown that, although the people whose footage was published were harmed by it, there were also cases that benefited the position and community they represented. Because these people, through the concessions they made to keep the footage from coming out, had caused even more difficult situations. Since I suspect you can guess the most “general” example that comes to mind, I see no need for detail.

As the political agenda keeps heating up, the parties will play their trump cards at the moments when they will be most effective. As the elections approach, we will see who holds which tapes. Apart from blackmail that succeeds, most of them will come out. Because heading into the 2023 elections, regarded by many as a matter of life and death, the parties will want to use all their trump cards. Erdoğan, Sedat Peker and Doğu Perinçek, who are claimed to have archives, are constantly planning moves on the chessboard. These tapes sometimes eliminate rivals and sometimes become a weapon used to control supporters who might be inclined to leave.

Oh, the Tapes I Have Seen That Never Existed

The culture of intimidation and PR through tapes is so effective that sometimes politics is even done through tapes that do not exist. Despite the years that have passed, there are many incidents, such as “alcohol was drunk in the mosque” and “the Kabataş incident”, for which footage is said to exist but has never been released.

When we compare situations that arose with some of the tapes that did come out, we will see how effective they were:

• In 2010 tapes involving Deniz Baykal, and in 2011 tapes involving some MHP deputies, came out. This footage led to the resignation of important figures for their parties and shaped the political agenda before the elections that followed, which the AKP won.
• The most memorable episodes of the corruption and bribery operations of 17–25 December 2013 were undoubtedly the “zeroing tapes” and the “Bakara-Makara” conversations. Although these recordings, unlike the others, were not illegal, they had the effect of a bombshell on the political agenda.
• A recording claimed to belong to Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü, also known as Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca, one of the leading figures of the İsmailağa community, had previously come to public attention. We cannot know whether other recordings exist; however, some commentators link his defence of views and people that contradict his own rhetoric to this predicament. It should also be recalled that it was claimed he was threatened with a tape even over the matter of not succeeding the İsmailağa community leader who died in 2022.
• Sedat Peker, one of the most striking names of recent times, claims to have an archive so extensive that it covers all state officials and even journalists and businessmen; some of the footage he has published and the fact that his threats go unanswered draw attention to this claim. He recently also claimed that he had got out of prison by blackmailing the then Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz with a tape. If he lives long enough, more tapes and documents will shake up the political order.

Many people now talk among themselves about matters that express distrust, such as “I wonder if this person also has a tape?” or “This person surely has a tape.” Unfortunately, people in the country who were not open to blackmail and who were known to have no tapes were eliminated with big lies.

The problem of finding trustworthy people, one of the biggest problems of today and the near future, looks set to cause much pain. I think the absence of people whose only weakness is their great love for their country and people, and who would sacrifice themselves and their future for their homeland, has shown what people prone to betrayal are capable of. Without honest officials keeping in check those who would do anything for their own advancement, it should come as no surprise that the country is sold off for a song.

A short while ago I read a tweet on Twitter that summed up our pitiful state: Those who cannot keep their trousers zipped should kindly not try to run the state. The country is being sold because of these men’s weaknesses…