They Came in the Name of Peace, They Brought Down the State

In every country entered under the banner of peace, democracy and the rule of law, what remained was either civil war, a coup, or a collapsed state; this is precisely what befell Turkey on 15 July.

The world no longer operates according to the rule of law, but according to power. More accurately, we are living in an age where even power has become lawless. The name of this new era has been coined: outlaw rule. The pretence of law is maintained, the word “peace” is constantly on everyone's lips, but when you look at the maps, all you see is destruction.

Maduro's regime in Venezuela is one of the most blatant examples of this. The army has been stripped of its role as a protector of the people and redesigned around loyalty to the leader. The law has given up on producing justice; it has become a tool for silencing the opposition. Elections have been held, but legitimacy has been left at the ballot box. While luxury is enjoyed in the palaces, the people are left to starve, and the state has rotted from within.

This is not an exception, it is a model. The same model has been applied for years in different regions under different names.

In Iran, in 1953, the democratically elected Mossadegh was overthrown, and the country was thrust into a long period of repressive rule. In Iraq, the country was invaded under the false pretence of freedom and weapons of mass destruction, the state was dismantled, and sectarian wars and terrorism became entrenched. In Syria, rhetoric about reform and peace became a cover for proxy wars; cities were destroyed, and the country effectively dissolved. In Egypt, the will of the people expressed at the ballot box was overthrown on the grounds of ‘stability’; the coup was legitimised, and society was silenced.

The processes carried out by the US and Israel in recent years under the name of ‘peace’ are also a continuation of the same chain. In Palestine, they spoke of peace, but deepened the occupation. They spoke of normalisation, but made lawlessness permanent. They spoke of security, but made the Middle East more insecure. The word ‘peace’ is no longer a hope in this region, but a cover for destruction.

This is exactly what was attempted against Turkey on the night of 15 July 2016. To destroy the state from within, to render the ballot box meaningless, to eliminate the will of the people by force of arms. To place the army under the command of a shadowy structure, not the nation. To suspend the rule of law and create controlled chaos.

That night, the target was not a government. The target was the independent decision-making capacity of the Republic of Turkey. The target was the unitary structure, sovereignty and future of the Republic of Turkey.

What would have happened if they had succeeded? Turkey would have become ‘liberated’ like Iraq, but fragmented. Turkey would have become hollowed out like Syria, turned into a theatre of proxy wars. Turkey would have become like Egypt, where the ballot box is merely decorative.

The people saw this and stood in front of the tanks. Because the people do not protect those who ignore them. They do not defend those who exploit them. They do not embrace those who usurp their will. They do not protect Maduro, nor the coup plotters, nor those who claim to bring peace but destroy the state.

That is precisely why we must be much more careful today. Because the same scenario is now being staged, not with tanks, but with text; not with bullets, but with words. Today, when we look at the debates being held in Turkey under the banner of ‘Turkey without Terror’ and the report submitted to the commission by the party that acts as the political extension of a terrorist structure that has legitimised the killing of babies, describing the Turkish army with phrases such as ‘blood-fed invaders’ and acting as the loudmouth of this commission, the danger is very clear. While the word ‘peace’ is used as the subject in every line of the text, it is clear between the lines that the target is the unitary structure of the Republic of Turkey.

History has shown us time and again that the word ‘peace’ is the favourite packaging of those who want to destroy states. Just as it was used in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, the same logic is at work today. No text that opens up the unitary state to debate is innocent. No discourse that portrays the state as a ‘problem,’ the nation as an ‘obstacle,’ and the army as an ‘occupier’ produces peace.

The real danger is not threats from outside, but the normalisation of this language that erodes legitimacy and the idea of the state from within. Because when justice weakens inside, the enemy gains courage outside. When the law becomes blurred, impositions under the name of ‘peace’ come knocking at the door.

The state cannot be governed with rhetoric of friendship. The state does not survive on bravado. You roar like a cardboard tiger and collapse at the first gust of wind.

The new world order is clear: if you are not strong, you will be crushed. If you are not just, you will rot from within. If you are not legitimate, you will inevitably fall one day.

15 July is the historic signature of this nation declaring, ‘We will not be Iraq, we will not be Syria.’ Today, we must maintain the same vigilance. Because this region knows all too well how those who came under the guise of peace brought down the state.

May God be the helper of our state and our nation.