BY EMRE USLU,
The state never views the youth as something that should be left alone in Turkey. Instead, it sees the manipulation of young people by groups that it does not control as a threat to national security. For this reason, it does not want to leave young people alone.
In particular, the control of nationalist young people by the state is of critical importance because they can be easily manipulated to comply with the state’s priorities. In addition, because nationalism has never been independent of the state, the state breeds nationalist youth groups. It has to do this.
In the Cold War era, young people were used against communists in Turkey. Then, they were used against Kurds and religious groups. Ergenekon, on the other hand, used young people against minorities and non-Muslims. However, the perception of nationalism by the state changed in the era of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Because the AKP defines itself as a nationalist party, it needed a structure to control the nationalist support base.
Particularly in the Kurdish settlement process, they needed a political association to absorb possible reactions from already existing youth organizations and groups including the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) youth organization Ülkü Ocakları and the Grand Unity Party’s (BBP) group, Alperen Ocakları. For this reason, they founded Ottoman Hearths (Osmanlı Ocakları) in parallel to these two groups. The intelligence service was allegedly behind this initiative. It should be noted that this association was founded when the settlement process was started. The goal of this association was to create a youth structure in consistent with the definition of nationalism of the AKP.
This is why the Ottoman Hearths association was founded. They needed a youth structure that could be manipulated by the palace and the AKP to make sure that the MHP would not be influential among nationalist young people. This parallel nationalist structure would address nationalist sentiments among people. If nationalism is on the rise, the associations would take to the streets to alleviate the reaction.
For AKP, the Ottoman Hearths project was risk-free. If you look at the political approach of AKP figures, you realize that they always hide behind others to attain their goals. If things go badly, they blame those who are on the frontline; if thing go well, they take the whole credit.
They hid behind the Hizmet movement during the fight against Ergenekon. They declared themselves as in charge of the process when things were going well. And when things started to go badly, they blamed the Hizmet movement. It is possible to cite other examples. The Ottoman Hearths project is a reflection of this logic. The members act like nationalists; they use their symbols and gestures. This way, their vandalism and violence is attributed to the MHP, but they also manipulate the rise of nationalist sentiment and serve as a shield for the AKP.
This so-called nationalist parallel organization is used to channel nationalist support for the AKP when things go well. But when things go badly, they argue that they have no affiliation with the AKP.
For this reason, the Ottoman Hearths branches — which have up until recently acted as extensions of the AKP — have started to make statements after their provocations that they have no organic tie with that party because they fear that the AKP would lose support if it became evident that it was the AKP that is responsible for the turmoil on the streets.
In addition, because of the trauma associated with the Gezi protests, the AKP believed that it needed an association to take control of the streets. It thought it should be influential on the streets because groups it did not like may take to the streets in case they did not. Ottoman Hearths would play a function similar to the role Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “shabihas” have been playing in potential street movements.
In sum, the Ottoman associations were founded to serve the AKP in three respects:
1- To undermine the image of the MHP as a supporter of nationalism
2- To play a function similar to the shabihas to defend the streets in possible street protests
3- To absorb the rise of the nationalist tide.