There are many other experiences that I personally witnessed throughout the 90s’ that helped Türkiye fall into deep divisions and dark periods like the 1997 soft coup. In June 1995, Mesut Yilmaz allowed me to organize a week-long trip for Yilmaz in Washington, DC. This was going to be his first trip ever. I have no idea why, but the Clinton Administration greatly admired Tansu Ciller's government, and she was his biggest rival, so they despised each other. During Kesici's election period, Yilmaz sent me to the annual American-Turkish Council meetings in Kesici's place as speaker. ATC had invited Kesici, but it was impossible for him to get away, so this was my opportunity to make my very first political speech in Washington and I made a speech in front of 500 people who were all top Turkish business leaders and politicians from her government. And of course, all the Washington officials and people who oversaw Türkiye were there. I wanted my first speech to be passionate and powerful but true, so I spoke the political truths probably more than people were expecting. The Vice-Premier of Türkiye and Foreign Minister Murat Karayalcin was present, and he did not take my comments kindly because I criticized his government with facts and figures. And he along with Washington officials were not pleased with my comments. ATC never offered me another position as speaker at an event after that. I learned very early on that the more people you can upset with your comments means that you are doing a great job, so I did this my entire political career. I made excellent preparations for my international trips, particularly Washington DC, but whatever I was thinking about critical issues my presentations very prepared seriously. I was highly transparent and always accountable for what I said. I would?prepare for all possible questions.
So, the Clinton government officials were not pleased when I was arranging this trip for Yilmaz, and I was never able to get senior government meetings as a result. My family knew Al Gore well and I had visited his home in Washington when I was younger – I tried to get off the record meeting. Al Gore was always a political man who I always respected. NDI invited me to the 2000 National Democratic Convention in California which I attended. I witnessed Al Gore taking the reins of the party from Bill Clinton. This convention was one of the most spectacular events I personally witnessed during my political career.
Starting from Republican Party Chairman to Minority Leader in the House and the powerful Jessie Helms in the Senate, I was able to arrange five days of meetings with critical thinktanks like AEI and CSIS, as well as international media and Turkish groups. I arranged U.S. House and Senate Foreign Relationsi officials. We received no support from the government, but the trip turned out to be extremely effective because Yilmaz was in Washington without the lightweight political types that always dragged him down. I was allowed to coordinate the entire week with my talking points. Everything was under my personal control. He performed admirably, and everyone in Türkiye was shocked at all his progressive ideas in D.C. The trip clearly showed his abilities on the world stage. This was during the week of OJ Simpson, so trying to get on American T.V. or news was impossible. The Clinton Administration gave way too much support and blind backing to Tansu Ciller, and I was the one going around D.C. during those years explaining this and why her administration was bad for Türkiye, and I was correct in all my assessments. Despite the incompetence of Ciller’s administration, the Yilmaz team and party officials made a series of significant mistakes without political thought or any debate, which is how they liked to do things. After the critical general election of December 1995, Necmettin Erbakan got more votes than Ciller and Yilmaz. They were constantly fighting each other and had split the center-right vote even more with some of it going to the conservative party of Erbakan. The crazy results ended up in a political stalemate, and they both had to give in slightly and share the government equally, which was impossible to achieve. It was dead from the start.
First, it would be Yilmaz became Prime Minister in beginning 1996, and he was supposed to govern for one year that will be followed by Ciller, so that she would become Prime Minister. The Yilmaz government lasted all of hundred days before a case of Ciller’s many corruptions came into the public eye – she used secret government funds to pay off a political debt - these secret government funds under the control of Prime Ministers were not supposed to be used for paying off political debt. Since Demirel was President and he had appointed her as the DYP leader they played off each other as much as possible.
Unwritten rules in Turkish politics was never bring down your own – when there is no need to do so – exactly what Democrats do now in the U.S. for 25 years. This is not sustainable it has already broken down into pieces. U.S. political system must be rebooted zero based from top to bottom. This system is now in play for Harris to become the next President – doubling down on her now – not thinking about anything in the future. I get the feeling decisions have already been made on her behalf once she is in office same as they did for Biden. Forever War number three is already in play with China waiting to complete the world aspect. If anyone around the world actually believes Harris is thinking about their futures – or cares about their families – all they need to do is look at how Biden created the new forever War as soon as Trump left office.
The reason deep state people despised Trump was because he was for peace around the world especially the Middle East with Abraham Accords. Why would someone push for Abraham Accords if he wants a major world war to errupt instead. If he comes to office, he will prevent the World World on the horizon now that Biden-Harris administration and those who have been supporting them in the recent years. In America they believe Putin created this new war – which is not true at all. I explained what is behind all of this in detail with my What is Wrong with America articles. For instance, nobody in the state of California cares about people dying everywhere the Americans bomb or attack. People making these decisions should not be in these positions making terrible decisions on behalf of the entire world.
So, there was one crucial meeting that occurred - I was part of it - witnessed with my own eyes. His top team was all there 10 people convincing him that if he honorably resigned based on the headline news, she would be weakened, and they could reform the same government under different rules and minister sharing. His people assured him that they had already discussed this with some of Ciller's people and that they would be ready to sit down once Yilmaz had the mandate from President Demirel to form the government. The only problem was under constitutional rule the party that gets the most votes Erbakan’s party – was to be given first try just like round one so Demirel stuck with the Constitution awarding the mandate to form the government again to Erbakan. Everyone in Yilmaz's team expected him to go to Ciller first and try and form the government. She was supposed to refuse because there was a back door deal to redo the government with Yilmaz in a more balanced this time around. But much to everyone’s shock, Erbakan and Ciller sat down, hammered out a government as fast as possible, and went to President Demirel with a full government within several days. It turned out that Ciller had other party officials that did the same deal with Erbakan telling him if Yilmaz resigns and Erbakan gets the mandate once more. Ciller this time would not refuse him like the first round, and their party was delighted because the split of the ministries was much more favorable to Ciller, using Islamic Fundamentalism as the reason. I never trusted Ciller for one minute, and I kept warning the party head officials that her party could simply slip away. This period that I was privy to was the most critical period in modern Turkish political history because these decisions by these politicians broke Türkiye down even further into religious and cultural divisions. This led Türkiye to the 1997 soft coup and then all the subsequent political problems and divisions until 2002.
1997 was also the year I could make my political movement totally independent with no more collaboration with Yilmaz and his party. I had seen enough of the back office political mistakes bringing Türkiye down, and we transformed the movement into a young, extraordinary, intellectual movement that would carry Türkiye into the new century. Of course, during those years, the party officials attacked me in public and also behind closed doors by offering people in my movement positions at the senior levels of the local and national party formations. We lost some people because of this, but we got much more robust because we had perfectly positioned ourselves for the future. For several years, I was again in the international arena and the Turkish press frequently said Türkiye was heading for a political tsunami which would wipe out all the old incompetent and inconclusive establishment. It happened partially in 1999 and entirely in 2002. In Turkish, I used a new political language that meant political wipeout, precisely what happened. The Turkish media and intellectuals would mock me saying nothing like this could be possible in Türkiye as these institutions are part of Turkish society. The people will always support traditional values, which are part of the culture. The 2002 elections left AKP and CHP on the scene and wiped out everything else. And the other parties all perished under this tsunami. Nobody in Türkiye outside of the AKP establishment was expecting this and nobody was prepared for this total wipeout, so everyone had to reposition after November 2002.