Corona conspiracies: Erdogan’s media claim Gulen planned pandemic as biological weapon

Mahmoud al-Batakoushi

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hustling represents the air he breathes, the water he drinks and the food that nourishes him, as he always seeks to convert his country’s crises into his own personal gains that serve his ambitions, which is exactly what he has done by attempting to exploit the corona virus pandemic in order to settle scores and get rid of his enemies.

The Turkish president taunted his loyal media to portray the corona virus as a biological weapon developed by the Zionists in cooperation with Fethullah Gulen’s movement, which supposedly wants “to spread the virus among Turkish society”.

According to Nordic Monitor, a presenter on the Turkish news channel A Haber, which is owned by Erdogan’s family, claimed that the virus is a conspiracy by Zionists to benefit from the decline in stock markets and then announce the creation of a vaccine for the virus, explaining that the “proof” of this is that China and Iran were targeted. Another presenter on the same channel claimed the virus was a means of getting rid of the elderly in order to have a more youthful world.

Meanwhile, the pro-government channel CNN Türk claimed that the corona pandemic is a means of taking complete control of the world, planned by Fethullah Gulen, who leads the Hizmet movement and currently resides in the United States. The broadcaster stressed that the pandemic is being used by the West to create a new religion based on a mixture of paganism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, noting that this is what the Gulen movement advocates.

Empty talk

This type of discourse is not strange to Erdogan. Whenever his authority is troubled – whether due to an economic crisis, popular unrest or a political challenge – he subjects the crises to conspiracy theories.

Erdogan first resorted to this type of empty talk during the Gezi Park protests in May 2013, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the urban development project he started in Istanbul’s historic Taksim Square.

The demonstrations quickly turned into civil unrest with an increasing number of demonstrators who wanted to peacefully express their displeasure. But instead of sympathizing with the demonstrators and trying to fulfill their desires, Erdogan accused them of being traitors and collaborating with foreign forces, which proved effective in suppressing them at the time.

According to Erdogan and his political and media mouthpieces, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Turkish Business Group, Jews, Germany, Mossad, and Fethullah Gulen were the instigators of these domestic and foreign conspirators.

Erdogan uses the same political language whenever he finds himself in a political impasse. Consequently, he rejected corruption investigations in December 2013 in which he, his son, four of his ministers and other notables of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) were implicated in a plot by Gulen.

Erdogan and his followers also used similar terms when the Turks faced a shortage of basic foodstuffs during the country’s recent economic recession, again holding conspirators responsible for the crisis.

Given this track record, it is not surprising that Erdogan’s loyalists have used the same language when it comes to the corona virus. The pandemic will reveal the poor health status of Turkey due to the policies of the ruling regime, so circulating conspiracy theories is a preventive tactic against the people’s potential resentment due to the deficient health system.