Ergenekon is a lie; a ‘piece of paper’ is real!
With little conscience, there is no need for millions of pages of documents in order to see that the Ergenekon suspects, including Veli Küçük, Şener Eruygur, Tuncay Özkan, Çetin Doğan and İlker Başbuğ, have been involved in illegal affairs not reconcilable with the contemporary civilization criteria referred to by Atatürk. To see this, a mere four-page-long anti-reactionaryism action plan is enough.
This document, which seeks to eliminate the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement, was first published in Taraf in June 2009. Assured that the original of the document would not be publicized after the completion of the process of destruction at headquarters, former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. İlker Başbuğ, force commanders and 32 generals held a press conference where they referred to the document as a piece of paper. According to them, what the judiciary should do was to find out who drafted the document.
Subsequent to strange discussions concerning a wet signature by Col. Dursun Çiçek, who undersigned the document, a review by the criminal labs confirmed that the document leaked by a military officer, which was referred to by the General Staff as a piece of paper, included a plan seeking to eliminate the democratic government and the Gülen movement.
The document said:
“To reveal the truth and reality about the AK Party government seeking to overthrow the secular and democratic order and creating a Shariah-based Islamic state, as well as some groups that extend support to the government and some radical religious movements including the Gülen group, to address the popular support for them and to end their activities. … “In the raids on the houses affiliated with the Gülen movement, guns, plans and ammunitions would be planted so that military offenses could be substantiated; to this end, the Gülen movement would be defined as a pro-Fethullah armed terror organization so that the investigation would be carried out in the military courts. …
“News reports would be sponsored to promulgate the idea that the military servicemen arrested in connection with the Ergenekon case have been falsely accused because of their action against backwardness.”
At least the authenticity of the four pages in the 64 million-page Ergenekon case has been confirmed. Did all those who called these documents fake regret what they had said before? On the contrary, they acted as if nothing had happened and kept their campaign of slandering.
And were the progressive circles influenced by the referral by the European Union, part of contemporary civilization, to the Ergenekon case as a great opportunity to consolidate the democratic order and strengthen the rule of law (EU Progress Report, October 2012)? Or did the attitude of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) -- the most reliable and prestigious judicial institution in the modern world -- that found the allegations in the Çetin Doğan and Tuncay Özkan cases serious and the arrests justifiable mean anything? No. Despite the dark past of Turkey and numerous documents, it is hard to say that with the exception of the EU, Western countries see the Ergenekon case as an opportunity. For instance, so far, no American authority has ever said that the Ergenekon case was a great opportunity for further democracy in Turkey. The Western media also paid attention to minor violations in the legal procedure; in addition, they released publications to undermine the image and prestige of the government and the Gülen movement.
Of course, this could be attributed to connection between the so-called progressives in Turkey and some Western actors and to the role played by some certain circles aware of what would happen when Turkey got rid of Ergenekon. Leading think tanks stayed focused on the prolonged detention periods, weak evidence and other similar allegations instead of the opportunity that the investigation would present. Isn’t it interesting to see that the only report drafted in English on Ergenekon is negative? The so-called progressives were not influenced by the confirmation of the authenticity of the documents or the stance of the EU and the ECtHR towards the Ergenekon case. According to Kemalist, leftist, neo-nationalist and progressive circles, the Ergenekon defendants are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal. Nobody is saying that the coup suspects have made mistakes; we hear nothing to this effect from Şener Eruygur or Mustafa Balbay. And former pro-coup figures are no different. The chair of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into coups, Nimet Baş, says that everybody believes what needed to be done was done. Considering the reports on the Silivri turmoil, it could be said that the mainstream media have not changed, either. The special courts associated with the fight against Ergenekon were abolished, and the Taraf daily was shaken up. Even the government targeted by Ergenekon is confused. It is also true that the slowdown in the process of democratization has negatively affected the investigation.
The following remark by prosecutor Ignacio Gordillo, who dissolved the Antiterrorist Liberation Groups (GAL), a secret clandestine organization in Spain, applies to Ergenekon as well: “Those who try to hide state terror have relied on everything to prevent or undermine the investigation. The government and intelligence units have not extended help. Because I dismissed the demands from the upper ranks to shelve the file, I have been suspended from the process three times.”
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