Turkey's future and the Balyoz decision
The Balyoz coup trial, which started on Dec. 16, 2010, concluded last Friday. Most of the 365 defendants have been sentenced to 20, 18 or 16 years in prison.
With one exception, all of those who have been acquitted in the case are noncommissioned military officers. This shows that the court has conducted a fair and careful review vis-à-vis low-ranking officers who might have been involved in the coup attempt unknowingly. Of course, there is also the process in the Supreme Court of Appeals. The case will be finalized after its ruling. However, even though there might be some modifications to the convictions, it could be said that the crime of planning a coup has been confirmed.
In the criticism raised against the Balyoz case, it is frequently argued that the case was politically motivated. Of course, a coup investigation has a political dimension. In a country like Turkey with a past with many coups, the people know the meaning of a coup very well. The impunity of past coups had a political dimension that contributed to the emergence of subsequent coups; effective action against coups now has a political aspect as well.
It has been possible to raise political discourse independent of the Kemalist elites and military bureaucracy since the coming of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to power on Nov. 3, 2002. During this process, some coup attempts have been made against the AK Party. The April 27 memorandum and the constitutional court's decision on the presidency of Abdullah Gül were of a political nature; there was explicit support by the judiciary for coups. True, politics is everywhere. But which politics are we talking about?
Is it political preference or action to halt an elected government, stage coup attempts and rely on state institutions to achieve these goals? And isn't a proper policy to create a country where these would not go unpunished? For people who are sick of coups and who have lost many sons to them supporting a government standing by these cases is, true, a political stance.
Besides, the defense side adopted an extremely political attitude and position from the start of the case. They have insistently and frequently argued that the defendants were secular and Kemalist military servicemen, and for this reason, they could not be considered criminals, and they were dealing with conspiracy staged by the AK Party and the Gülen movement. Back then, nobody complained that this approach could harm the gist of the case and put pressure upon the court.
Of course, these people have families and relatives, and they are very sad now. I wish this had never happened. We should not celebrate when others suffer. But justice should also be served. Had this coup taken place, I would not have written this column. This is very serious. A serious coup attempt was identified, and a competent independent court investigated it. The updated list of names of those who would assume roles in the interim government to be formed after the coup is out there. We have seen this before. By this ruling, the structure of the Turkish military, which generates coups and harbors the pro-coup juntas, has also been convicted. The military would have remained reconciled with these structures if the Taraf daily had not published the Balyoz coup plans, brave prosecutors had not initiated a process of investigation and the government had not backed these initiatives.
And this is exactly what should be questioned. This mindset might be in decline after the Balyoz and Ergenekon cases. But does this show that this has been completely eliminated or that it has not actually turned into something else? I wrote this in my previous column. The army has committed many mistakes since Uludere. Because the incidents are not properly identified and investigated, we are unable to understand what is going on. I cannot help thinking as to whether a different method is being tried against the democratic regime.
There is a big difference between the submission of the military to the government and a truly democratic military. And the military has not gone through that process of reform. This is enough for us to believe that it is always possible in Turkey that some may make further coup attempts.
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