Plan for Eradication of Democracy

It would be a great idea to conduct a comparative analysis of the content of the April 14 speech of the chief of general staff and the plan for the eradication of democracy ― it actually bears the name "Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism" ― allegedly prepared under the auspices of the General Staff, showing that the underlying messages of the two actually overlapped and that either the chief of general staff was informed about the plan, then only one week old, both the chief of general staff and the colonel who prepared the plan were informed by a third unknown source or both had similar instincts and mental faculties, reaching the same end without any link to one another.

But, I can't do that. The readers of this column know that the General Staff is unaccredited in this column in response to the press accreditation crime the General Staff has perpetrated since time immemorial.

I will instead work on the response of our media to that alleged plan.

The plan for the eradication of democracy suggests that certain news items should appear in newspapers, defaming the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Gülen movement and ― absurdly ― some TV series. These lines suggest that there are pseudo-journalists here and there, in this or that newspaper ― I assure you there are none at Today's Zaman ― that are ready to publish or broadcast ready-made manipulative so-called news or articles in their columns.

This is intellectual prostitution.

My column is my honor and I won't let anyone, a soldier or otherwise, under any condition, penetrate into it. The plan suggests that either there are pseudo-journalists who are ready to allow that ― shame on them ― or the so-called colonel thinks he can intellectually "rape" any column he wants ― shame on him and damn him!

I invite journalists to declare that their columns were not meant to be used for such a criminal and disgusting plan, and once the author of that plan is established, I invite journalists to press charges against him or her on the grounds that the plan denigrated, defamed and insulted the art of journalism in this country.

Unfortunately, the suspects are whistling.

It is better to keep silent here so as to not give this wild minority within our respected family of journalists the right to reply.

On the first day after the publication of the plan, an military general spoke to the press and said that the case was being investigated. An unnamed courageous journalist asked the general whether the military would investigate who prepared this plan or how this plan was leaked to the press.

Well, there is no leak here. The document was found at the premises of an Ergenekon suspect. The plan was shared between strategic allies. That is all.

But this question reminds me of a pattern in how the General Staff responds whenever a member of the military is accused of any wrongdoing. They investigate not the crime itself, but how the information about that crime was leaked. This only adds insult to injury.

This also reveals a need for a whistleblower regulation in Turkey. Whistle-blowing has always been a controversial issue in the US, where it was first instituted and where a legal protection mechanism was established. Despite the fact that it may be misused, a whistle-blowing regulation seems to be necessary in Turkey until the state apparatus is cleared of these democracy-eradicators.