This Heinous Treason Should Not Go Unpunished

In one of my previous articles, I claimed that by meticulously avoiding democratic audits and transparency, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had become the locus of illegal activities, and I had no difficulty finding examples to substantiate my claim.

Actually, it should be a rather rare situation for a military established through taxes paid and labor provided by the nation to forget about its primary duty of producing security and peace in the country and instead attempt to create an atmosphere of instability, chaos, fraternal rows, disquiet and insecurity.

To prepare an "action plan" with a view to "destroy" Parliament, which is democratically elected to represent the national will, the government and a civil society movement that has never been involved in a single case of illegal activity and that has earned the respect of the entire world with its volunteer activities should not be something expected from honorable people. Moreover, to lay an ambush like bandits or a mafia, devise heinous conspiracies, make devilish plans and try to discredit a respectable movement through lies, slander and false propaganda are things no honorable military would undertake. But, unfortunately, such things happen.

The "action plan" prepared by the General Staff Operations Department 3rd Information and Support Branch Directorate -- formerly known as the Psychological Operations Command -- which the Taraf daily disclosed on Friday under the headline "The plan to finish off the AK Party [Justice and Development Party] and [Fethullah] Gülen," it seems, contains every sort of offense that can be committed, such as turning the weapons provided by the nation against the nation, treason, treachery, illegal activities, abuse of power and violating the Constitution. One can gather that despite the detention and trial of numerous generals and military officers under the scope of the Ergenekon terrorist organization investigation, Ergenekon has survived without much damage and continues to undertake its illegal activities, such as making plans and executing them under a seemingly legal institutional framework. Contracting false news stories in order to manipulate society, trying to depict innocent people as terrorists by arranging for weapons to be seized in their homes and devising devilish plots in order to render the government dysfunctional by discrediting the AK Party in the eyes of the public befits not an honorable military, but gangs of bandits and mafias.

A military is organized in a strict hierarchy through well-defined chains of command, and no one can act freely on their own. The action plan prepared by Naval Senior Staff Col. Dursun Çiçek, commander of the aforementioned unit within the General Staff, is obviously a document of treason drafted within the requirements of the chains of command applicable in the TSK. Can there be greater treason for the TSK, toward which the nation pays great respect due to its honorable past, than drafting such a document? Yes, but can we silently turn a blind eye to this heinous treason? As you will remember, concerning the light anti-tank weapons (LAWs) found buried in Poyrazköy and elsewhere in abundance, which are capable of destroying tanks, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ held up an empty LAW and claimed that it was "just a pipe, not a weapon," as if to ridicule the intelligence of the nation. If he maintains this attitude of making fun of serious things, we should not be surprised to hear Gen. Başbuğ claim that this "action plan" is a "simple love letter," not a coup plot.

Sweeping the joke aside, we realize that we are in a grave situation. No one -- in particular, Parliament, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül -- can turn a blind eye to this grave offense. In a democratic constitutional state governed by the rule of law, the course of action against such an offense is obvious. And it is to remove from office everyone, including the defense minister and top generals, who can be held liable for transforming the TSK from an institution that produces security for the nation into the focal point of illegal activities that aim to manufacture insecurity and chaos and to make sure that they stand trial for these offenses. Given its current democratic maturity and loyalty to the rule of law, Turkey is capable of making this bold move.

With respect to the many offenses mentioned in the "action plan," the government, the president and Parliament should not repeat the mistakes they made in the past with regard to similar cases and should not remain indifferent toward such grave offenses. A basic principle of law is that no crime should go unpunished. According to an explanation from former chief public prosecutor Reşat Petek, the four-page "action plan" is like an encyclopedia of offenses and contains numerous crimes described under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). In the first place, the plan is an attempt to overthrow the government and Parliament, and this is a constitutional offense. Placing weapons in the houses of innocent people in order to present them as members of a terrorist organization and fabricating crimes is considered entrapment and is a violation of Law No. 6136. Appearing on live TV programs under various identities and making provocative statements is considered inciting people to commit crimes. Conducting secret activities in order to support Ergenekon defendants is the crime of praising offenses or offenders. Propagandizing that the Ergenekon investigation is sponsored by the CIA and Mossad is the offense of exerting pressure on the judges and prosecutors of the Ergenekon investigation and intimidating them and influencing the process of a fair trial. The mere act of drafting such an action plan is the offense of abusing power.

The "action plan," whose drafters were caught red handed, is a grave offense, yet it is also a surprising first. It is even possible that such illegal activities have become the norm for the TSK. Looking back at the last 10 years is sufficient to prove that the TSK has been dominated by illegal activities. As you will remember, during the Feb. 28, 1997 coup, they categorized people with false labels and made sure that they were removed from office, and they went unpunished. Even during the term of Hilmi Özkök, a commander loyal to democracy, there were attempts in 2004 to bring nongovernmental organizations under the tight control of the military and pave the way for a coup. During the term of Yaşar Büyükanit, a document titled Lahika-1 was prepared and described how to put society in order, but then it was disclosed, and the General Staff admitted that it was prepared but was not implemented in order to ward off litigation. In an another categorization effort, almost everyone working in civil society organizations, including members of the famous Koç family, was labeled with false designations. This, too, went unpunished.

I believe that it is our most natural right as citizens to demand that acts of treason committed by treacherous people who are trying to create a sphere of power for themselves through illegal activities aimed at the nation and the national will while hiding behind the respect afforded to the military should no longer go unpunished.