ERGENEKON INVESTIGATION AND THE NOISE IT CREATES
By Mumtazer Turkone
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jan 20 2009
Turkey
The Ergenekon earthquake continues with new tremors. Sometimes it
reminds us of a horror film. The sort of chaos and commotion Turkey
might have faced if the weapons and bombs dug up from the underground
repositories had been used is just a small scene from this horror show.
Occasionally, it rekindles political confrontations. Republican
People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal has been waging
a comprehensive opposition campaign against the Ergenekon
investigation. From time to time, it becomes a comedy. In particular,
the people who attempt to defend Ergenekon with political arguments
have been producing funny arguments.
Deniz Som, a columnist at the Cumhuriyet newspaper, is an advocate of
the Ergenekon organization, and we had a brief discussion on a live
broadcast TV program. I hesitated before deciding whether I should
laugh at or be offended by the arguments he suggested. The previous
day, bags full of bullets and hand grenades were left on streets or
deserted spots in many places around the country. It seems that these
bags were later reported to the police by those who left them. This
is a frequently seen case, and I described it as the disintegration
phase of the Ergenekon terrorist organization. The members of the
organization who had stored weapons and ammunition were discarding
them. Som had a different perspective. To him, these weapons and
ammunition had been taken as keepsakes by people who had completed
their compulsory military service. In short, he called them "military
service souvenirs." This explanation fits in well with Turks’ sense of
humor. The military penal code has heavy penalties for taking equipment
outside of military facilities. In the case of weapons and ammunition,
these penalties are more severe.
Tactical wars
A headline the Cumhuriyet newspaper ran several days ago about
the weapons and ammunition unearthed crossed the thin line between
tragedy and comedy. After numerous weapons and bombs were dug up
in the courtyard of the house of a lieutenant colonel, the paper
ran the headline "Excavation revealed history." The news story opts
to report the incident as follows: The area where the weapons and
ammunition were stored is an officially designated archaeological
zone. While the search was being conducted according to a sketch,
an ancient water jug was also discovered. Next to weapons and bombs
that were sufficient to create bloodshed in Turkey, a water jug was
found. The Cumhuriyet newspaper preferred to devote its headline
to the jug, not the weapons. Even Pravda, the official paper of the
Soviet Union, could not have gone so far in distorting news according
to the communist ideology.
In the short term, if the Ergenekon investigation can be successfully
completed and the Turkish counter-guerrilla is purged, this will be
a disadvantage for the CHP and an advantage for the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AK Party). The developments, it seems, may be
influential on the nearing municipal elections; however, only the CHP
has the power to create pressure to influence the investigation. The AK
Party lacks the means to be influential on the judiciary. In Turkey,
the judiciary is independent. It is independent to the degree of very
advanced standards.
The pro-Ergenekon types are conducting a very comprehensive defense
against the investigation. There are several lines of defense set
up to this effect. In the farthest line of defense, there are the
proponents of Ergenekon who have dug "republican positions." This
is where Baykal stands. This is their main argument: "Deepening
the Ergenekon investigation means waging war against the republic
and secularism." This is an old tactic commonly used to corner
conservative politicians by creating a regime issue out of simple
political debates. Those who talk about the possible dangers that
the elimination of a counter-guerrilla organization may pose to the
regime do not have a firm standing. This is because they have no
response to the question "Why?"
Waging a political confrontation and a regime debate over the
Ergenekon investigation is not persuasive. Everyone has the following
question in mind: "Should the republic be defended by committing
murders?" Moreover, the suggestion that the political government
is "taking revenge" through the Ergenekon investigation is sheer
demagogy. What legal tools does the government possess? Isn’t the
judiciary independent? Would the government be capable of preventing
the investigation even if it had a desire to do so?
Everyone needs law
"Everyone needs law" is a sentence uttered to a person who wrongs
someone else. It is a sort of warning, reminding the oppressor of
the possibility that s/he might face the same oppression in the
future. The Ergenekon investigation proceeds accompanied by media
wars. Complaints are being voiced that personal rights are being
violated. The former honorary president of the Supreme Court of
Appeals is a legal expert with authority who cautions people about
these violations of personal rights.
Yes, there are violations, but it is also the case that facilities and
possibilities afforded by law are being used to defend the Ergenekon
terrorist organization. Thus, the front lines of the defense are
populated by those who strive to produce legal ammunition. Until
now, there has not been a single legal bullet these people could
produce. None of the Ergenekon lawyers have managed to find an answer
to the question "How is this investigation deficient from a legal
standpoint?" A police officer lowering the head of former Higher
Education Board (YÃ~C-K) President Kemal Guruz can be explained as the
police officer’s effort to keep his head from bumping into the car. In
the face of complaints about the cold and a broken heating system,
police officers who work under those conditions may raise the same
complaints, saying: "We, too, are cold. Please find a solution to this
problem." Rather, the police officers are aware of the tension and are
extraordinarily careful. They conduct house searches like gentlemen.
The groups who claim that the trial will be fruitless had been making
much noise until the defendants began to be cross-examined in the
trial going on in Silivri. Today, we no longer need to give responses
to those who are shocked by the arsenal of Ã~D°brahim Ã…Â~^ahin or
to those who make their best efforts to distinguish Ergenekon from
Susurluk. Doesn’t the fact that Baykal has sounded a "red alert"
show that these defensive lines are useless?
Why then this absurd resistance? Why do people who appear to be
respectable blindly attempt to defend Ergenekon? What are they
hiding? What is it that they protect or fear?
Ergenekon was the unethical ingredient of power equations in Turkey. It
seems that this immorality has stained many people. Some are worried
about being accomplices and some about losing an effective tool of
power. Declaring the suspects innocent is as unlawful as declaring
them guilty without knowing anything about the investigation. Those
who announce that the detained people are innocent imply in advance
that they, too, are innocent, don’t they?
Those who accuse the prosecutors and issue preconceived judgments
about Ergenekon must provide us with information in order to
be convincing. Susurluk is only one leg of the octopus called
Ergenekon. And do not forget that this is a terrorist organization.
Where is the investigation headed?
It is said that the tension created by the investigation is very
high. This is not correct, as this tension has nothing to do with the
legal course of the investigation. It is impossible to destroy the
tools of crime and the evidence discovered and to act as if nothing
had happened. The nation is watching the developments with increased
interest and concern.
The high volume of noise that results may be attributed to futile
attempts by pro-Ergenekon types. There is no tension; there is only
desperate resistance by Ergenekon. In short, Turkey is purging its
counter-guerrilla. This organization has been revealed, and it is
impossible for it to hide itself underground once again.
In other words, everything is being normalized.
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