Latest wave of Ergenekon arrests dominates Turkish politicians’ discourse

[Ghost Dog]

Source: Zaman

... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the leader of the governing AK Party, devoted his speech during yesterday's parliamentary meeting to the recent arrests, and denied his party's or government's links to the arrests. “The debate over the arrest of some journalists has turned into an unjust campaign against the government. … The latest arrests have come as part of the judiciary's own practices. It is a big mistake to link the arrests with our government or party,” he stated. Seven individuals -- six of whom are journalists -- were arrested recently as part of the Ergenekon probe. They are accused of close links to Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization that is charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Dozens of suspected Ergenekon members are currently in prison on coup charges. Among the arrestees are journalists, businessmen and members of the military.

Prime Minister Erdoğan said 27 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey, but none of them were arrested on journalism-related charges. Critics of the government and the Ergenekon investigation claim the journalists were arrested because they wrote anti-AK Party or anti-government articles or books in the past.

...

Chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, however, adopted a critical approach toward the arrests. He said all members of Ergenekon should be tried, but also claimed that opponents of the AK Party are being silenced due to their anti-government publications. “The prime minister says the journalists were not arrested due to their criticism of the AK Party. He is trying to shape public opinion as if there is a law that it is a crime to criticize the AK Party. Of course no one is arrested due to their profession as a journalist, but anti-terror laws passed by the government pave the way for the arrests,” he stated.

The BDP leader also complained prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon probe are investigating crimes that were reportedly committed after 2003, shortly after the AK Party rose to power. “There is no file of crime related to crimes committed before 2003. It is as if the deep state did not exist before 2003. There are pieces of evidence related to crimes committed before then, but prosecutors are not investigating those crimes. They are only focused on crimes that were committed with the motive of overthrowing the AK Party,” he stated.

Read more: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-237659-latest-wave-of-ergenekon-arrests-dominates-turkish-politicians-discourse.html

[Ghost Dog]

1. Ergenekon probe

The journalists arrested as part of the Ergenekon probe, including Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık, are suspected to have acted in accordance with the organization’s targets to manipulate the media. A document recently seized from Odatv, titled “Ulusal Medya” (National Media), mentions plans to discredit the Ergenekon probe and enable the release of Ergenekon suspects by using the media. It also explains ways of creating a “national media center” which will fight against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).” The journalists are suspected to have acted in line with this plan. Gültekin Avcı, a retired public prosecutor, also stresses that being involved in the activities of a terrorist organization cannot be accepted within the boundaries of freedom of the press. “What is important to take note of when evaluating these developments is whether or not an illegal group whispered in the ears of these journalists about what to write,” he says. Recalling the documents seized during the Odatv raid last month, Avcı says these may have been behind the recent arrests.

/... http://www.todayszaman.com/news-237663-jurists-say-acting-on-orders-of-shady-group-not-freedom-of-press.html

--
Ergenekon is the name given to an alleged clandestine, ultra-nationalist<1> organization in Turkey with ties to members of the country's military and security forces.<2> The group, named after Ergenekon, a mythical place located in the inaccessible valleys of the Altay Mountains, is accused of terrorism in Turkey.<3>

Its agenda has variously been described as Eurasianists<4><5><6> and isolationist.<7> The defendants portray themselves as defenders of secularism, and national sovereignty. According to the indictment, the group's claim to legitimacy is that it allegedly protects national interests, which the defendants believe are incompatible with the rule of the democratically elected government of Justice and Development Party and are harmed by Turkey's alleged concessions to the West.<8><9> In Turkey, the extensions of the state—the establishment—that are considered responsible for this are referred to as the "deep state".<10> The existence of the "deep state" was affirmed in Turkish opinion after the Susurluk scandal in 1996.<11> Alleged members have been indicted on charges of plotting to foment unrest, among other things by assassinating intellectuals, politicians, judges, military staff, and religious leaders, with the ultimate goal of toppling the incumbent government<12><13><14> in a coup that was planned to take place in 2009.<15><16> This follows allegations published in Nokta that several abortive coups with the same intent were planned a few years ago. The proximate motive behind these false flag activities is said to be to discredit the incumbent Justice and Development Party and derail Turkey's accession process to the European Union.<17><18>

/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergenekon_%28organization%29

__
This is the big story in Turkey at the moment (so maybe not looking too closely at whether Turkey could help out with North African and Middle Eastern transitional (or even military as well as humanitarian) situations)?

[formercia]

2. Seems the Turks have the same problem with the Media

Right-wing reactionaries trying to control the National Psyche.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Yeah. And deeply-entrenched

in 'establishment' society.

[autorank]

4. Ergenekon is the mother of all conspiracies

Turkey’s “Deep-State” and
the Ergenekon Conundrum
By H. Akin Ünver
http://www.mei.edu/Portals/0/Publications/turkey-deep-state-ergenekonconundrum.pdf

"Ergenekon” is the name given to arguably the most important legal process in Turkish
history in which around 100 suspects are charged with aiming to topple the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) through a military coup. The legal indictment infers that
these suspects are in fact a part of a wider network of individuals within the armed forces,
intelligence community, executive branches, academia, media, and civil society, suggesting
that the network in question is an evolved version of a similar network dating back to the
final years of the Ottoman Empire and incorporated into the NATO operations during the
Cold War. While the legal process has the potential to be the single most important process
that will shed light on the last century of Turkish history, it is also surrounded by many
legal and political controversies, including acute anti-American rhetoric."

Here's the structure of Ergenekon -
http://www.turkishgladio.com/filecat.php?id=25

1-ESTABLISHMENT AND FORMATION OF THE ORGANIZATION
~ The organization started civil expansion after 1999
~ STRUCTURING OF ERGENEKON: Organization’s hierarchic structure, objectives and principles have been put into written form, hierarchic distribution regarding tasks, responsible divisions (departments) have been made and solid principles of the organization have been recorded item by item and thus a structure where a state within the state is aimed has been established.
~ Organization leaders are considering themselves as “deep state” and maintaining that the organization is recognized such as this outside the organization.
~ Members of the ERGENEKON organization stated that; "they are the real owners of the state, all administrators are traitors, Constitutional rules are not enough to govern the State in a health and safe way, and for these reasons it is obligatory for a deep (underground) organization such as ERGENEKON to govern the State from backstage and even shocking assassinations can be performed in order to maintain administers of State to obey ERGENEKON STRUCTURING.