For example, on Tuesday some newspapers claimed that the Ergenekon gang, a crime organization suspected of having plotted to topple the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) government, was inspired by a 600-year-old Central Asian legend named “Agarta.” The appearance of such details and documents in the media, according to some circles, is inappropriate when there is an ongoing judicial process; however, this argument is disputed by others who say it is not meaningful to deprive the court of ongoing debates by the public about a specific legal case nor is it beneficial to focus on the source of these documents while overlooking the information they contain.Gülay Göktürk from the Bugün daily is one of those who welcome the discussion of all aspects of a legal case by the media despite the ongoing judicial process. “It is meaningless to try to isolate judges from debates going on in the society and to prevent them from benefiting from these debates while doing their job,” she says. In Göktürk’s view, if the media present multiple points of view, courts will be able to see where the public stands on the issue and will not get only one point of view (currently the case in Turkey). In other words, she says all aspects of a legal case will be debated by the public; everyone will voice their criticism, bringing to the surface every opinion. All these criticisms and opinions will certainly influence the judges and the prosecutor. Göktürk’s analyses apply to all legal cases. Specifically speaking about the Ergenekon case, she says that although the documents about the activities of this gang have been circulating among various media outlets and state authorities for five years, some media outlets had remained silent and now appear to not be influencing the judicial process as they continue their silence and even accuse media outlets which disclose these documents of engaging in information overload. “Had it not been for those courageous publications which you say have led to information overload, do you not know that documents about the Ergenekon gang would have been kept in the state’s secret archives forever and that they would serve nothing other than being tools of blackmail in power struggles among cliques?” asks Göktürk.
Hürriyet’s Oktay Ekşi, on the other hand, is very uneasy about the extensive coverage the Ergenekon case has gotten in the media and mocks the link established between Ergenekon and the legend of Agarta. Recalling a statement from İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin, who complained about some news appearing in the media about Ergenekon without citing any sources, he says some newspapers seem to have ignored this warning. According to Ekşi, the prosecutor who prepared the Ergenekon indictment “leaked” information about the indictment to the media. “He admitted reporters in two groups in his office and gave them information about the Ergenekon indictment,” he claims.
Yeni Şafak’s Taha Kıvanç criticizes in particular newspapers that belong to the Doğan Media Group, which slam other media outlets that have been extensively covering the Ergenekon case. He says newspapers belonging to this media group are the ones that leak big news about the indictment. For instance, he says Milliyet reported about the approximately 2,500-page indictment while Radikal, from the hands of its editor-in-chief, accused Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal of recklessness when he claimed to be the defense attorney in the Ergenekon case. Kıvanç terms this a big contradiction and a clear attempt to defame other newspapers.
