Dozens of individuals, including some retired generals, have been taken into custody so far as part of the investigation. The General Staff statement denied the daily's allegations, commenting: "Some press organs make public an incident that occurred three years ago as if it has just occurred. So-called advocates of democracy, trying to push the army into discussions at every occasion, have become groups harming Turkey's stability. It is natural to expect not only the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) but also its real owners, the Turkish nation, to show a democratic and legal reaction to these assaults." The TSK expectation of a democratic and legal reaction from the public has led many to ponder the reasons that prompted the TSK to make such a call.Zaman's Mustafa Ünal dwells on the TSK's expectation of a reaction from the public, something the TSK also demanded last year in the wake of stepped-up acts of terror perpetrated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "There is a similarity here. Why did the General Staff need to make such a call when it was denying a news story? What does this mean precisely? How will the Turkish nation show a democratic and legal reaction? To whom? Did it not show its reaction to what had happened very maturely in the latest general elections?" Ünal ponders. Arguing that very careful language was used during the Ergenekon operation to prevent defamation of the TSK, he finds it a bit bizarre for the TSK to nonetheless call on the Turkish nation to give a legal and democratic reaction. Quoting an associate whom he says knows the TSK well, Ünal says: "The TSK might be thinking that it has been left alone, this may be the reason that led them to make such a call to the nation." Ünal finds this explanation probable, but thinks that the TSK should still be careful while trying to prevent criticism against it to avoid making statements that will result in renewed debate.
Radikal's Murat Yetkin finds the same sentence in the TSK's statement the most striking, questioning how it is exactly the nation can provide a democratic and legal response. "Since we cannot expect the TSK to adopt a political stance in the next elections in the event the AK Party is closed down and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is banned from politics, then alternatives such as press statements and mass demonstrations remain. Who will be the target of the reactions? It is not certain whether the government, the judiciary, Parliament, the media or another institution is the target of these reactions," he remarks. In his view, every institution has a right to react in the wake of assaults against it, but if that institution also calls for others to show a reaction, then this exceeds its authority.
Milliyet's Fikret Bila criticizes what he calls a negative atmosphere created over the Ergenekon operation, which he thinks casts a shadow on the investigation and undermines confidence in the judiciary. Bila argues that some circles have turned the operation into a tool to defame the TSK, emphasizing that TSK means "coup" in their eyes. In light of this, he welcomes the TSK's statement and its call on the nation to give a democratic and legal reaction to the assaults against it.
