It is still too early to establish a criminal connection between those who are being investigated and tried in the Ergenekon case. But the ideological trend is obvious. They can be broadly described as ultranationalists with authoritarian views on politics who are deeply hostile to the West.
The Ergenekon suspects think the very survival of Turkey, its territorial integrity and its regime are at stake as it is surrounded by foreign enemies who control the Turkish economy and politics. Turkey's foreign enemies aim at destroying Turkish independence and bow the country to the pressures of outside forces who support all "anti-national" groups, including the Kurds, Alevis and liberals. Foreign enemies are not on their own; they have domestic collaborators who are determined to weaken the Turkish state. Among them, separatist Kurdish groups are supported to divide Turkey. Even the political party in government, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), is a tool at the hands of the enemy. In fact they believe that the AK Party, as part of the US's "moderate Islam project," was brought to power by the US to support its war effort in Iraq and carry out its Greater Middle East Initiative.
The Ergenekon suspects are of the opinion that political reforms in the name of democratization are in fact plots by the European Union to weaken the Turkish nation-state, cripple Turkey's power to fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and soften its secular regime. They go so far as to argue that Turkey is under the occupation of foreign powers and interests. Turkish economic assets are sold to foreign capitalists who manipulate the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) and currency market at the expense of Turkish interests. Turkish civil society, financed by the US, has become an extension of the "Soros network," which plots against pro-independent nationalists forces.
Another common thread between the Ergenekon suspects is the way they look at Turkey's foreign alignment and relations with the West. For them, NATO is an imperialist organization that Turkey should abandon immediately. In order to counter Western imperialist plots regarding Turkey, they advocate an alliance with Russia, Iran and China.
Such enlightening views, aren't they?!... I know all these ideas are bluntly paranoid, myopic, hysterical and irrational.
But imagine someone who believes in all these nonsensical ideas: Would she or he not resort to all means at hand to influence the developments that are believed destined to destroy the state and the nation? Such a situation of life and death for the state, they believe, would warrant any course of action. The most popular motto of these circles for last couple of years was "If the motherland is at stake the rest is a detail," indicating that anything would be justified. Under the influence of such thinking, one does not see himself/herself bound by law or morality.
Remember, this country has known this state of mind, which tries to save the state and the nation, for more than a century. The instinct to rescue the state and the nation is likely to give way to adventurous acts that actually put the Turkish state and nation at risk.
This is the state of mind that created, spread and justified the Turkish Gladio (Ergenekon) and has enabled it to gather some support from a small and marginal segment of society, including Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, who recently reiterated his position as the lawyer of Ergenekon.
