Eventually, politicians, bureaucrats and the judiciary cooperated to draw a curtain over the shadowy network that was caught red handed in Susurluk. The politicians at the time were unable to lend their support to the investigation. There were also doubts about the judiciary. Indeed, the people who were dealing with the case were rendered ineffective one by one. The public institutions whose names were involved in the Susurluk case chose to turn a deaf ear to the claims. But Susurluk consisted not only of those who were in the car that crashed. There were others referred to in the case file, such as Veli Küçük, Mehmet Ağar and many others. JİTEM, the Special Operations Unit and mysterious murders were at the heart of the accusations. The investigation was ended prematurely, giving some people small sentences.
The politicians who concealed the Susurluk network can no longer find themselves a place in today’s political arena. The psychological warfare specialists of the process leading up to the Feb. 28, 1997 military intervention did not take the government’s adulation into consideration and pulled the trigger. At that time, Mesut Yılmaz was intently waiting for an opportunity to secure the post of prime minister. He achieved his aim but was unable to stay there for long. According to the reports in some papers, the interior minister at the time wanted to launch an investigation into Ergenekon but was prevented by Yılmaz. Tuncay Güney, who was the first to talk about Ergenekon, had been interrogated by Adil Serdar Saçan, who was a security chief at the time. Interestingly, Saçan is accused of coverıng up the claims voiced by Güney. Saçan is known to have close ties with Yılmaz, so it is impossible for Yılmaz not to have heard about the first Ergenekon informant. Speaking to the Yeni Şafak daily, Avni Özgürel explained how Yılmaz had been cornered by the Susurluk network. In short, Ergenekon was concealed until a cache discovered in Ümraniye led to the launching of a new investigation. After so many caches have been discovered, it is no longer possible to draw a curtain over the Ergenekon terrorist organization.
The blame for concealing the Susurluk network cannot be put entirely on politicians. The strange mechanism within the judiciary prevents investigations from going forward. For instance, Sedat Karagül, who was the first judge in the Susurluk trial, was removed from this post even though he was trying to further the investigation. The new judge concluded the trial in three months and sentenced İbrahim Şahin to six years in prison on charges of establishing a criminal network. Interestingly, this judge, Metin Çetinbaş, is today acting as a lawyer for some of the suspects being tried in the Ergenekon trial.
I would like to leave the floor to Ayhan Çarkın, a former police officer from the Special Operations Unit, who was tried alongside Şahin: “Judge Sedat Karagül, who presided over our trial for three-and-a-half years, was in my opinion completely fair toward us. Later, the judge was removed from the trial. I wish that judge would have sentenced us to the death penalty. Another judge was appointed by Yılmaz’s government. We got just four years in prison. But you know what charges we were being tried for.”
As the Ergenekon investigation proceeds, a group of people from the judiciary is exerting pressure on the prosecutors and police officers conducting the investigation. The head of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) is about to destroy himself. He is continually telling the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges (HSYK) to remove the prosecutor from office or render him ineffective. The HSYK had already made a historic mistake by removing the Şemdinli prosecutor from office. Some people speaking in their capacity as bar association presidents add to the impression that the Ergenekon network is being protected. This is because their statements overlap with the latest efforts by Sabih Kanadoğlu to dilute the investigation. Arguing that the Ergenekon investigation must be conducted with 40 prosecutors means nothing but impeding the investigation. With respect to the Susurluk trial, there were suspicions about the judiciary, but no clear connection could be established. Today the debates revolving around YARSAV, the HSYK and other judicial organizations and the impressions given by Sabih Kanadoğlu and some bar associations have confirmed our worry that the intervention in the judicial mechanism has reached a peak.
Recently Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a good point when he said, “I condemn the pressure on the prosecutor, and I also condemn the fact that members of the judiciary do not respect the law.” It is obvious who the prime minister was referring to. Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin has urged caution numerous times, but some people are apparently paying no heed. But, at this point, there is a very clear truth: Whoever attempts to draw a curtain over the Ergenekon network will be crushed by that network, even if they are members of the judiciary.
