Even its self-confessed advocate, Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, now admits that the unearthed weapons are real but that "respected" people should not be considered under the same terrorist umbrella. We are now at a stage in which everyone is pondering Ergenekon's genetics and the secrets of its DNA. Some consider it a pro-Russian and thus anti-NATO organization, whilst some others see it at as deeply connected to the Pentagon and neocons. I think both accounts cover some parts of reality, but to understand the true nature of Ergenekon, we need to refer to recent Turkish history. First of all, following in the footsteps of the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith, we should take into account how Ergenekonians define themselves to formulate a balanced and objective definition of Ergenekon. Ergenekonians see themselves as true Kemalists and believe we live in conditions similar to those just before the Turkish War of Independence in the 1920s under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).
The last rulers of the Ottomans, the leaders of the Union and Progress Party, established a paramilitary underground organization in Anatolia with the help of the Ottoman intelligence organization Teşkilat-i Mahsusa when they understood that they would lose World War I and Turkey could be occupied. To save the country from foreign occupation, this secret organization, which was composed of retired soldiers, civilian patriots and active-duty soldiers in plain clothes, would start a war of independence against the foreign occupiers using hidden Ottoman weaponry.
In fact, after the occupation of certain parts of Anatolia, these hidden units and cells started seemingly ad hoc uprisings, and everywhere in the country, special associations with nationalist and pro-independence fervor (Kuvay-i Milliye Dernekleri) mushroomed. Several Ottoman soldiers helped these units, and many of them who were in İstanbul secretly left İstanbul for Anatolia. When Mustafa Kemal left İstanbul on May 15, 1919, there were already many such associations and uprisings in Anatolia, and Mustafa Kemal successfully led these units until he managed to establish a united national army and disbanded these associations and cells, which were becoming a national security concern. Some resisted, but eventually Mustafa Kemal managed to eradicate them.
The second important issue that we should take into account is Mustafa Kemal's ideology. In retrospect, we know for sure that Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) had always been a staunch and dedicated Westophile and Westernizer. He always dreamed that his nation would reach the level of Western civilization. But, as Taha Akyol skillfully shows in his latest book "But, which Atatürk?" for tactical reasons Mustafa Kemal had also been a caliphate advocate, an anti-imperialist leftist, a defender of Shariah, a Russian ally and so on. But he was always a sincere Westernist as his pro-Western and Westernizing actions after the war of independence also proved.
Thus, today, it is this tactical understanding of Ergenekonians' "respected" ideologians, who see themselves as nothing less than little Atatürks, that paves the way for their conflicting messages, in addition to their displeasure with the EU and the US, who do (could) not give a green light to a coup d'état in Turkey. As Professor Kemal Gürüz, an Ergenekon suspect, confessed last week, they are Americanist deep down but would like to get the help of Russia, which would not mind a dictatorship in Turkey.
As these pseudo-Mustafa Kemals delude themselves that Turkey is under the occupation of foreigners and traitors, given the above-summarized Turkish independence history, nothing vis-à-vis Ergenekon should be surprising. What is more, this history is not only about secret weapons and uprisings, but I do not have space to detail all of it.
But what these pseudo-Mustafa Kemals disingenuously try to hide is that the real Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), as the voluminous Great Speech (Nutuk) repeatedly mentions and his track record shows, did nothing without the backing and legitimacy of Parliament, a fact at least half of politicians, intelligentsia, military officers and members of intelligence organizations, thank God, are acutely aware of. And, we see that this half is now reminding the other half of the truth.
