Among these documents, one which is included in the second indictment of the Ergenekon trial, is the diary of Adm. Özden Örnek, the former commander of the navy, which details the plans of a military coup to be led by Gen. Şener Eruygur in 2003 and 2004. Some circles did not believe in the authenticity of this diary back in early 2007, when Nokta magazine published parts of it. Now the diary is included in the Ergenekon indictment. Moreover, a copy of the diary was recovered on a computer belonging to Eruygur, the top suspect in the Ergenekon case.
The top four commanders of the military in 2003 were acting together with Eruygur at some point during the organization of the coup. The then-chief of general staff, Gen. Hilmi Özkök, resisted and resolved the unity among the commanders, isolating the mastermind of the coup, Eruygur. In response, the plotters devised plans to eliminate Gen. Ozkok, as revealed in Örnek’s diary and the notes of Mustafa Balbay, a journalist from the Cumhuriyet daily.
I think everybody, by now, must understand that staging a military coup is not a joke in this country. The Ergenekon case is the first in which the coup plotters are being tried by the court, a trial that might put an end to all possible coup attempts in the future and anchor Turkey in the family of democracies.
If we go back again to the Eruygur plot, it is revealed that they wanted to justify their coup with a nationalist stand on the Cyprus question and a rejectionist position on the EU process. On the former, they tried to mobilize the masses on the ground by saying the government, then supporting seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan’s plan to solve the long-standing problem on the island, was betraying Turkey and its national interests. On the latter, the coup plotters disseminated the idea that reforms requested by the EU were going to destroy Turkey’s territorial integrity and that the government was collaborating with the EU on this.
So the plot was to portray the pro-solution and pro-reform government as betraying the country. But apart from this attempt at justification, the Eruygur plot was to be a coup, not only against the Turkish Parliament and government, but also Turkey’s Western connection. The plan was obvious: In order to rule Turkey with a military regime, the plotters wanted to disconnect Turkey from the West, the EU and the US.
Yet this was not only the view of the coup plotters but a view shared by many in the military. For instance, in January 2004, according to a document found in Gen. Eruygur’s archive and added to the second Ergenekon indictment, a briefing took place at General Staff headquarters with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The person who presented the views of the General Staff was the then-deputy chief of general staff, Gen. İlker Başbuğ. In the briefing, Başbuğ asked the government to slow down the EU reforms and the membership process.
Such a position by the military reveals that it is not the coup plotters but the General Staff that wants to continue to play a central role in Turkish politics and does not look favorably on the EU membership process and the necessary reforms along the line. Whether they exercise direct or indirect influence over Turkish politics, the military prefers a Turkey ruled in Ankara, not in Brussels, where they would not have a legitimate place at the table.
Those who criticize the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government for slowing down the EU process should not forget the military’s preference for doing so and its pressure on the government. The government, by slowing the reform process and abandoning its enthusiasm, may have tried to appease the military. No doubt this would be a self-defeating strategy as accommodating the military by abandoning the EU objective does not leave much room for the government to rule the country on its own.
