The document, which was titled “Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism” was published by the Taraf daily last week and sparked anger in Turkey as it showed that the General Staff had a systematic plan to discredit the AK Party and the Gülen movement in the eyes of the public. Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, who has suspicions about the authenticity of the document, even said if this document turns out to be fake, this would mean the collapse of the investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy crime network that has alleged links within the state and whose members face terrorism charges in an ongoing trial. Analysts say that the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) past record of military interventions raises the prospect of this document's genuineness, and even if it is revealed to be fake, this will not remove the stain on the TSK for its past actions.Yeni Şafak's Fehmi Koru says while almost everyone wishes this document to turn out to be fake, nearly everyone believes that the document is authentic because the political history of Turkey, which has witnessed many attempts of military intervention, strengthens the prospect that the document may be authentic. “This is a country where five military intervention attempts took place, with four of them being successful. It has been only two years since the latest attempt. Regarding civilian-military relations, there has not been any development that has removed military tutelage in the country,” says Koru, explaining the reason why the General Staff might have been involved in such a controversial plan.
According to Star's İbrahim Kiras, even if the document turns out to be a fake, this will not make any contribution to the improvement of the TSK's image because the memories of the coups carried out by the TSK and the memorandums it released are very fresh in the minds of the people.
Sabah's Nazlı Ilıcak says it is hard to understand the relationship between the potential collapse of the Ergenekon trial and the authenticity of the document revealing the military's action plan. “Let's assume that the document in question turned out to be fake. What will happen? Why should the Ergenekon investigation collapse? Will the coup diaries of former Gen. Özden Örnek, unearthed coup plans such as Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven, the weapons unearthed here and there, the statements of former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök confirming the coup plans, all be ignored? Will we begin to believe that nobody was making preparations for a coup in Turkey, that the followers of Gülen movement rolled up their sleeves to exhaust the TSK and manufacture evidence?” asks Ilıcak.
