Even those in Honduras are no longer allowed to plot coups. The coup leaders who overthrew the government four days ago are already facing an extremely difficult time. The Honduran public, three fourths of which are living on the edge of starvation, have revolted against the coup. This is a public which has already lived under military rule for 18 years. Even in a poverty-stricken country in Latin America where coups were once considered “in style,” the people believe the worst democracy is better than the best coup and are saying that is enough is enough to the coup leaders.What are Honduras' villains doing? They are taking control of the country's television stations, arresting foreign journalists and applying force to their own public. Will such measures save them? Of course not! Closing your borders and using violence against your citizens has been out of style for a long time. The other day the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the coup leaders. Ousted President Manuel Zelaya first delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly, later he held a press conference. The UN resolution calls for restoring Zelaya, who was removed from office by force, to power. US President Barack Obama also made a harsh statement condemning the coup leaders. The Organization of American States (OAS), which is made up of 35 independent member states, gave the coup leaders in Honduras three days to reinstate the deposed president. At the end of the deadline, Zelaya will return to Honduras accompanied by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza; Argentinean president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner; Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa; and the head of the U.N. General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. What does that mean? It means that the global conjecture will not allow those who stage a coup to take even one breath. Not even in a poor Latin American country with a population of 7 million.
Some people are insistent on missing the point which democracy has reached in Turkey. And they are making mistakes. The era of military coups is over, not only in Turkey, but everywhere in the world. Changing the administration by force is outdated. Making secret plans, overthrowing the government with these plans, creating situations to make a certain segment of the society look guilty of a crime, organizing events that will outrage the public and staging events that will provoke social conflict and breed violence among the people, all of these are Cold War-era tactics that have been buried in the dark pages of history.
Please take a look at the events which have transpired in recent days. According to the document printed by the Taraf daily, traps were being set up for the government and the nation. Unfortunately, some newspapers are acting as the mouthpiece of the Military Prosecutor's Office, which had reached a conclusion before any factual data was discovered. Suspicions increased as the gendarmerie, police and forensic crime experts released reports. There were some people who attempted to use every kind of propaganda to sweep the issue under the rug. Çiçek altered his signature in front of the military prosecutor. The signature he used during his testimony was different from 20 other examples of signatures belonging to him, but there were plenty of excuses used to cover this up. Finally, after reluctantly giving a statement to the civil prosecutor, Çiçek was arrested and sent to jail on Wednesday. On top of everything else, he was arrested on charges of being a member to an illegal organization. So apparently, there is some concrete evidence against him.
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved a two-item judiciary reform bill. The Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which supported the bill in Parliament, are now creating a stir. Listening to the noise they are making, you'd think an antidemocratic law had been passed, but that is not the case. Why would an upright man oppose a law that requires military officers to be tried in civilian courts? Why is the CHP, which only two weeks ago said Sept. 12 coup leaders should be called to account, completely opposing the law? Are military courts going to try coup leaders?
Those who applied every means to weaken the Ergenekon investigation, who relentlessly tried to turn the National Security Council (MGK) meeting into a political crisis, and who delayed democratic efforts by inciting fear that the military would be angered by these efforts -- please see the truth! The era of coups is over. Don't you see the global public is making it a living hell for coup leaders, even in Honduras?
