The opening of the second phase of the Ergenekon trial -- the significance of which is the fact that two retired four-star generals and several former officers stand accused as coup plotters in a civilian court -- takes matters of grave importance in the development of democratic order in Turkey to a new level. If we add to that the presentation of the third indictment of the same trial to the very same civilian court the other day, the unease within pro-establishment circles -- flanks of which have been part of the merry-go-round of a make-believe civilian rule -- becomes more easily understood.Another set of developments are taking place in the predominantly Kurdish region. The indictment against an active duty officer, Col. Cemal Temizöz, the commander of the Kayseri Gendarmerie Battalion, who has been detained by a civilian court in Diyarbakır, has also created an opportunity to deal with the horrendous crimes against humanity that have taken place over the past decade, with thousands of people, mostly Kurds, killed by death squads operating under the much-feared JİTEM structure.
In another bold move, a prosecutor in Hakkari, following up on complaints, decided to search a gendarmerie outpost in Derecik, where 12 village guards are said to have been buried after their execution in 1994.
Without a doubt, one must put the row within the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK in this context. The delayed resolution certainly explains the profound discontent within “deep Ankara” that parts of the law enforcement and judiciary act independently and “dare” to go further than they would have done in the days of merry-go-round quasi-democracy.
Now, it would be fair to conclude that the battleground for those wanting a new Turkey and those determined to keep the old one has shifted to the domain of the judiciary. This will be where the “system,” the “ancien régime,” will display its most determined resistance to change.
Until very recently, the focal points of the power struggle were placed somewhere in the top military command and in Parliament, but the continuous erosion of the powerful image enjoyed for decades by the military has led to the conclusion that it is on the retreat to the domain of legitimacy and nothing more. The current top command has realized that threats shouted into the public arena do not echo any longer. It is, therefore, a new dynamic which can be changed only in the case of war or similar extraordinary circumstances, unless the behavior of Lt.Col. Antonio Tejero -- who attacked the Spanish Parliament, backed by the Guardia Civil (similar to the Turkish gendarmerie) in 1981 in the midst Spain's transition to democracy -- is repeated here.
How the struggle in Turkey will play out in the judicial domain is difficult to predict. If you look at it from the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) perspective, it will be a swing between defeat and victory. This makes the political process and structural reform more fragile than it should be.
As the ruling party seems to have chosen the path of taking its plight on “limited fronts” bit by bit, rather than spreading it wide open, this means a new constitution is not on the agenda. But, as the case of the latest amendments limiting the jurisdiction of military courts shows, as long as the current Constitution remains in place, the highest court that oversees it can go on with a conservative (pro-system) interpretation in each case. In the near future, it is likely that there will be huge difficulties in reforming the judiciary, as well as other key areas, because of the same problem.
In other words, the path taken is a tricky and risky one because the Constitution is -- it becomes more and more clear the deeper the reform urge becomes -- the mother of all major problems facing the democratization of this country.
Yet the bold moves point to a drive toward serious cleansing, backed by the society to a large extent. A new generation of judges and prosecutors perform, to the surprise of outsiders, independently, refusing to be lackeys of the non-judicial elements representing the “ancien régime.” After all, this may give the signal to many weary citizens of Turkey that the moment of truth may not be all that impossible to reach.
