We can assert that this group almost completely consists of ultra-secularists and Kemalists who are content with the antidemocratic nature of the regime and that the majority of it consists of White Turks who do not want a change in the status quo.If this avoidance from believing in the existence of Ergenekon were a passive attitude, it might be met with understanding, but this is not the case in the least. They not only believe that a terrorist organization called Ergenekon exists but also exert their best efforts for black propaganda to this end. To remind you briefly what they have done so far: They underestimated and even loathed the evidence and documents uncovered in the Ergenekon investigation. In order to discredit the weapons and ammunition found buried in various places around the country -- which apparently form part of Ergenekon’s arsenal -- they shamelessly describe them as “pipes.” They despised the authentic heinous actions plans and documents that target civil society and the government as a “piece of paper.”
For them, Ergenekon was nothing but a legend that played an important role in the shaping of Turkish history and identity. Ergenekon is today nothing but a scenario or urban legend manufactured by the government in order to intimidate its opponents and send leading dissidents to jail. If they limited their black propaganda activities to the country only, it would still be regarded as acceptable, but they went to Washington, Brussels and elsewhere to spread the lie that this investigation was actually a “civilian coup.” Not satisfied with this, they even hired some authors whose only quality was being foreign and had them prepare so-called reports to defame the indictments relating to the defendants of the Ergenekon terrorist organization. Then they advertised and marketed these so-called reports everywhere.
Frankly, they were able to make quite a number of people believe the lie -- which was their primary argument -- that there is no Ergenekon, but rather a government operation to intimidate the opposition.
As a friend of mine gracefully put it, perhaps the greatest success of Ergenekon was to make many people believe that it didn’t exist. We had a similar experience with respect to the existence of JİTEM. Despite the fact that many things that would signify its existence, such as official documents showing its members being employed and paid by the state, their bloody assassinations, their numerous victims and the public documents showing its hierarchy, have been exposed, the General Staff and the Gendarmerie General Command continuously insist that there is no such thing as an organization called JİTEM. Luckily, no one believes these denials, as is the case with those concerning the non-existence of Ergenekon. It is now widely believed by the general public that there is an organization called JİTEM and that it has committed numerous shadowy murders.
For some reason, a certain group of people still drags its heels in acknowledging that Ergenekon exists, although its weapons and ammunition and its bloody action plans and abortive plots have been seized. In addition to their insistence on being skeptical, they also exert rigorous efforts to render the ongoing investigation futile and unproductive. Luckily, these efforts, lies, denials, underestimations and indifference fall short of covering up the existence of Ergenekon or hobbling the investigation into this organization. It seems that these efforts are very unlikely to be productive, particularly after the developments on Friday.
On Friday, the 12th Penal Court in İstanbul accepted the indictment of 19 lieutenants charged with attempting to assassinate some high-ranking admirals in connection with Ergenekon, and a military court sentenced Col. Mustafa Dönmez to four years in prison and discharged him from the military on charges of membership in Ergenekon. Please recall, the police had seized weapons and ammunition in the Zir Valley and in Col. Dönmez’s houses in Sapanca and Ankara. The police also traced these weapons and ammunition to other such discoveries elsewhere. Col. Dönmez’s sentence and his expulsion from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) not only clearly show that Ergenekon is not an urban legend as some claim, but also are important in terms of him being the first member of the military to be discharged in connection with Ergenekon.
I think this should attract the attention of the “Ergenekon-is-a-lie” lobby. According to the indictment the court accepted, the lieutenants who were preparing to assassinate the admirals were guided by the Workers’ Party (İP) within the scope of the “Karargah” Houses connected to Ergenekon. But the more interesting bit is that in order to motivate and organize these lieutenants, they used the same methods Hassan Sabbah used for his assassins (the Hashshashin). The indictment says the lieutenants would be motivated and controlled via drugs and women. Given the fact that the Karargah Houses network is connected to İP leader Doğu Perinçek, we can say he deserves to be called the “Hassan Sabbah of our time” for the methods he employed with these lieutenants.
