These plans were devised by military members of Ergenekon, a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The detention of high-ranking officers is not common in Turkey, as they are deemed “untouchable.” By going through such turbulent times, it is believed that Turkey will eventually become a truly democratic country which has cleansed itself of all the anti-democratic formations within, rescued itself from the hands of military tutelage and normalized the troubled military-civilian relations.Sabah’s Mahmut Övür says the Ergenekon winds have blown this strongly for the first time with the detention of high-ranking military officers on Monday. He says the Ergenekon operations that have been carried out thus far concerned people whose names were already known. “Now, the situation is different. There are the coup plans at the center, and military members, most of whom are former commanders, are being detained for devising coup plans. When the names of the coup plotters are mentioned on TV, people are shocked. Nobody is accustomed to seeing such scenes. To the contrary, we have frequently witnessed military interventions and coups since 1960 and civilians leaving the political stage to the military. We have not seen anything different than this. For the first time, we have seen a confrontation,” says Övür.
Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal admits that Turkey is undergoing a very troublesome and difficult process but says that this process is one for normalization toward the supremacy of law and democratization. “I hope there will be no more pain,” adds Cemal.
Star’s Mehmet Altan describes Monday’s operations as a move towards a democratic republic while noting that Turkey is passing from Kemalism to democracy. Underlining the difficulty of this process, he says nobody should think that this process will be a smooth one without any problems or that it will be completed in one day. “Undoubtedly, the pro-status quo circles in the country will do their best to stop this process. Democratization is not an easy process. If we have been able to come to the point we have reached today, we should gear up. Let’s give weight to other issues that will help in the rapid and permanent establishment of democracy, so that the democratization process can accelerate,” suggests Altan.
According to Yeni Şafak’s Ali Bayramoğlu, the ongoing process in Turkey is one for civilianization and reducing the influence of the military, and it is harsher and more bitter than all such processes that have taken place in other countries. “What took place in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Latin American countries is taking place in Turkey now,” he adds.
