Four headlines in a day

I think I will be able to explain my case better after I remind you of developments that took place on Monday evening. As you already know, the main item on Turkey’s agenda on Monday was İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Cengiz Engin’s attempt to usurp the powers and authorities of the prosecutors who are conducting probes into Ergenekon and the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) coup attempt by sending letters to police department branches and several military units. Naturally, yesterday’s edition of our paper has all the details of this legal scandal. This matter clearly deserved to be treated in a headline story, and it would have been discussed for weeks if it had occurred in, say, the UK, Sweden or Germany. But this scandal was already stale even before you could read the paper.

Now, let us see what happened in this country -- which is going through a great process of purification and enlightenment -- on Monday evening after yesterday’s edition of Today’s Zaman went to print.

First: The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) finally admitted to the fact that the signature on the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, known to the general public as the “plan to finish off the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] and [Fethullah] Gülen,” which aimed to frame innocent people and try them in military courts, belongs to Col. Dursun Çiçek, 241 days after said document was exposed to the public on June 12, 2009. Thus, the TSK, too, accepts that this treacherous document, which Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ had downplayed as a “piece of paper” in a press conference, is not a simple piece of paper, as was claimed. As individuals who have as much trust in the police, the judiciary, the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and other institutions of this country as in the military, we had no doubts that the document signed by Col. Çiçek was authentic. In the end, the actions suggested in this plan had been implemented in the past with grave consequences. Anyone curious about these practices may have a look at the developments in the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup process.

In any case, it is important that the General Staff has finally come to respect the truth, though belatedly. Here, I want to say that I am impatient to see what Gen. Başbuğ will do now as he had fumed, “You will see what we will do if the authenticity of the document is substantiated.” Also, I would like to share another curiosity of mine with you. Will Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, the pro-Ergenekon media professionals whose only talent is to be at the disposal of the military at all times and the groups that manufactured all sorts of libel, defamation and lies in order to discredit or cover up this document of betrayal apologize to the groups whose sole aim is to ensure greater democratization, transparency and civilization in Turkey? Or will they continue to also smear the General Staff’s Military Prosecutor’s Office, which confirmed the authenticity of said document, and will they hit the bottom in terms of shamelessness and effrontery?

Second: A report prepared by Maj. Ahmet Erdoğan, who was commissioned by the Military Prosecutor’s Office to examine the coup plan known as the Sledgehammer operation, gave us sufficient enough reason to think that the military has finally been awakened to the truth. The major makes striking observations in the report, discussed on the Kanal D TV channel, stressing, “If the documents are authentic, then it is a plan intended to overthrow the government.” His observations were aired on Monday evening. The Sledgehammer coup plan had originally been brought to the country’s agenda through a news story published in the Taraf newspaper, and it was claimed that the plan aimed to overthrow the government in 2003. Both civilian and military prosecutors had launched investigations into the claims. Military prosecutor Col. Bülent Münger had assigned Maj. Erdoğan as an expert to examine the documents sent by the civilian prosecutors. Maj. Erdoğan studied the documents on three DVDs and one CD delivered to him and submitted his 32-page report to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Third: Another striking development from Monday evening was that an indictment prepared by specially authorized prosecutors in Erzurum about the Ergenekon investigation was accepted by Erzurum’s 2nd High Criminal Court. In this indictment, Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner is charged with being a member of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, and 3rd Army Commander Gen. Saldıray Berk -- whether he will testify or not is still uncertain -- is on top of the list of 17 defendants. He is followed by Cihaner, while the third position goes to Gendarmerie Provincial Regiment Commander Col. Ali Tapan.

Cihaner is not only accused of neglecting his duties or overstepping his powers and authority, as some groups claimed, but also of “being a member of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, falsification of official documents, issuing threats and illegally recording personal data.” The indictment also notes that the Erzurum Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is authorized to conduct an investigation into Cihaner. Gen. Berk is indicted for “being a member of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, issuing threats, falsification of official documents and illegally recording personal data.”

An important detail about the indictment that was submitted to the court on Friday is that separate courts will hear the offenses mentioned in it. The relevant chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals will hear the offenses Cihaner committed in connection with his duties. However, he will stand trial at the Specially Authorized High Criminal Court in Erzurum in connection with the offenses he committed personally as a member of said organization.