Purportedly 2,455 pages long, the indictment is a potential cornerstone for Turkey, whose short history is full of coups and other kinds of military interventions, because two of the 48 arrested figures of the 85 people mentioned in the indictment are generals. This means that we are now a country able to "touch" those who have remained untouchable by the law so far. The Republic of Turkey is probably taking the biggest step in its history today toward becoming a genuine democracy and a strong state of law.
So far in Turkey, the prosecution of those who commit felonies, violate the Constitution, mastermind and perpetrate actions in order to shake public order -- all normal and supposedly ordinary cases in a real democracy and a state of law -- has been realized in relation to the positions of the suspects or plaintiffs. And the extent to which the perpetrators are "subject to law" has been determined according to their positions and powers, or rather, powerlessness. Only those living in this country can appreciate the importance of bringing two generals to justice on these grounds in a country where no general has previously been taken to court even though the claims of coup plots and planned military interventions -- a clear and open contravention of the Constitution -- have smelled to high heaven. In countries that have truly universal democratic values and state of law principles, would it ever be possible to talk about "untouchable people"?
Turkey has caught one of the most important chances in its history to get rid of its "anti-democratic hunches." Courageous prosecutors who have been determinedly going after crime networks and gangs with extensions into the deep state in relation to the Ergenekon investigation are illuminating the dark face of Turkey and, so to say, cleaning the "entrails" of Turkey, full of evil networks where all sorts of malicious acts are plotted. Undoubtedly, the launching of this investigation took a lot of courage, but finalizing it necessitates just as much courage and diligence.
During this difficult process, the large number of those opposing efforts to purge all deep state gangs, which purportedly have high-ranking military officers, and their positions do not escape our attention. Without fail, we should dwell on the blackening, ridiculing and undermining approaches to the Ergenekon investigation by the "major media organs" who we know have ever-close relations with deep state lodges and of the Republican People's Party (CHP), whose representative capacity is limited to the military and bureaucracy.
While some media companies have started acting like the spokesperson of all those in custody in relation to Ergenekon, CHP leader Deniz Baykal behaving like the lawyer of Ergenekon suspects causes suspicions to gather around them. All wonder what the reasons are that force Baykal to fervently defend a formation, called a "terrorist organization" by prosecutors. We should expect to soon find out these reasons underlying Baykal's efforts to act almost as a surety for the detained people and his continually calling them "the most respectable people in the society" instead of waiting for the matter to be settled through judicial ways. It is that either Baykal sees himself as "one of the most respectable people in the society" or he knows some facts unknown anyone, or a certain part of the Ergenekon formation is connected with himself or his party. It is impossible to know whether any of these possibilities are true at the moment. However, I'm sure that time will expose the reasons why Baykal is supporting Ergenekon.
We would like to see that this Turkey, where those attempting to carry out a coup and create an atmosphere for a coup by dragging the country into chaos are being tried, can, in a way befitting a democratic state of law, try the anti-democratic generals who plotted and staged the coup of Sept. 12, 1980 and the process of Feb. 28, 1997. It should try them so no other general can ever think about making such an attempt again, and the Turkish people can have a well-deserved transparent state that has achieved universal democratic and judicial standards. Today is truly a critical and important day in this process.
