The sad thing is that nobody seems puzzled by these new documents, and we feel that something is missing in our lives if we do not see a junta-related horror document in the media for a while. By looking at the idiotic -- but always monstrous -- content of some of these documents I wonder if these documents are prepared by the junta and/or Ergenekonians to pacify society by getting it used to these horrible plot plans. I am not sure about society, but it seems that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government seems to be quite pacified and even gets upset not with the alleged writers of these horror plans but with the brave media that publish them.As I wrote here last time, even though some pro-Ergenekonians allege that the AK Party is using the Ergenekon case to terminate its opposition, it is clear that all liberals, democrats, genuine leftists and so on who are not affiliated with the AK Party strongly support the Ergenekon case and trial and that they firmly believe that to a great extent the prosecutors are right in their claims, and these claims are substantiated by evidence in the form of several discovered arsenals all over the country, signed plot documents, diaries and legally taped telephone conversations of the suspects and many witnesses.
The only thing that can justly be claimed about the AK Party is that they are not sure about supporting the case. As their past record -- like the Şemdinli case -- has shown the party is ready to reconcile with the soldiers at the expense of democracy and the interests of the public under the pretext of being rational, pursuing real politics or acting responsibly. AK Party politicians might be sincere in these claims, but I still wonder -- politicians always being politicians -- if the party has some weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the sense of having some of their rotten apples taped, documented, filed, etc., so that they would be pleased to come to an agreement with the Ergenekonians. This is just pure speculation.
But compared to the time of Turgut Özal, we have an unbelievably and miraculously domestic and international opportunity with structures and windows of opportunity to have a more transparent, fully functioning democracy. Özal did not even have one single supporter within military circles, almost none among the big businessmen and had, with a few exceptions, hostile enemies in the media. The EU process was only in the beginning stage, and there was no strong support for Turkish democracy abroad. Today, the AK Party has almost everything positive that Özal did not, but we cannot still say with confidence that the party is trying to democratize the country as much as it can. It has, of course, taken several positive steps, but compared to what it has had and its realizable potential, it has not been successful. Look at the EU process. Look at the rights (not) given to Alevis. Even compared to its foreign policy success, we can say that it has only achieved 10 to 20 percent. What is more, instead of trying to improve their terrible record, they have now declared that they will increase the penalties prescribed for journalists, something that will only make Ergenekonians and the oligarchy happy.
I only hope that they prove me wrong.
