3 -- News emerged that Sabah writer Nazlı Ilıcak is facing the possibility of more than two years in jail for calling Sincan Judge Osman Kaçmaz, whose name comes up right smack dab in the middle of nearly every political debate, “meddlesome.”What is going on? And why? Why is a segment of the judiciary virtually waging a war to cow journalists into submission? Unfortunately, the scene right now looks like a big traffic pileup. A while ago, following a Cabinet meeting, government spokesman Cemil Ciçek heralded, of all things, that sentences would increase. After all that happened last week, I don’t know if he was able to sleep peacefully at night; but if this period does not begin to progress along a more democratic axis soon, everyone in the world will hear about how freedom of the press was demolished in our country. Can democracy progress in a nation in which criminal entities are not written about? Never!
Those dealing out the sentences hide behind concepts that serve as the sword of Damocles being held over journalists’ heads. The concept of secrecy of an ongoing investigation is seriously misunderstood and misapplied in this country. It must be understood that even in the most irrelevant of circumstances, a decision can be made to classify documents. There is no rule that the media can never publish anything classified! It can even be said that the media’s main job is to obtain confidential documents whose disclosure would benefit the public. Otherwise, we might as well call all newspapers the Anatolia news agency. In reality, the most critical points in the world’s history of journalism have revolved around the disclosure of confidential documents.
Without a doubt, the most striking court case in world press history involved the publishing of classified US military documents known as the Pentagon Papers. The US Department of Defense tried during the Vietnam War to implement a press ban on the documents, alleging that military secrets were contained therein. The New York Times took the case to the courts. The court found that the information was beneficial to the public and that its publishing fell within the bounds of freedom of the press, rejecting the military’s “national security” excuse. This all took place in 1971. Unfortunately, in today’s Republic of Turkey, the mentalities of those managing some media organizations are stuck 40 years in the past.
The plan to finish off the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Fethullah Gülen emerged and junta actors were caught red-handed; some officials say, “But don’t write about it because if you do, you’ll be compromising the secrecy of the investigation.” While the possibility exists to take those who prepared the plan to account for their deeds, it is wrong to put the press in the defendant’s chair. The Cage Operation Plan emerged, and those who should be taken to account for it (beginning with the General Staff) hide behind the same excuse. There are solid reasons to believe that individuals were deployed to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, but they hide behind the same chorus. What was it? The essential nature of secrecy of the investigation. In what democracy can you find such outdated implementations in place?!
Just last month, German military and cabinet officials were forced to resign. Why? Because a secret document dealing with an operation in which many Afghan civilians died was published as the headline story in a newspaper. No one in Germany stood up and spoke of a “violation of the secrecy of an investigation.”
A lieutenant made a young man hold a grenade whose pin had been pulled out, and he was supposedly dealing out a disciplinary punishment to the soldier; four of our soldiers died when the grenade exploded. Military authorities committed a crime in order to keep the incident from the public. The media published stories, saying, “Four of our soldiers were martyred,” right up until the Taraf daily published the truth of what happened. Is this the principle of confidentiality? Or the information kept classified regarding the attack on the Aktütün outpost? Or the frightening possibility of what really happened at the Dağlıca outpost? Or the horrifying neglect that led to the barbaric slaughter of 33 soldiers being transported in unarmored vehicles? Or the disappearance of the murderers who killed seven of our children at Reşadiye, virtually vanishing into the earth? Are the media not going to discuss this? Are they not to investigate and research into it?
This is also the case with the Ergenekon case. We’re face-to-face with a large organization, of which there is solid proof. The indictment, which is thousands of pages long, testimonies taken, weapons, bombs, maps and assassination plans seized -- all this and more testifies to the existence of a deep gang. What kind of a justice system is this? Those setting up smoke and mirrors to intimidate the judge and prosecutors running the Ergenekon case are also plotting against journalists who write news stories and columns about the Ergenekon organization. The government must disrupt their game, and the members of the judiciary who hold a serious belief in justice must dismantle this conspiracy. Otherwise, we will no longer be able to speak of freedom of the press in this country, nor of democratization.
