As the investigation into Ergenekon deepens, with the court last Wednesday accepting the third indictment prosecutors submitted, Turkey has begun to learn more details about a number of past events whose details remained murky. Noting that the public is surprised by each piece of information disclosed, Halil Doğan, head of the Democratic Jurists' Association, said: “Ergenekon must not be successful. The public is surprised by each wave of arrests, but there are some who are aware of the existence of a ‘deep-state structure' since the late Ottoman period. It is not difficult to guess who is behind most of the unsolved murders. The main purpose of Ergenekon members is to foment chaos and undermine stability in the country.” He believes the public is now better aware and can no longer be provoked as it understands that the organization has tried to create conflict between Alevis and Sunnis, Kurds and Turks, leftists and rightists, etc. “Every segment of society should support the authorities in justly concluding this trial,” he added.
Kamil Uğur Yaralı, head of the Jurists' Association, also noted that if assassination plans and attempts to foment chaos included in the third indictment as well as Ergenekon members' plots to abolish Turkey's democratic system by carrying out coups, among other actions, confirmed by former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök were acted on, Turkey would now be in a worse situation politically, socially, economically and legally. “The democratic state system would have been abolished, and the society would have been poorer as a result,” he added.
Stating that the Ergenekon investigation makes it crystal clear that someone has tried to push the country into chaos, Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş) President Salim Uslu said this is a major threat to the stability of the country. “We see that the real threat is illegal formations within the state. Those who want to protect democracy and the republic should have a common stance against these formations,” he added.
Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Chairman Rızanur Meral also said such antidemocratic attempts are unacceptable. Noting that planning to kill innocent people cannot be justified for any reason, Meral said individuals involved in such plans should be sentenced to the appropriate punishments. “We should not give such acts a chance because they attempt to create chaos and undermine stability. The business world and civil society organizations strictly condemn such attempts,” he added.
