Past cases reveal media’s role in laying groundwork for coups d’état

The detention of the journalists, six of whom are currently under arrest, followed an operation into the odatv.com news portal last month as part of an investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Although their arrests prompted some press organs to kick off a row over press freedom, analysts say the media has played a major role in past anti-democratic actions in Turkey and that it is normal for a journalist to be prosecuted if he or she fails to adhere to media ethics and act in line with anti-democratic orders and goals of an illegal group.

The journalists detained as part of the Odatv probe are suspected of having links to Ergenekon’s media leg based on a document seized from the news portal, “Ulusal Medya 2010” (National Media 2010). The document mentioned plans to shape public opinion through manipulative news stories about the Ergenekon case as well as many other issues that would corner the government.

Turkey went through similar processes in the run-up to many anti-democratic interventions in politics in the past, with the media being the major tool in the psychological warfare arsenal to subvert the political will. “There may be some journalists who are really concerned about press freedom in Turkey and who have good intentions. But there are so many cases in which the media was involved in anti-democratic interventions in Turkey that we cannot see these within the scope of freedom of the press. This was the case in the May 27, 1960 coup d’état. We still remember the infamous top stories of some dailies of the time that alleged that youths were killed by the police and put through meat grinders. We know how left-wing dailies such as Direction [Yön] and those around them applauded coups in the run-up to the March 12, 1971 coup. We also saw similar scenes in the run-up to the Sept. 12, 1980 coup and the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup,” former minister Hasan Celal Güzel told Sunday’s Zaman.

Stating that it is – unfortunately -- obvious that some members of the press were and are engaged in relations that exceed the boundaries of their profession, he says such actions cannot be accepted within the framework of press freedom. “It is not correct to argue that freedom of the press is violated when such relations and actions are questioned,” he added.

Güzel also recalled that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week there are 27 journalists in jail, noting that none of these people are being held for reasons that have anything to do with their journalistic activities.

The run-up to the Feb. 28 process was one of the best examples of how influential the media was in laying the groundwork for a military intervention. During this process, in order to distance the conservative Welfare Party (RP) from power, the General Staff hosted informational briefings on religious extremism for members of the judiciary, academia and the media. Some media outlets ran stories provoking the military to take action against the government. The Hürriyet and Sabah dailies, which were owned by Aydın Doğan and Dinç Bilgin, respectively, frequently reported the remarks of “a general who preferred to remain anonymous,” which resulted in their being termed “the media of the armed forces.” One striking top story that was again based on the statements of an unidentified general said the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) can even resort to weapons against the government.

And finally on Feb. 28, the National Security Council (MGK) made several decisions during a meeting and presented them to then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan for approval. Erbakan was forced to sign the decisions. He subsequently resigned, handing over the Prime Ministry to his coalition partner, Tansu Çiller.

Press freedom forgotten in 1998 memorandum case

The period that followed the Feb. 28 coup was also a time of anti-democratic practices by the military. In 1998, retired Gen. Çevik Bir, who is thought to be the architect of the Feb. 28 coup, issued a memorandum that targeted journalists and institutions, intimidating many people and causing them to be fired from their jobs.

On April 26, 1998, the headlines of the Sabah and Hürriyet dailies featured a statement allegedly belonging to Şemdin Sakık, second in command of the outlawed (Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Lead Hürriyet columnist Oktay Ekşi wrote an article titled “Let’s get to know the traitor among us,” in which he claimed Sakık said journalists Mehmet Ali Birand and Cengiz Çandar had links to the terrorist PKK.

Shortly after the news broke, Birand was fired from his job and Çandar’s articles were not published for some time. Sakık also accused Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy Akın Birdal of treason. Fifteen days after the accusation was published, Birdal survived an assassination attempt. Bir’s memorandum revealed Sakık’s statements had been distorted and the reports in the media on certain journalists and Birdal were actually based on the statements of two generals at General Staff headquarters. The memorandum was prepared upon Bir’s order and leaked to the press by retired Maj. Gen. Erol Özkasnak.

Journalist Nazlı Ilıcak, who witnessed the Feb. 28 process, says the fact that some of those who are now calling for press freedom did not show solidarity with the victims of this memorandum makes people question their sincerity today. “They did not show solidarity with some journalists in the past because they were in collaboration with the masterminds of this memorandum. That’s why their calls today are not being seen as sincere,” she told Sunday’s Zaman.

Ilıcak was a deputy from the now-defunct Virtue Party (FP) in 1998 and filed a criminal complaint with the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office against the people whose signatures appeared on the memorandum, titled “Strong Action Plan.” But the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office decided it lacked jurisdiction to launch an investigation into the three people because they were military officers at the time of the event.

No change in 2007 e-memorandum case

March 12, 1971, was not the only time Turkey has witnessed a memorandum. On April 27, 2007, the TSK, which has overthrown several democratically elected governments in the history of the Turkish Republic, released a midnight memorandum against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, which had nominated Abdullah Gül for the presidency.

The e-memorandum was once again applauded by some media outlets and columnists the day after it was issued. “The opinions defended in that declaration are shared by the majority of the society,” said, for example, Hürriyet daily columnist Etuğrul Özkök, who was at the helm.

“There are still some who ask what the next step is. The next step is the [action] of tanks,” said Yılmaz Özdil, another Hürriyet daily columnist.

Milliyet’s Fikret Bila found the General Staff’s move “principled.” “The General Staff displayed a principled stance against the ascension of the headscarf and the mentality it represents to the Çankaya presidential palace,” he had said, referring to Gül’s wife, who wears a headscarf.