Routes to self-destruction

This feature of the TV series may be comically overblown, but in reality such “deniability” characterizes all clandestine operations in the real world. In all lands and continents, state authorities initially disavow the clandestine interference, actions or people they commissioned. Some press and media members become instrumental in distorting and misreporting facts and figures, while some, of course, do not. However, eventually the victims, victims' family members, torturers, witnesses to the crimes committed, culprits or accomplices come forward or leak information. And the rest follows. There are many examples of this, from Nazi camps to Abu Ghraib, from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge to Bosnia, Rwanda, Congo and so on.

As a result of disclosures people start following the efforts to prosecute those who are responsible for atrocities and crimes. Take as an example the past trials of Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, the current ones of Kaing Guek Eav, Charles Taylor and recent efforts to investigate or try people like Omar al-Bashir, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney and Turkey's past and present coup makers and plotters. The names and countries are just to illustrate the argument. None of the people, authorities or even states ever admit the truth of any accusations at first. State authorities cannot easily acknowledge from the beginning that some of the accusations are true.

However, when witnesses and evidence emerge, a few subordinates -- usually people of lower rank and status -- are sacrificed to protect the “big fish.” The persons mentioned above should be dealt with by their own countries' authorities or appropriate international organizations. Here we concern ourselves with the leaders, officers and rank and file of the deep-state organization Ergenekon and its defenders outside of Turkey.

Some authorities in European countries have recently publicly noted the existence and the necessity of prosecuting the Ergenekon plotters. In spite of this development, some correspondents in international journals and magazines persist in covering events in Turkey in a partisan or ill-informed way. After all the evidence presented in the Ergenekon case, wiretappings, documents, caches of weapon and ammunition, admissions of past crimes and plans for future ones, some correspondents still cover this vital case, which is about democracy, freedom, civil society and societal peace in Turkey, as a simple case around a hoax letter or revenge by the government against the defenders of republican values. This kind of journalism cannot be seen as honest, impartial or investigative news reporting.

Public awareness of the difference in standards of journalism could be the reason The Economist reported approximately $92 million in operating profit, up 26 percent over the previous year, whereas Time and Newsweek sales are dropping and their readers are deserting them. Newsweek's reporting on Turkey is likely to quickly make their Turkish edition less credible in Turkey, too. On the other hand, the careful differentiation between news reporting and commentary make the Turkish Zaman and Today's Zaman the most reliable and highest-selling dailies in Turkey to both Turkish and non-Turkish as well as international readers.

Ergenekon members have no doubts about the potential of the media to affect the outcomes of their plans. With the case, we learned how two of the accused, Gen. Levent Ersöz and Cumhuriyet daily representative Mustafa Balbay, had meetings at the General Staff headquarters, and how Gen. Ersöz schemed to promote Cumhuriyet's sales but to prevent other dailies from being sold or read within Turkish universities and military headquarters.

However, Gen. Ersöz must have watched “Mission: Impossible.” As the day approached for him to be discharged from the military hospital to which he fled from the trial in civilian courts, Ersöz managed to have himself injected with viruses so as to stay in the hospital longer and avoid interrogation in the trial. He is also reported to have begged his superiors to not deliver him to the civilian courts, threatening to not only destroy himself but all others he worked for and liaised with for almost two decades.

Not only will those in the Ergenekon case be disavowed by their superiors and self-destruct, like the recording in “Mission: Impossible,” but media outlets reporting the case and political developments in Turkey may destroy themselves, their credibility, readership and sales if they continue reporting in a biased or distorted way.