Erdoğan, speaking to reporters following the opening of a shopping mall in İstanbul on Saturday, emphasized that the Ergenekon investigation has no links to the AK Party closure case. "These are two totally different issues. Connecting the Ergenekon investigation to the AK Party closure case is wrong," he said. A prosecutor filed the case against the AK Party in March, asking the Constitutional Court for closure of the governing party on grounds that it had become a "focal point of anti-secular activities." The court will begin deliberations on the case today. Erdoğan also called on the Turkish nation for unity ahead of the start of deliberations at the Constitutional Court. "We need to restore social peace. What is important is to live together under this sky in unity," Hürriyet daily Editor-in-Chief Ertuğrul Özkök quoted the prime minister as saying in his column on Saturday.
Erdoğan said differences among individuals are no obstacle to living in peace. "We cannot discriminate against one another because of differences we were born with or for decisions made later in life. Experience shows that discriminating against those different from us weakens social peace, whereas considering differences as a source of richness strengthens it," he noted.
Erdoğan also acknowledged that the AK Party had made mistakes which had contributed to the current crisis in the country. "Of course we made mistakes, too... But it is again the people to whom [the government] will be accountable. If there are mistakes and tensions, we need to restore social peace again," he added.
In the meantime, 20 staff members of Milli Çözüm (National Solution) magazine, which follows a religious-conservative line, were released on Saturday pending trial. They were taken into custody on July 23 as part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation on suspicion of having links with the gang.
Ahmet Akgül, editor-in-chief of the magazine, told reporters following his release that his magazine and its staff had no links with Ergenekon. "We were accused of indirectly aiding the Ergenekon gang. However, these allegations collapsed. I believe our release will bring with it beneficial developments. Unfortunately, there are individuals in Turkey who cooperate with foreign forces to carry out activities hostile to our country," he noted.
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