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Turkish Military Plot Against Ruling AK Party And Gülen Movement Sparks Anti-coup Fury
14 June 2009
Intellectuals and jurists have stood up in response to documents, allegedly belonging to the military, that contain plans for a smear campaign against the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement, raising concerns that the engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in the political and social arenas is a sign of serious preparation for a military coup. “Supposing that they really belong to the TSK, these documents prove that the military has not thrown away its plans for a coup. They show that Turkey is still under the threat of an anti-democratic initiative indirectly, if not directly,” stated Professor Mithat Sancar from Ankara University's faculty of law in an interview with Sunday's Zaman. Documents recently discovered in the office of Serdar Öztürk, the lawyer of a retired colonel arrested earlier this year on charges of membership in Ergenekon -- a clandestine criminal organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government -- have revealed that the TSK had a systematic plan to damage the image of the AK Party government and the Gülen movement, which is led by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, in the eyes of the public; to play down the Ergenekon investigation; and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the inquest. The documents, prepared in April, were submitted to a department of the General Staff. The General Staff has not issued a comprehensive statement on the recently discovered documents, settling instead for announcing that an investigation has been launched into the issue. “There is not yet precise information as to whether the documents really belong to the TSK. However, if this is the case, I'd call it a disaster. The content of the documents freeze one's blood. The discovery of similar documents in the past raises the suspicion that the new ones may belong to the TSK,” suggested Ahmet Tasgetiren, a columnist at the Bugün daily. Tasgetiren referred to military's coup plans that were exposed by a now-defunct newsweekly in 2007 and classified documents published by a Turkish daily regarding serious TSK flaws that made have played a role in a terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack on Oct. 3 of last year. “Newly published documents hint that the TSK is engaged in a series of conspiracies against certain groups. It creates the impression that the military prepared a mechanism to produce crimes in society,” the columnist went on to say. According to the documents, the TSK aims to depict followers of the Gülen Movement as being engaged in illegal acts. “We will enable the discovery of weapons, ammunition and documents at the addresses of Gülen's followers as if they were members of a terrorist organization. The movement will be named ‘Fethullah's Armed Terrorist Organization' (FSTÖ), and investigations into its members will be carried out by military prosecutors. We will focus on the concept of moderate Islam and emphasize that the Gülen movement aims to cause Islam to deviate from its original form,” state the documents. The documents also mention plans to discredit the Ergenekon investigation and reduce its credibility in the eyes of the public. According to the documents, the TSK is to engage in an intense period of propaganda and stress that the military is not opposed to people's religious sensitivities. It is to spread reports to press organs about the immoral relations of TSK members who are suspected of reactionaryism. In this way, the public will question the credibility of religious individuals. The TSK is also to urge newspapers to publish stories denouncing the Ergenekon investigation and claiming that TSK personnel are being arrested because of their fight against the threat of reactionaryism. ‘Military plots shoot Turkey in the foot’ There is common belief among intellectuals and jurists that plans by the military to interfere with politics and the social arena will not help improve Turkish democracy and that, to the contrary, they will cause Turkey to lag behind other countries in all fields. Political analyst Mümtaz'er Türköne said the TSK is shooting Turkey in the foot with plots against political and social bodies that are appreciated by the public. “It is a shame to be living in a country where the military is still engaged in such plots. These documents show that those who have harmed Turkey have not learned the necessary lessons from what they have done. It would be unfair to expect foreign countries to show respect to the state and nation of a country where such plans are made and implemented,” Türköne remarked. Professor Sancar approached the issue from a different angle and associated the documents allegedly belonging to the TSK with the main point of the Ergenekon probe. “The documents that claim to show the Ergenekon investigation is groundless lack logical grounds. The military is still attempting to influence governments through coups. At this point, both the government and the AK Party should understand that anti-democratic attempts can only be overcome through an improved democracy and that the influence of the TSK on the public and politics will not decrease as long as the Kurdish question remains unsolved,” the professor stated. ‘Responsible figures should be called to account’ There is a high demand among those opposed to the TSK's interference in politics and the social arena that actors responsible for the controversial documents should immediately be found and called to account. “Intellectuals, civil society organizations and political parties should all stand up and call the creators of those vicious plans to account. This is necessary to prevent the emergence of similar documents in the future,” noted analyst Türköne. Sacit Kayasu, a prosecutor who was removed from office and disbarred when he indicted Gen. Kenan Evren for his role in the 1980 coup, said it is not normal in democracies for the General Staff to have an active role in politics. “Our General Staff has, however, been engaged in politics for so many years that our citizens don't think it is strange. Though it should, in principle, be a body under the Prime Ministry, it acts as if it were an independent body. The General Staff acts almost like bureaucrats. And our people, unfortunately, don't have the courage to question it,” he remarked. The point that distinguishes the newly discovered documents from previous ones is, according to Taraf's Alper Görmüs, that they cover a series of conspiracies against various groups. “It is not the first time such documents have been discovered, but these ones differ greatly from previous ones. The General Staff should carry out a very serious investigation into these documents and call those who have a hand in preparing them to account. Legal proceedings should be initiated against them. Otherwise, the whole of the General Staff, including its head [Gen. Ilker Basbug], will be deemed responsible for the documents,” Görmüs noted. Late on Friday, a military court decided to impose a ban on media coverage of the Taraf daily's headline story, which exposed the General Staff's plans to discredit the AK Party and the Gülen movement.
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