ANTI-AKP TURKISH LEFTIST COLUMNIST’S CUSTODY DRAWS FIERCE REACTION

Hurriyet
March 21 2008
Turkey

Leftist Cumhuriyet daily’s columnist and chairman of the board
of trustees Ilhan Selcuk was taken into custody early Friday with
suspected links to an illegal gang which is accused of paving the
way to a military coup. Media organizations and opposition parties
slammed the move. Cumhuriyet said Selcuk’s detention reminded the
events of military intervention into politics from 1971 and 1980.

In the operation 11 more people were taken into custody including
Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek and former rector of Istanbul
University Prof. Kemal Alemdaroglu. Perincek was taken into custody
in Ankara and brought to Istanbul for interrogation, the official
Anatolian Agency reported.

Turkish police searched branches of Workers’ Party and private
TV channel Ulusal Kanal in Istanbul. "Police staged simultaneous
operations at the branches of Workers’ Party, Ulusal Kanal and Aydinlik
magazine in Istanbul and Ankara around 4-4:30 a.m. this morning,"
Erkan Onsel, deputy chairman of the party, told reporters.

Analysts say Selcuk’s detention is a new episode in the nationalist
and Islamist groups’ struggle for power. Cumhuriyet is among the
strongest opponents of the AKP government in media.

High-level AKP officials, including Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan,
have said the closure case against the ruling party was launched to
cover up the Ergenekon operation.

Selcuk is a very important and prominent figure in Turkey’s
leftist political movement. He was arrested in 1970s following a
military-declared state of emergency. He has been writing columns in
leftist Cumhuriyet daily, which became the symbol of anti-AKP movement,
since 1963 and published number of books such as "I Think Therefore
Shoot Me", "Left-Right-Sharia".

Local news agencies reported almost 500 people gathered in front of
the Cumhuriyet daily’s headquarters in Istanbul as well as the Workers’
Party building in Ankara to protest the custodies.

Ibrahim Yildiz, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, told journalists
Selcuk’s detention reminded the events of military intervention into
politics from 1971 and 1980.

"We suppose (Selcuk) is fine because we can’t contact him. Ilhan
Selcuk is 85 years old. He had had two serious heart attacks. We
couldn’t get any information and we are concerned", he added when
asked about Selcuk’s health condition under custody.

He also said they tried to contact the President Abdullah Gul, Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin but
couldn’t reach them.

"SUPPRESSION POLICY AGAINST OPPOSITON"

The leader of main opposition leftist CHP accused AKP of trying to
create its own "deep state." "Turkey is being dragged into a very
dangerous conflict. This process is not consistent with democracy,"
Deniz Baykal told in a televised news conference in Ankara.

The lawyer of Selcuk, Fikret Ilkiz, told reporters on Friday he will
not be able to see his client for 24 hours, noting Selcuk was taken
into custody under the anti-terror law. Ilkiz also urged integrity.

"We have to take this as an investigation. It would be better if we
stay a bit calm." He expects Selcuk’s interrogation to be completed
in 48 hours.

The socialist independent MP Ufuk Uras showed reaction to Selcuk’s
detention, saying such threatening actions against journalists are
hurting the public concisness and increasing concerns on judiciary.

"Those exercises should be consistent with law and fundamentals
of democracy. Such anti-democratic and threatening behaviors cause
question marks in the soceity" he said in a statement on Friday.

Oktay Eksi, the chairman of Turkish Press Council -an influent media
organization-, said he was shocked by custody of Selcuk. "I don’t think
they are involved with such organization. I just want to say that I
am shocked". Press Council is a self regulation platform created by
journalists with the aim of realizing a freer and a more respectable
press, according to its website.

Another press organization said custody of Selcuk and Perincek similar
to those that had happened during the military junta. "This situation
is a suppression policy against opposing columnists, publishers and
media", Ahmet Abakay, the chairman of Modern Journalists Association,
said in a statement.

ERGENEKON OPERATION

The probe against the Ergenekon gang started after hand grenades that
were issued to security forces were seized at the home of a retired
military officer in Istanbul last June. A retired military commander
and a lawyer were among those arrested earlier. A total of 39 people
have been arrested under the investigation.

Authorities have not commented publicly on the investigation, and
most reports about the investigation have emerged in local media and
are based on anonymous sources. The Ergenekon gang was suspected of
being behind a series of bombings on the Cumhuriyet newspaper offices
carried out last year, Turkish media have said previously.

Newspapers have said the group had been plotting a series of bomb
attacks and assassinations and were behind the killing of Turkish
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.