ERGENEKON IS A TINY PIECE OF THE DEEPER STATE, SAYS MIHRI BELLI

Today’s Zaman
Nov 26 2008
Turkey

One of the most important former leaders of the Turkish left, Mihri
Belli, has expressed the opinion that the Ergenekon organization,
some of whose members currently face trial on charges of plotting
to overthrow the government, is just a drop in the ocean of the
"deeper state" or "counter guerrilla," vaguely defined as rogue
elements inside the state hierarchy pushing and pursuing their own,
often nationalistic, agenda.

"Ergenekon is only a small piece of the counter guerilla," says Belli
in an interview Today’s Zaman, adding that confronting Turkey’s
two coups — namely the Sept. 12, 1980 coup and the March 12,
1971 intervention — is the only way for the country to establish
democracy. Belli also stated that in order for the "deep state" to
be exposed completely, the unresolved murders of Kurdish businessmen
and other individuals in the Southeast and attacks including the
assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 had
to be investigated until their murkiest details are illuminated.

"Ergenekon must merely be a part of the counter guerilla that they
discarded. The main body is still active. The Ergenekon trial, it seems
to me, is slightly teasing those in Turkey who are pro-democracy. The
real organization is still being protected. But if this trial is
expanded, and if those police officers or army officers involved
in the Hrant Dink murder, and if those individuals who organized
provocative demonstrations ahead of the Sept. 12 and March 12
military interventions are brought before court, the real network
could be exposed. It is the responsibility of every democrat in this
country to make sure these people are found and brought before a
court." Belli said,

Belli also said that the National Forces Associations (Kuvayi Milliye
Dernekleri), whose leaders and senior members have all been detained
as part of the Ergenekon investigation, are organized in the same
structure as units that were part of Operation Gladio — a post-World
War II NATO operation structured as "stay-behind" paramilitary
organizations, with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet
invasion through sabotage and clandestine operations. In fact, many
analysts believe such networks of groups in Turkey today, sometimes
referred to as the "deep state," are remnants of the Turkish leg
of Gladio.

He said, however, that the trial process associated Ergenekon too
closely with the Workers’ Party (Ä°P), whose leader, Dogu Perincek,
is currently in jail as an Ergenekon suspect. "Attributing all this
to Dogu’s little party is pushing the imagination a bit too far. It
is possible that certain centers in the military and the deep state
used the Ä°P. It looks like there is another game at play, since
the admiral who kept those journals was not arrested," Belli said,
referring to a retired navy commander whose alleged journals from 2004
kept meticulously detailed descriptions of a coup plot against the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. No legal action
against or investigation into the retired admiral has materialized.

A retrospective look

Belli also stated that he and his friends had fought in the past
to unify the Turkish left. In response to a question on why he and
Perincek, an old comrade of his, went their separate ways, Belli said,
"Perincek parted ways with us because we weren’t close enough to
the military."

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