OPPOSITION CHARGES ERGENEKON IS ‘REVENGE’

Hurriyet
April 15 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – The latest wave of detentions in the Ergenekon investigation
sparked harsh reactions yesterday from Turkey’s opposition parties
as they expressed their concern that the law was being abused for
political gain.

Addressing their parties’ parliamentary group meetings yesterday,
both Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal and
Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, leader Devlet Bahceli criticized
the course of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.

"The Ergenekon probe is a political move, not a juridical one. It is a
case that is motivated by politicians and has political targets," said
Baykal. "If there is such an organization, who founded and directed
it? Today, more than 100 people were included in the probe. If it is
an organization established against the ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP, why is the name of the AKP not in the indictment?"

According to Baykal, although no one knows exactly what the aim of
the Ergenekon organization is, there has been an intention to expand
the case to cover certain segments of society. The case has lost its
juridical features and it expanded to cover many irrelevant figures,
he said.

Recalling that the case of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
or PKK, was finalized within a year, Baykal said there had still
been no indictment in the Ergenekon case, though the detentions
continued. "There is a Rabbi [Tuncay Guney], secret witnesses
and some telephone records. There are claims [made by Guney] under
pressure. These are what the probe has been based on," he said. "The
murder of the top judge of the Council of State and the Republican
rallies are the Ergenekon activities aimed at toppling the government,
according to the probe. They expect the court and the public to
believe in this.

Did common sense and rationality commit suicide?" Noting that it
was not the duty of the prosecutor to make extra-judicial killings,
Baykal said the Ergenekon case has been turned into a symbol of
horror. He said no one knew why members of the Association in Support
of Contemporary Living, or CYDD, and BaÅ~_kent University Rector
Mehmet Haberal and other rectors were detained or why the house of
CYDD Chairwoman Turkan Saylan was searched. The MHP’s Bahceli said
the country’s laws were being abused for political purposes. "There
are widespread concerns that the laws are being abused for political
gain and used as a means of oppressing and deterring people," he said.

In another meeting yesterday, Education Minister Huseyin Celik
said CYDD Chairwoman Saylan was not subject to the Ergenekon probe
as a result of her organization’s educational activities or the
scholarships it distributes to girls. "Some media institutions,
however, relayed the issue as if those who support Republican values
are being silenced. This is not acceptable," Celik said.