Today’s Zaman , Turkey
May 16 2009
Lagendijk: Olli Rehn supports Ergenekon case
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn supports the ongoing
investigation into the shady Ergenekon network, Dutch parliamentarian
Joost Lagendijk said.
The European Union’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn supports the
ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a shady underground network
accused of plotting to overthrow the government, a member of the
European Parliament has said.
In an interview with private S Haber television, Dutch parliamentarian
Joost Lagendijk said he knew from his conversations with Rehn that the
commissioner was happy that the investigation was taking place
although he was also cautious because he did not want to be blamed for
possible procedural mistakes made in the course of the investigation.
Former generals, senior military officials, bureaucrats and academics
are facing trial for being members of the ultranationalist Ergenekon
network, which prosecutors say has plotted against the democratically
elected government, tried to pave the way for a military coup and
masterminded a number of political murders. The European Parliament
has strongly called on Turkey to unearth all links of Ergenekon with
the state but the European Commission, the executive arm of the
European Union, has proved to be more cautious.
`Even Turks are getting confused with the second indictment, another
few-thousand-page document. So it is difficult to follow and it
explains the caution,’ Lagendijk said in the interview. `Don’t have
any misunderstanding. The commissioner, as far as I talked to him, is
supportive of the investigation, but they want to see concrete
results. I think this will change the mood in the commission as well.’
Lagendijk said of himself that he is very happy with the
investigation, insisting there should be no procedural mistakes in the
process that would make the whole probe prone to criticism. `Olli Rehn
is a good friend of mine and I discussed this with him on several
occasions. I think that he is also happy that this is taking place,
but he is also worried that things may go wrong, or say, not
completely according to rules,’ he said. `So I think he does not want
to be blamed, they [the commission] don’t want to be blamed for
mistakes being made in the process. I think their stance has been
`please do it, but do it within limits of the rule of law.”
Lagendijk, a long-time co-chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint
Parliamentary Commission, also criticized his colleagues and lawmakers
in national parliaments for passing resolutions on Armenian claims of
genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire, saying they do so
without sufficient historical information.
Lagendijk, who is not a candidate in the upcoming elections for the
European Parliament, has been criticized by the Armenian lobby groups
for not using the word genocide to describe what happened in 1915 in
the Ottoman Empire. `I am a historian and I dare to say that I read
quite a lot from the Turkish side, the Armenian side or independent
British and American historians. I have said it on many occasions and
I repeat it here: I don’t know what happened in 1915,’ Lagendijk
said. `I am sure it was a catastrophe. Was it intentional? Was it
planned? These are issues that for me are not settled yet.’
The Dutch parliamentarian, who is settling in Ä°stanbul after
quitting politics, also said his colleagues in the European Parliament
were pushing to include references to the genocide claims on documents
about Turkey without sufficient information. `I can guarantee you, in
the European Parliament, none of my colleagues or maybe five of my
colleagues out of 785 know what happened,’ he said. `The rest does not
know. They are being lobbied, they say, `Oh, we read it; it was a very
bad thing so let’s put it into a resolution.’ This is a bad thing to
do for the European Parliament and bad thing to do for the national
parliaments. Politicians should leave history to historians.’
16 May 2009, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN BRUSSELS