Global Ergenekon

Ekrem Dumanlı

The busy domestic political agenda may prevent us from seeing what has been going on around us. For instance, a small mobile home was burned in Germany and a historical secret was revealed.

The evidence left by two persons who committed suicide inside the mobile home shed light on murders committed 10 years ago. That the murderers were arrested and then released, that they held passports which only agents could have, and that they had confessed to assaults against Turks raised suspicions that they were protected by some units within the state. Germany is now in shock. For the first time it has become clear that racism is not a marginal discourse in Europe.

A striking development also took place in Greece. In a surprise move on Nov. 2, our EU member neighbor retired the chief of General Staff and force commanders. It turns out 16 generals were plotting to stage a coup to topple the government. Greece was shocked by this incident, given that the country discarded the word “coup” following the last junta in 1973. It is interesting that the British paper Telegraph noted that a conspiracy similar to the one in Turkey was uncovered and that the conspirers were identified. What is more interesting is this: Even those papers that failed to adopt a consistent approach and stance towards the coup investigations in Turkey since the beginning used the term “Greece’s Sledgehammer” in their reports.

A racist terrorist, Andres Behring Breivik, killed 77 in an attack in Norway in July. We know that the murderer, who killed so many innocent lives, traveled to Turkey, that he hated Islam and that he inscribed some notes on Ergenekon in his notebook. A few days ago, an interesting development took place in regard to this brutal murder. Psychiatrists drafted a 230-page-long report indicating that Breivik was not mentally stable. With this report, Breivik may get away without doing any jail time. The wise rulers of Europe who are concerned about the rise of similar attacks are now pretty pessimistic about further assaults. They are right. If it is possible to get away with this incident with a report, many additional mental institutions will be established.

The world is in a state of upheaval. Racism and Islamophobia are on the rise. It is necessary to see that the world is being polarized through seemingly unrelated and unconnected entities and events. This danger existed in the past as well. But today, the world is moving to a different stage. Past marginal discourses are becoming widespread and influential in the political arena. It is hard to argue that it will not be supported by the state as it gains ground among the public. Even the countries considered as homes of immigrants that have imposed heavy punishments on offenses of discrimination because of painful experiences are moving from one end to another. The connections of the new formations instigated by hatred against Turks and immigrations are traceable through the security and intelligence units of the states.

The globalizing economic crisis will strengthen the already strong discourse. Based on our painful experience, I would comfortably say that if there is no stable government in a country, if the political authority is experiencing a setback, and if the economic crisis affects the people, deep structures and gangs emerge. As soon as the justice and security mechanism is weakened, marginal organizations on the street and deep structures within the state collaborate and suspend the law.

And there are states like Syria, which owe their existence to the shady operations against their own people. They terrorize their people and also train terrorists to inflict harm on their rivals. Recent news stories should be read within this framework: “The Damascus administration, which is experiencing a crisis with Ankara, allocated a camp to the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK.” In fact, there are a number of countries like Syria in this area. Besides, the projects they think they own are administered by other powers which use them as puppets and subcontractors.

It is necessary to get ready for new actions by covert groups by covert structures similar to the Ergenekon network in Turkey, a clandestine network plotting to overthrown the government, in this environment. It is also possible that some strong lobbyists generate global circumstances similar to those surrounding the Feb. 28, 1997 military coup in Turkey via deep operations. Countries like Turkey, which has been exerting efforts to stand on its own two feet but is still too immature to do so, need to destroy the illegal structure of the domestic adventurers and take measures to remain immune to the harm by foreign actors. This is a fairly difficult process. I hope our prudence and wisdom are sufficient to get through this dark tunnel.

The siege continues

I have previously talked about a long-term and carefully crafted plan. Those who have lost hope in the anti-democratic forces within Turkey are now moving abroad. They attend panels, hold meetings and write opinion pieces. They argue that Turkey has changed its axis, that the Ergenekon case is an attempt at political intimidation, that the press is being repressed and that the Kurds are forced to go into the mountains because no room is left for their political participation.

In fact, these accusations are nothing new, but those who want anti-democratic forces to win take action again by referring to the arrest of some journalists or the arrests of some Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) members. They effectively cover up the secret and armed organizations as if they were supporting the Ergenekon investigation before the arrest of these journalists or were holding positive views of the KCK case before the arrests. To this end, they also complain about the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Fethullah Gülen and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in international circles. And they call this journalism. The papers and newsweeklies that are thought to observe global standards in their publications surrender to this dark propaganda without relying on opposition views and float on the waters of international lobbyists.

These are performed not only by journalists in disguise. Those who stay in Brussels and Washington all the time rely on dark propaganda at every opportunity they get. Now they are pushing for the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Those who forward false information to foreigners are actually waging an ideological war within a political state of mind. And in fact they are misleading their foreign friends as well because none of their analyses reflect the social reality.

For those curious about where this column came from, I would recommend they read the reports and pieces on Turkey published in “respectful” publications of the Western press. A siege based on lies is in progress. I hope Turkey is aware of this.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 04 December 2011, Sunday