March 30, 2011

Ergenekon, Fethullah Gülen and media freedom

Abdullah Bozkurt

The latest brouhaha over the prosecutors’ investigations peeling another layer off Turkey’s Ergenekon terrorist network is a clear indicator that the vicious hate-mongering organization, with plots to kill Christians and Jews in a Muslim-majority country, still has operational capabilities to wage a propaganda campaign to try and inflict damage on what many described as the “trial of the century” to rid the country of the shadowy ultranationalist network long nestled in the Turkish state.

The recent arrest of half a dozen journalists with regard to the case was presented by some as an issue concerning “freedom of the press” when in fact none of the accused was charged with a violation that has anything to do with freedom of speech but rather for allegedly being involved in aiding and abetting the terrorist network. The well-orchestrated campaign of slander, distortion and lies to discredit the Ergenekon case mobilized hardcore Ergenekon activists to attack the police, the judiciary, the army, the government and popular civic groups in this country using whatever means they deemed necessary.