By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
ISTANBUL, Turkey – On September 18, a Turkish court ordered the arrest of six people in connection with the controversial Ergenekon investigation. On Sunday, four members of Ergenekon were released from custody. However, alleged members of the organization remain in Turkish military prison.
The Ergenekon organization was formed in the 1990s in order to combat what they considered to be the potential erosion of Turkish sovereignty, in light of Turkey’s growing ties to the European Union, and to combat the threat that they considered the ruling AKP party posed to secularism. The AKP party has a pro-Islamist platform and considers the hard-line secularist Ergenekon organization to be the main obstacle in their hopes of reforming secular Turkish society.
The Ergenekon investigation began in June 2007 after Turkish authorities discovered grenades in a house in the Umraniye district of Istanbul. According to Turkish authorities, the purpose of the alleged crackdown on Ergenekon is to prevent a possible military coup from overthrowing the ruling AKP government. Over 100 people, including Turkish politicians, journalists, intellectuals, actors and retired generals, suspected of being members of Ergenekon have been detained by Turkish authorities in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Reports are circulating alleging that the Ergenekon investigation is a farce, with the primary goal of implicating as many hard-line secularists as possible, limiting the threat to AKP. Each wave of arrests and detentions have coincided with a domestic news cycle that was damaging to the AKP. In addition, unsubstantiated reports have linked the Ergenekon to numerous terrorists attacks that were carried out in Turkey over the past 15 years.
The detainees have been charged with multiple counts including “forming an armed terrorist organization, being a member of a terrorist organization, and aiding the organization.” The 2,455 page Ergenekon indictment, filed in Istanbul’s 13th Serious Crimes Court on July 25, allegedly contains a mixture of fact, rumor, speculation and misinformation. 47 individuals named in the indictment continue to be held in Turkish prisons.
For more information, please see:
Bianet – One of the Ergenekon Generals Released, Eleven New Arrests – 23 September 2008
Hot News Turkey – 5 Army Members Arrested, Ret. Gen. Freed in Turkey’s Ergenekon Probe – 23 September 2008
Hot News Turkey – Turkish Court Arrests 6 in Ergenekon Investigation – 22 September 2008
Eurasian Daily Monitor – Fact, Fantasy, and Farce As More Are Detained in Ergenekon Probe – 22 September 2008
