5.08 - Ergenekon Case
'' Dear Friends,
At 5th of August, the famous "Ergenekon" case was closed. Judges penalized many people including academicians, intellectuals, journalists, politicians, university rectors and soldiers with long years of imprisonments. Some defendants were penalized for life or more than 100 years.
Ergenekon case is one of the most controversial cases of Turkish history. All the case was based on illogical accusations and letters coming from unknown informants. It was carried on according to the political ambitions of AKP government. This is a long issue and it is not possible to give enough information about it on facebook. Bu we can remember what Gareth Jenkins (an expert on Turkey) said to BBC two days ago. Mr. Jenkins asserted that “There is no terrorist organization named Ergenekon…Ergenekon trials laid the fundamentals of Prime Minister Erdoğan’s oppressive regime… This case was prepared by political motivations… If people examined the case carefully at the beginning and stood up for the rights of the prisoners, there wouldn’t be an authoritarian regime in Ankara right now”.
Many books were written about Ergenekon. Unfortunately, all of them are in Turkish. There are Turkish speakers in this group. I recommend them to read these books and see how Ergenekon case was evolved by the time and how it was used by AKP government. For the non-Turkish speakers, I can find some sources in English. If you wish to get more information, send me a private message.Ergenekon case has been used by AKP in order to oppress opposition in Turkey. Actions of government, police and public prosecutors scared a lot of people. Thousands of people’s phone and internet communications have been tracked by the police. That’s why, people quit speaking political issues on the phone and quit criticizing AKP and Prime Minister Erdoğan either during private or public conversations. AKP got what they wanted. They scared people and gave a strong message to Turkish nation that AKP is ruling this country.I am an independent writer. I write on political issues and my articles have been published in many respected newspapers and journals in Turkey. But because of the oppression of government, editors started to reject some of my articles by the time. They were saying “This is an excellent article but we can’t publish it. If we do, we will be in trouble”. I already apply auto censor to my articles. But it seems that this auto censor is not enough. Even the bravest editors openly confess that “they don’t want to mess with the government”. Ergenekon case is one of the most significant reasons of this situation. People have seen what AKP is capable of. After you write a book or an article criticizing the government, police comes to your house a week later and they take you to prison. They even fabricate evidences and arrest you depending on this evidence. I would like to give information from Ergenekon case related to a soldier.A lieutenant named Mehmet Ali Çelebi was arrested for being involved in a military coup attempt. He was arrested in 2008. Public prosecutor claimed that Çelebi had dirty relations with criminal people and had connections with the Hizb-ut Tahrir terrorist organization. Prosecutor claimed that phone numbers of Hizb-ut Tahrir members were found on Çelebi’s personal mobile phone. Çelebi denied his connection with Hizb-ut Tahrir but judges ignored his declarations. Two years later, it was revealed that Çelebi really didn’t have any connections with Hizb-ut Tahrir and phone numbers on Çelebi’s mobile phone was uploaded by the police in the police station after Çelebi was arrested! So police uploaded Hizb-ut Tahrir members’ phone numbers to Çelebi’s phone and then accused him for cooperating with Hizb-ut Tahrir. Interesting point is that similar things happened to many people who were trialed because of Ergenekon, Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Devrimci Karargah (Revolutionist Headquarters) cases.Now, you may wonder what happened to Lieutenant Mehmet Ali Çelebi. He was convicted to 16 years 6 months imprisonment yesterday! Police confessed that they uploaded the phone numbers to Çelebi’s mobile phone. But this information didn’t affect the decision of the court.As you can guess, the decisions of the court have made AKP members very happy. First declaration came from Egemen Bağış, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator of Turkey. Bağış said that “We are experiencing a historical day in the name of democracy. Today, Ergenekon is officially accepted as a terrorist organization. This decision is compatible with our determination for EU membership. I believe, this decision will contribute to our accession process. This is a giant step in our struggle for ‘advanced democracy’.Bülent Arınç, Vice-President of AKP also supported this decision and said that “Everyone should respect the will of the court”.İhsan Eliaçık, the leader of Anti-Capitalist Muslims, who was one of the most prominent figures of Gezi Park resistance, criticized the decision of the court. Eliaçık said that “These sanctions are unfair, cruel and remorseless. Ergenekon was a political case”.As I said, intellectuals, academicians, rectors and soldiers were convicted in Ergenekon case. 24 of these people are journalists. As you know, Turkey is a country that imprisons most journalists in the world.AKP has been trying to create a country that there won’t be any opposition to their politics. That’s why they put some many people in prisons with illogical accusations. And that’s why they reacted so fiercely to Gezi Park Movement. AKP do not have the fundamentals of democracy and respect for human rights. They have never respected to other ideologies and life styles. This is how they make politics. This is the only way they can act. Russian author Dostoyevsky wrote in his book The House of the Dead: “Whoever has experienced the power and the unrestrained ability to humiliate another human being automatically loses his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has its own organic life, it develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man or woman to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate ... the return of the human dignity, repentance and regeneration becomes almost impossible.”To be honest, I don’t expect any democratic actions from AKP. Democracy and respect for human rights are not compatible with their ideology and political background. That’s why, oppression of government will go on in the next months. We will see if there will be new protests against the government in the near future.Thank you for reading this message.With love from Istanbul. ''
At 5th of August, the famous "Ergenekon" case was closed. Judges penalized many people including academicians, intellectuals, journalists, politicians, university rectors and soldiers with long years of imprisonments. Some defendants were penalized for life or more than 100 years.
Ergenekon case is one of the most controversial cases of Turkish history. All the case was based on illogical accusations and letters coming from unknown informants. It was carried on according to the political ambitions of AKP government. This is a long issue and it is not possible to give enough information about it on facebook. Bu we can remember what Gareth Jenkins (an expert on Turkey) said to BBC two days ago. Mr. Jenkins asserted that “There is no terrorist organization named Ergenekon…Ergenekon trials laid the fundamentals of Prime Minister Erdoğan’s oppressive regime… This case was prepared by political motivations… If people examined the case carefully at the beginning and stood up for the rights of the prisoners, there wouldn’t be an authoritarian regime in Ankara right now”.
Many books were written about Ergenekon. Unfortunately, all of them are in Turkish. There are Turkish speakers in this group. I recommend them to read these books and see how Ergenekon case was evolved by the time and how it was used by AKP government. For the non-Turkish speakers, I can find some sources in English. If you wish to get more information, send me a private message.Ergenekon case has been used by AKP in order to oppress opposition in Turkey. Actions of government, police and public prosecutors scared a lot of people. Thousands of people’s phone and internet communications have been tracked by the police. That’s why, people quit speaking political issues on the phone and quit criticizing AKP and Prime Minister Erdoğan either during private or public conversations. AKP got what they wanted. They scared people and gave a strong message to Turkish nation that AKP is ruling this country.I am an independent writer. I write on political issues and my articles have been published in many respected newspapers and journals in Turkey. But because of the oppression of government, editors started to reject some of my articles by the time. They were saying “This is an excellent article but we can’t publish it. If we do, we will be in trouble”. I already apply auto censor to my articles. But it seems that this auto censor is not enough. Even the bravest editors openly confess that “they don’t want to mess with the government”. Ergenekon case is one of the most significant reasons of this situation. People have seen what AKP is capable of. After you write a book or an article criticizing the government, police comes to your house a week later and they take you to prison. They even fabricate evidences and arrest you depending on this evidence. I would like to give information from Ergenekon case related to a soldier.A lieutenant named Mehmet Ali Çelebi was arrested for being involved in a military coup attempt. He was arrested in 2008. Public prosecutor claimed that Çelebi had dirty relations with criminal people and had connections with the Hizb-ut Tahrir terrorist organization. Prosecutor claimed that phone numbers of Hizb-ut Tahrir members were found on Çelebi’s personal mobile phone. Çelebi denied his connection with Hizb-ut Tahrir but judges ignored his declarations. Two years later, it was revealed that Çelebi really didn’t have any connections with Hizb-ut Tahrir and phone numbers on Çelebi’s mobile phone was uploaded by the police in the police station after Çelebi was arrested! So police uploaded Hizb-ut Tahrir members’ phone numbers to Çelebi’s phone and then accused him for cooperating with Hizb-ut Tahrir. Interesting point is that similar things happened to many people who were trialed because of Ergenekon, Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Devrimci Karargah (Revolutionist Headquarters) cases.Now, you may wonder what happened to Lieutenant Mehmet Ali Çelebi. He was convicted to 16 years 6 months imprisonment yesterday! Police confessed that they uploaded the phone numbers to Çelebi’s mobile phone. But this information didn’t affect the decision of the court.As you can guess, the decisions of the court have made AKP members very happy. First declaration came from Egemen Bağış, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator of Turkey. Bağış said that “We are experiencing a historical day in the name of democracy. Today, Ergenekon is officially accepted as a terrorist organization. This decision is compatible with our determination for EU membership. I believe, this decision will contribute to our accession process. This is a giant step in our struggle for ‘advanced democracy’.Bülent Arınç, Vice-President of AKP also supported this decision and said that “Everyone should respect the will of the court”.İhsan Eliaçık, the leader of Anti-Capitalist Muslims, who was one of the most prominent figures of Gezi Park resistance, criticized the decision of the court. Eliaçık said that “These sanctions are unfair, cruel and remorseless. Ergenekon was a political case”.As I said, intellectuals, academicians, rectors and soldiers were convicted in Ergenekon case. 24 of these people are journalists. As you know, Turkey is a country that imprisons most journalists in the world.AKP has been trying to create a country that there won’t be any opposition to their politics. That’s why they put some many people in prisons with illogical accusations. And that’s why they reacted so fiercely to Gezi Park Movement. AKP do not have the fundamentals of democracy and respect for human rights. They have never respected to other ideologies and life styles. This is how they make politics. This is the only way they can act. Russian author Dostoyevsky wrote in his book The House of the Dead: “Whoever has experienced the power and the unrestrained ability to humiliate another human being automatically loses his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has its own organic life, it develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man or woman to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate ... the return of the human dignity, repentance and regeneration becomes almost impossible.”To be honest, I don’t expect any democratic actions from AKP. Democracy and respect for human rights are not compatible with their ideology and political background. That’s why, oppression of government will go on in the next months. We will see if there will be new protests against the government in the near future.Thank you for reading this message.With love from Istanbul. ''
Zeynep M.
Comments
Post a Comment