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Secularist Coup Supporters’ Mentality Knows No Boundaries In Turkey
18 June 2009
As the nation continues to be shaken by the most recent suspected military plot aimed at discrediting the governing party and the Gülen movement, strategists and observers say it is not right to associate the plot with one or two persons in the military and that what is important is that there is a mentality in some parts of the military, society and the media supporting military interventions. Retired Brig. Gen. Adnan Tanriverdi said that when he first heard of the plot published on Friday by the Taraf daily -- allegedly put together by a colonel on active duty -- he did not give much credit to it because it looked like a conspiracy against the General Staff. But he said that he later changed his mind because the General Staff had not started an administrative investigation, but had passed the matter to the military judiciary. “When there are such allegations, on one hand, the judiciary starts an investigation, and on the other, force commanders start administrative investigations to reach a speedy conclusion. We haven't heard of administrative investigations within the military. Neither did the chief of general staff clearly indicate that such a plot was against their views,” he said. The recently unearthed plot was seized by security forces in the home of the lawyer of a retired colonel arrested earlier this year on charges of membership in Ergenekon, a clandestine organization accused of plotting to overthrow the government. Tanriverdi noted that if the document is genuine, it was prepared in the Information Support Department, which is placed at the fourth level in the hierarchy of the General Staff following the Operations Department, General Staff Second Department and the General Staff. On the question of where the plot might have originated, Tanriverdi said there are three options: “First, with orders from the chief of general staff. Second, Ergenekon infiltrated the military, and they originated such a plot. Third, there might be people who were not satisfied with the cooperation of the military in the investigation into Ergenekon, and they might have originated the plot.” No matter what, he said, Ergenekon prosecutors should conduct a broad investigation into everyone -- civilian or military -- in the Information Support Department. Sedat Laçiner, a senior analyst at the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), has said the main concern of society should be about the mentality that supports military interventions. “Following the allegations, Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug should have said: ‘Coup attempts are against the Constitution and democracy. The Turkish military will not attempt coups anymore, although there have been past mistakes. But we don't intend to repeat such mistakes.' And he should have taken one more step and apply to a civilian prosecutor's office for the investigation of coup supporters,” Laçiner said. He added that the General Staff has not handed even one person over the judiciary, but issued either a retirement order or a change of post for the military officials that were not longer under the control of the central command. Laçiner said coup supporters within or outside the military will try to use other methods that haven't even been revealed yet. But the public support behind the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and multiple voices in the media are on the side of people who do not support military interventions. According to the plot, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a systematic plan to damage the image of the AK Party government and the Gülen movement in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergenekon investigation and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the Ergenekon inquest.
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