Latest wave of Ergenekon arrests dominates Turkish politicians’ discourse [View All]

[Ghost Dog]

Source: Zaman

... Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the leader of the governing AK Party, devoted his speech during yesterday's parliamentary meeting to the recent arrests, and denied his party's or government's links to the arrests. “The debate over the arrest of some journalists has turned into an unjust campaign against the government. … The latest arrests have come as part of the judiciary's own practices. It is a big mistake to link the arrests with our government or party,” he stated. Seven individuals -- six of whom are journalists -- were arrested recently as part of the Ergenekon probe. They are accused of close links to Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization that is charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Dozens of suspected Ergenekon members are currently in prison on coup charges. Among the arrestees are journalists, businessmen and members of the military.

Prime Minister Erdoğan said 27 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey, but none of them were arrested on journalism-related charges. Critics of the government and the Ergenekon investigation claim the journalists were arrested because they wrote anti-AK Party or anti-government articles or books in the past.

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Chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, however, adopted a critical approach toward the arrests. He said all members of Ergenekon should be tried, but also claimed that opponents of the AK Party are being silenced due to their anti-government publications. “The prime minister says the journalists were not arrested due to their criticism of the AK Party. He is trying to shape public opinion as if there is a law that it is a crime to criticize the AK Party. Of course no one is arrested due to their profession as a journalist, but anti-terror laws passed by the government pave the way for the arrests,” he stated.

The BDP leader also complained prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon probe are investigating crimes that were reportedly committed after 2003, shortly after the AK Party rose to power. “There is no file of crime related to crimes committed before 2003. It is as if the deep state did not exist before 2003. There are pieces of evidence related to crimes committed before then, but prosecutors are not investigating those crimes. They are only focused on crimes that were committed with the motive of overthrowing the AK Party,” he stated.

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