The trial of 86 members of an extreme right-wing secularist group referred to as the Deep State, who are accused of plotting murder, social unrest and a military coup to overthrow the elected Turkish Government, starts today.

The nationalist operators within the security forces and bureaucracy are accused of acting illegally to undermine the Government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Islamist.

The group, which is known as Ergenekon, also opposed the Turkish bid for membership of the European Union, which it believed weakened the country against its many enemies.

“This is an extremely important case in that it is the first time anyone has really pursued the Deep State ... there has not been the political will before,” said Mete Gokturk, a retired State Security Court prosecutor who witnessed past attempts at investigation being swept under the carpet. “It is also a real test of the judiciary ... if they get it wrong, nobody will attempt anything like this in Turkey again.”

Former generals have been jailed, serving soldiers arrested for the first time and celebrities questioned.

The accused include retired Brigadier General Veli Kucuk, who faces two life sentences for founding and directing an armed terrorist group, and Ilhan Selcuk, the chief columnist at the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper. Also on trial are Kemal Kerincsiz, the nationalist lawyer who took top writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel literature laureate, to court for “insulting Turkishness”, Kemal Alemdaroglu, the former Rector of Istanbul University, civil society activists and a known mafia boss.

Two retired senior generals, Sener Eruygur, who headed the gendarmerie, and Hursit Tolon, the former head of the First Army, are expected to stand trial later for their alleged involvement.

The investigation, which started when bombs were seized in a raid more than a year ago in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul, was pursued by Zekeriya Oz, the chief prosecutor, and his two colleagues. A 2,455-page indictment linked Ergenekon to the murder of a senior judge and the bombing of Cumhuriyet by alleged Islamists.

Ergenekon is said to have drawn up a hit list of senior political and intellectual figures and obtained arms from military sources. In bugged telephone conversations, military officers were heard addressing the retired Mr Kucuk as “my commander”.

Reports showed that it had a civilian lobbying arm that tried to create unrest by spreading the idea that the Justice and Development party (AK) of Mr Erdogan was a danger to the secular system. Newspapers published leaked plans for Ergenekon to help to manipulate local elections, which were due next year.

Members of Ergenekon, including Mr Eruygur, have been linked to mass public protests that blocked the first attempt by the Government to elect Abdullah Gul, whose wife wears an Islamic headscarf, as President. Mr Erdogan was forced to call general elections. His party won a record 47 per cent of the vote and avoided an attempt by the Constitutional Court to shut it down, but Mr Erdogan appeared to have abandoned much of his earlier reformist zeal.

The murky underbelly of the Turkish Deep State had a brief airing in 1996 when a top policeman, a hitman and senior politician were killed along with a mafia moll in a car crash near the town of Susurluk. An investigation failed to make progress, however.

There are worries that the Ergenekon trial will go the same way. There is disappointment already that the central coup plot will be investigated separately by the military. Anti-government sceptics believe that Mr Erdogan is using the trial as a witch-hunt against opposition figures.

“This case gives Turkey a chance to make clear that it will hold security forces accountable for abuse,” said Benjamin Ward, the associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Mr Gokturk believed that the Ergenekon trial was a sincere result of efforts by Turkey to join the European Union.

“Turkey is at a crossroads. As it tries to integrate with the wider world, it is realising that it must get rid of backward entities [such as the Deep State],” he said.

The powerful Turkish Army, which overthrew four governments between 1960 and 1998, has not criticised the investigation publicly. In recent weeks, however, the hitherto untouchable army has been criticised for alleged military bungles.

Led by the Taraf newspaper, a combative independent publication, the media accused the military of incompetence over an attack on a border post by rebel Kurds in which 17 conscripts were killed. When the Chief of Staff, surrounded by the forces commanders,gave a warning to critics to watch their step, Taraf told him to shut up and answer for the dead soldiers.

In the courtroom

3 prosecutors

30 separate charges

2,455 pages in the indictment

86 defendants, 46 of them in prison

50 seats for family members; 30 for journalists

Source: AFP, todayszaman.com

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