CIAO DATE: 02/2014
A publication of:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
On August 5th, 2013, an Istanbul court reached its verdict in the Ergenekon coup plot trial, handing down various prison sentences to 247 defendants, including the former Chief of Military Staff and several high-ranking members of the military’s command. Although the Supreme Court of Appeals has yet to make a final decision on the 6-year legal battle, the Ergenekon trial has already become part of the country’s history as a sign that anti-democratic forces, many of whom date back to the final years of the Ottoman Empire, no longer have free reign. Notwithstanding its limited scope and other shortcomings, the court’s decision marks but a humble beginning for Turkey’s acknowledgement of the dark chapters in its history, as well as a challenging struggle to replace the laws of rulers with the rule of law.
The Ergenekon coup plot trial, the first serious judicial inquiry of Turkey’s long tradition of military coups and ‘deep state’ activities, reached an end on August 5th, 2013. Istanbul’s 13th High Criminal Court reached its final verdict (whose short form consisted of 503 pages) following over 600 hearings, about a total of 22 indictments. The Court is due to publish its detailed ruling in upcoming months. The most important element in the Criminal Court’s verdict was its recognition of the Ergenekon criminal network as a “terrorist organization” and the sentencing of 193 defendants on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.” The Court ruled that an additional two defendants were “leaders of a terrorist organization” as 32 defendants were sentenced for “plotting to overthrow the government.” While 21 out of 275 defendants were acquitted of all charges, the Court postponed its verdict on four fugitives. Another three defendants have lost their lives over the course of hearings. Consequently, the Court sentenced a total of 247 defendants, including former Chief of Military Staff Ret. Gen. İlker Başbuğ, on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, membership in a terrorist organization, possession of explosives, unlawfully acquiring personal information, and seizing confidential state documents. The Supreme Court of Appeals is due to approve the Istanbul court’s verdict. While the defendants also have a constitutional right to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, the legal marathon is effectively over. Now let us take a look at the Ergenekon trial’s history and develop a more detailed understanding of this controversial court case. After all, the Ergenekon trial marks the beginning of a new era in Turkey’s political and legal history. June 12th, 2007: A man by the name of Şevki Yiğit called the Gendarmerie headquarters in Trabzon Province to report that he discovered C4 explosives and grenades on the ceiling of his former rental apartment in Ümraniye, a neighborhood on Istanbul’s Asian coast. The Gendarmerie forwarded the report to the Istanbul Police Department and police units raided the apartment to find, as the caller claimed, 27 grenades in a chest. The police took Ali Yiğit, the apartment’s last known resident, and Mehmet Demirtaş, the apartment’s registered owner, into custody. The discovery marked the beginning of a series of investigations into the Ergenekon terrorist organization and subsequent judicial proceedings that spanned over the next six years. Initially, public opinion focused on the grenades, as media outlets dubbed the ongoing investigation as the Ümraniye probe. Chief Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, however, engaged in a deeper investigation into the discovery that eventually led to complex relationships, military coup plots, and action plans within Turkey’s deep state. The prime suspect in the investigation was Retired Junior Officer Oktay Yıldırım who had brought the chest of grenades to the Ümraniye apartment over a year prior to its ultimate discovery. Şevki Yiğit, who saw the bombs while visiting his son’s Ali’s apartment in Istanbul and was dissatisfied with Ali’s explanations, informed the authorities. Ali Yiğit’s interrogation at the Police headquarters revealed that Mehmet Demirtaş had links to Muzaffer Tekin, who was detained as part of the Council of State’s investigation and single-handedly blocked further judicial inquiry, and Oktay Yıldırım, whose personal computer contained a document titled Lobi (Lobby) –a document that became public seven months later and offered detailed accounts of the Ergenekon terrorist organization’s civilian connections. Police units found the same document with the title Ergenekon-Lobi on Muzaffer Tekin’s personal computer. This was the first instance in the investigation that the name “Ergenekon” came up. The prosecutor’s office filed a written request with the Chief of Military Staff headquarters and asked the military command to clarify whether the hand grenades were property of the Armed Forces. The headquarters did not respond. The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation that manufactured the grenades, however, determined that they matched the explosives used in a 2006 attack against the offices of Cumhuriyet daily newspaper that took place several months after the explosives were delivered to the Ümraniye apartment. The prosecution located confidential information regarding various meetings at the Chief of Military Staff headquarters on a Compact Disc that belonged to Muzaffer Tekin. Tekin confessed to having duplicated the contents from Fikret Emek, a retired member of the Special Forces Command. A police raid at Emek’s Eskişehir residence discovered a second Ergenekon arsenal with long-range weapons, hand grenades, explosives, and bomb setups. Over the course of the Ergenekon investigation, the police discovered a total of five such arsenals across the country.