Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

The public prosecutor filed the Ergenekon indictment today. There are charges against 86 people, 48 of whom have already been detained. That leaves 38. Could Denktash be among them?

[bill cobbett]

The public prosecutor filed the Ergenekon indictment today. There are charges against 86 people, 48 of whom have already been detained. That leaves 38. Could Denktash be among them?

No, well not exactly. Mr Donktosh is the other 38.

[Jerry]

Apparently Denky is not a happy bunny and he wrote to The Cyprus Mail and told them so. He's a lawyer, will he come south and sue? Is Ledra Street wide enough for him ?

I have never planned a coup anywhere

Sir,

Simon Bahceli’s article “Tremors from scandal rocking Turkey will be felt across Cyprus” is a highly libellous article based on unnamed analysts who project me as a co-conspirator of some persons in Turkey who have neither been charged nor convicted of an attempted or planned coup in Turkey for the Annan Plan or for whatever not yet known reason.

Simon Bahceli should know, as an experienced journalist, that friendship with any person does not make him/her a partner in all the ventures of that friend.

Here again, my friendships with the persons named or unnamed have been an honourable one because I know each one of them as honourable people of high rank in Turkey.

The allegation that I have not responded to hints of collaboration with the said “coupists” who, I repeat, have neither been charged nor found guilty, is not true as I have made statements on this matter to media in Turkey and in Cyprus. I cannot (and need not to) respond each time an opponent writes his piece about “the coup and Denktash”.

Frankly speaking, like many in Turkey, I look upon this “Ergenekon Affair” as a bitter joke with the alleged involvement of people like ?lhan Sel?uk, Balbay, University Professors and now retired generals.

The unnamed analyst apparently not only knows “the ideology of the Ergenekon group” but also knows that “Denktash had an ideological identification with the group and believed, like the group, in pan-Turkish” etc.

Apparently Mr Bah?eli’s analyst is a Crystal Ball reader. I am an ardent believer in Atat?rk’s ideals which are based on “peace at home and peace in the world” provided the independence and sovereignty of Turkey are not attacked or challenged. The same applies here in Cyprus as far as TRNC is concerned.

As to a coup for preventing a referendum on the Annan Plan, what an idiocy. Had Turkey (with its military chief ?zk?k) not supported the plan openly, the vote here would have been 65-70% ‘No’.

Turkey chose to support the plan despite my letters to the government, copied to the Military, about the shortcomings. So why a coup, which would nullify the vested rights of Turkey over Cyprus as a guarantor?

I should have been out of my mind to suggest or support such a coup and I don’t believe that any of my friends now under detention had such an idea.

Yours sincerely,
Rauf R. Denkta?

[Tim Drayton]

The names of the suspects in the Ergenekon indictment have been made public:

http://www.haberbu.com/haber_detay.php?id=24471

Denktash's name is NOT included. Pity. It would have made things very interesting.

There is no reason why he should not be facing charges. Investigative journalists who have researched the Ergenekon case claim that when Denktash arrived in the Hague to discuss the Annan plan and spoke the words:

“I have come here so say ‘no’ to Annan”

he was acting contrary to Prime-Minister Erdoğan's instructions not to reject the plan out of hand, and was instead obeying Ergenekon's instructions to do the exact opposite.

[Kikapu]

I have reached a conclusion, that all this "Ergenekon Coup Theory" is just a hoax. The idea, that had the Annan Plan went through, that Denktash and the Gang were going to overthrow the Turkish Government is nothing but a "fairy tale". If Denktash was involved along with the other 86 people, why is it that he has not been arrested. That would add some creadence to the "Coup Theory" had he was. All this comes out after 4 years, and just by accident, that it was descovered on some recovered CD's is very suspicious to me, specially at a time with the political turmoil that is going on in Turkey, and the new settlement talks in Cyprus.

If I was a cynical person ( ), I would say, it is designed to make the GC's feel that had they accepted the AP in 2004, it was going to be a terrible lost to the TC's and Turkey and as a result, there would have been a coup to prevent such a move, so the message is, thank god you have said NO to the AP ( ), just like what Denktash said which Bananiot keeps reminding us at every opportunity. So, the message I'm hearing is, had Papadopoulos accepted the AP, the GC's would have been in better place today with that solution, and when the next referendum comes, to vote YES for it, because it will be just as good (bad) as the last one, but this time, the Turkish Government is on the lookout for any "coupist" who would want to cause trouble if the GC's says YES. In other words, the Turkish Government and the military is looking after the best interest of the GC's ( ), so don't be afraid to vote YES to the next plan.

I'm I the only cynical person who sees it this way, or has my cynicism clouded my view of the whole "Ergenekon Coup Theory".!!

[Tim Drayton]

I have reached a conclusion, that all this "Ergenekon Coup Theory" is just a hoax. The idea, that had the Annan Plan went through, that Denktash and the Gang were going to overthrow the Turkish Government is nothing but a "fairy tale". If Denktash was involved along with the other 86 people, why is it that he has not been arrested. That would add some creadence to the "Coup Theory" had he was. All this comes out after 4 years, and just by accident, that it was descovered on some recovered CD's is very suspicious to me, specially at a time with the political turmoil that is going on in Turkey, and the new settlement talks in Cyprus.

If I was a cynical person ( ), I would say, it is designed to make the GC's feel that had they accepted the AP in 2004, it was going to be a terrible lost to the TC's and Turkey and as a result, there would have been a coup to prevent such a move, so the message is, thank god you have said NO to the AP ( ), just like what Denktash said which Bananiot keeps reminding us at every opportunity. So, the message I'm hearing is, had Papadopoulos accepted the AP, the GC's would have been in better place today with that solution, and when the next referendum comes, to vote YES for it, because it will be just as good (bad) as the last one, but this time, the Turkish Government is on the lookout for any "coupist" who would want to cause trouble if the GC's says YES. In other words, the Turkish Government and the military is looking after the best interest of the GC's ( ), so don't be afraid to vote YES to the next plan.

I'm I the only cynical person who sees it this way, or has my cynicism clouded my view of the whole "Ergenekon Coup Theory".!!

I don't think the whole thing centres on Cyprus to that extent. Given that periods of extreme social and political instability, with extrajudicial killings and acts of terrorism, have always presaged the coups that Turkey has witnessed in the past, I don't think you can rule out the possibility that a group was starting to use the same modus operandi to get rid of Erdogan and Co. Various recent events in Turkey fit into this pattern. At the same time, I cannot help thinking that the AKP is using this as an excuse to crack down on a lot of its opponents who have used nothing more than democratic means.

[Oracle]

Unity plea to avert crisis in Turkey

The Prime Minister has called for 'social peace' on the eve of a court hearing that could see him and his party banned from politics

Jason Burke The Observer, Sunday July 27 2008

Article history
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, made an impassioned plea for national peace and reconciliation yesterday, a few days before a crucial court decision that could see him banned from politics, his party shut down and Turkey plunged into political crisis.

'If there are mistakes and tensions, we need to restore social peace,' Erdogan told the right-wing newspaper Hurriyet in an interview. 'What is important is to live together under this sky in unity.'

The statements are seen as a last-minute bid to avert a ban that could spell political disaster for the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP). The legal hearing is due to start tomorrow, with a judgement as early as Tuesday.

Most analysts predict that the country's constitutional court will accept state prosecutors' argument that 71 members of parliament, including Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, are trying to impose a strict Islamic regime on Turkey which, despite its overwhelmingly Muslim population, is a secular state.

The court case comes against the background of a bitter struggle for power between secular nationalists strong in Turkey's military and judiciary, and a populist, largely pro-European, moderate Islamist government with support among new elites, and particularly the urban middle class.

'Everyone is playing for very high stakes,' said Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey at the Chatham House foreign policy think tank in London.

A dissolved AKP could relaunch under another name, but the ban on individuals would hit hard, analysts say. 'Politics in Turkey is about people, not parties or institutions, and the AKP is very much Erdogan,' said Hakura. 'If he goes, it is likely that the AKP will be very seriously weakened.'

Turkish courts have banned a series of political parties over the last two decades, but none with such popular support or led by such a well-liked figure as Erdogan, who has been Prime Minister since 2003. At an election last year the party won 47 per cent of the vote and a second five-year term.

Hurriyet reported that the Prime Minister had avoided directly commenting about the coming case but had criticised 'the elitists' who 'want Turkey to follow what they want in spite of the will of the people. The problem is ... [before] ... the elitists managed to make people do what they want them to do, but this is changing now. There are election results,' Erdogan was reported as saying. '

Senior officials in the AKP have sought to calm speculation over early elections in the event of a ban. 'There is no election on Turkey's agenda,' Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek told the state-run Anatolian news agency last week. The party has told members not to speak to the press about the issue, citing fears of prejudicing legal proceedings.

Akif Beigi, spokesman for the Prime Minister's office, refused to comment, saying the court case did not involve the position of Prime Minister but Erdogan as an individual, and the AKP.

The crisis has its origins in a move by the AKP, which has followed a largely pro-European moderate line since coming to power in 2002, to amend the law and allow women to wear headscarves in universities. Nationalist conservatives loyal to the secular vision of Turkey's founder, Kemal Ataturk, saw the change as a bid to fundamentally alter the state. The legal amendment was blocked by the constitutional court.

Tension has also been increased by the arrest of scores of serving and retired army officers, lawyers and journalists accused of belonging to a shadowy right-wing network called Ergenekon. The group was alleged to be trying to overthrow the AKP government by fomenting a coup. The indictment published last week alleged that conspirators had targeted the Turkish Nobel prize-winning author, Orhan Pamuk, among others.

Some experts, however, believe that the court will avoid banning the party and the MPs, possibly opting to withdraw state funding. They point to the rejection of a bid by prosecutors to shut down a party representing Turkey's Kurdish minority earlier this month. The judgement was based on a 'pure human rights argument', said an observer. The court's legal counsellor has also advised that the prosecution case against the AKP is flimsy.

Hugh Pope, an Istanbul-based expert with the International Crisis Group, said: 'It will be a huge relief if there is no ban. It means the development of a democratic, pluralist society that Turkey has seen in the last 25 years will continue and that a milestone will have been passed.'