Yes, this is new to Turkey, because we Turks never faced terrorism in the name of Kemalism before. In the past, many terrorist organizations have emerged from the Marxist-Leninist (or Stalinist, Maoist, Trotskyite, and God knows what) line. Other terrorists have had pro-Kurdish separatist or Islamist ideologies. And all such diverse groups were united by the fact that they were adversaries of the regime and opponents of the official ideology, i.e., Kemalism. But if the accusations against Ergenekon turn out to be true, then we will realize that terrorism can be practiced in the name of Kemalism as well.

Patriotic Terrorists

If Ergenekon turns out to be what the prosecutors say, then we Turks will also face the fact that “patriots” can be criminals, too.Actually this is not a surprising revelation — history shows that the greatest masterminds of terror include fascists who loved their country to death. Hitler, for example, was a worshipper of Germany, but he inflicted the greatest reign of terror on it. That should hint us that the love of a country is not enough to do good to that country. One has to have devotion not only to his country, but also to universal values such as human rights, justice, freedom and democracy. Only then he can be critical toward his country, and thus try to make it a better place.

The Ergenekon investigation has the potential to manifest all these fundamental truths to Turkish society. But it is still too early to tell. The indictment is now at an Istanbul court, which will decide whether to accept it — which seems almost certain — in two weeks. Then the case will begin and we will all see how the accusations will be supported or unsupported by evidence. It will probably be the most dramatic court case in the history of the Republic of Turkey.

But the investigation is incomplete right now. Most people suspect that one side of the Ergenekon organization lies within the armed forces. The famous “coup diaries” indicate that some top generals planned a coup in 2004, but having failed to convince the democratic-minded chief of staff, Gen. Hilmi Özkök, they moved on to create a paramilitary network, i.e., Ergenekon, in order to bring the country to the brink of a coup via provocations. But in the indictment, the “coup diaries” were not used, because they fall into the jurisdiction of military courts. (In Turkey, civilian courts cannot try military personnel; military has its own legal system.) Now people are expecting from the military courts to start an investigation in order to probe the military side of this “Kemalist terror organization.” We will see whether Turkey has evolved that much.

While the Ergenekon investigation has thrilled liberals and other democrats in Turkey, it has made most Kemalists angry. They see, or depict, the investigation as the revenge of the governing AKP (Justice and Development Party) for the closure case seen at the Constitutional Court. “The AKP is trying to hit back the Kemalists,” they argue, “by using the Istanbul prosecutors.” Well, what seems most flawed in this argument is the chronological incongruity. The Ergenekon investigation started in June 2007, while the closure case against the AKP started in March 2008. So, if we will assume that there is a political link between these two cases, we should rather conclude that the closure case must be a “revenge” for the Ergenekon investigation. I actually think that these are all speculative ideas, but the one Kemalists push forward holds less much water.

CHP’s Lovefest With Ergenekon

Which brings me to the awful stance most Kemalists have taken in the face of Ergenekon. Most of them have ignored or openly opposed the investigation. And none of them have been as irresponsible in this as the leadership of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). CHP leader Deniz Baykal recently announced himself as the “advocate” of the Ergekon suspects. On Monday, although we still didn’t have the details of the indictment, CHP’s no. 2 Onur Öymen denounced it as void and used the famous Turkish phrase, “the mountain has given birth to a mouse.” On Tuesday, in his speech at the Parliament, Mr. Baykal made fun of the Ergenekon case, besides making a lot of nationalist remarks on why the Turkish military should never leave Cyprus.

This is totally unprincipled. What the CHP does is to simply protect the people which it finds to be likeminded. (Oh, yes, there is little, if any, ideological difference between the Ergenekon comrades and Mr. Baykal’s CHP). This is very similar to the wrong stance some Muslims take in the face of Islamist terror. Instead of denouncing terrorism unconditionally, they either ignore the issue, or try to find justifications for it, or create conspiracy theories to the put the blame on someone else. “Muslims cannot kill innocent people,” the reasoning goes, “so it must the CIA or the Zionists who do this in order to show Muslims as terrorists.” The truth is, yes, Muslims are not supposed to kill innocent people, but because of a very twisted and marginal interpretation of their religion, a few of them unfortunately do. It is better for Muslims to face this fact honestly rather than to turn a blind eye.

That is the same thing that peaceful, moderate Kemalists should do in the face of “Kemalist terror.” They should renounce their coup-craving ideological comrades and assert their commitment to democracy. The more CHP refrains from that, the more we will have a reason to suspect whether its connection to Ergenekon goes beyond ideology. After all, we know that the CHP of 1960 was in secret collaboration with the military junta that took over that year. I cautiously suspect whether the CHP of 2008 has engaged itself in similar connections.