Someone is mixing apples and oranges, but who?

Hasan Cemal’s article last Friday was very important.

He states, "the Ergenekon investigation should not be underestimated. It should be seen as a very important event that the judiciary has started to touch places considered ’above the law’ or else the country would have run upside down with assassinations, political murder and bombs in order to ’pave the way for a military coup’É Try to understand the ammunition stores uncovered in Gölbaşı, Sapanca and Ümraniye within this frameÉ OK let’s criticize the Ergenekon investigation, the injustice applied during judgment and repulsiveness. Let’s press for a fair trialÉ but let’s not mix apples and orangesÉ please don’t be so naive. This country can’t handle naivetyÉ" (Jan. 10, 2009 Milliyet)

I mostly agree with Hasan Cemal but one part I took personally. I discovered a message in the article for myself. Including me, who knows what the Ergenekon affair means, and those who were hurt by the Ergenekon people back in time, Hasan calls out to those criticizing the coarseness of the investigation and the case, implying "don’t be so naive." I very well understand what Cemal trying to say. But on the other hand my mind is split regarding the Ergenekon investigation.

I know the importance of this affair. I want the opportunity, which we missed during the Susurluk investigation, to be caught this time. I know about the dirty jobs some of the detainees got involved in within the frame of the Susurluk affair. In this country there are groups that plan murder in the name of their motherland and groups that plan conspiracies in the name of the state, even if they are not related in a concrete way to one another. I believe that this conduct has to be stopped. Especially when I remember how in the past some people included in Ergenekon, associations or groups, made life unbearable for me and my family and how I barely escaped death then this case becomes even more important for me. But for some time the conduct and administration of the investigation has bothered me.

What makes our minds split, me and those thinking like me, are repulsiveness, coarseness and non-persuasive detentions of the investigation. Actually, as Hasan Cemal puts it, apples and oranges are about to be mixed up, but are we the ones mixing them or is it those who conduct the investigation? Everything is so bizarre, relations trying to be established between groups and people are so weak and allegations in some cases are so far from plausibility that one can’t help but be skeptical.

Apples and oranges are mixed by Ergenekon investigators
I suspect that apples and oranges are being mixed by some people Ñ those conducting the investigation and those influencing from outside the judiciary, as either formal or informal groups. Yes, things being mixed up. I suspect that those mixing apples and oranges are conducting the Ergenekon affair so wrongly, carelessly and boorishly that there won’t be an important result in the end and such a case will never be opened in Turkey again.

That’s why I want to warn those really mixing apples and oranges. I want to say, "Put this investigation on the right track before it’s too late. Don’t mix radical opposition with real conspirators." Besides let’s not forget that applied practices do not conform to the European Court of Human Rights and thus European Union norms.

Let’s remember the first step in the investigation. The points in question were extremely important allegations. Expectations were also extremely high. During these types of investigations there are surely erroneous evaluations taking place. But if inconclusive continuous detentions continue, if there is no real relation between people and events, if no concrete evidence persists, if people are arrested without knowing what they are accused of, if during detention roughness and harshness persists that bothers the public, then necessarily criticism grows.

The administration is busy pouring cold water on this
Let’s take a look at the administration. They make such statements and hold such speeches from time to time that they create an atmosphere as if they are pressuring the jurisdiction. They increase their expectation regarding the Ergenekon investigation in such a way and defend themselves so much that among the public the Ergenekon case becomes more and more a political issue. Virtually it strengthens the impression that a power conflict or regime struggle exists.

I’d like to repeat É. I do not perceive Ergenekon as an empty investigation and I don’t want to see it that way. In no way am I underestimating it. But if not put on the right track soon, I think it might turn into a big fiasco. My sole expectations are this be handled accordingly and that the case may have a persuasive effect on the conscience of the public. I too want the apples and oranges not to be mixedÉ If those responsible don’t mix apples and oranges there won’t be any confusion in the public as well.