Hurşit Tolon and Ergenekon

On the day of his detention, we all got surprised! I don’t think Tolon bares any qualities of democracy. HoweverÉ These are my personal opinions and I don’t have any right to execute him without due process so to speak. Everyone, including generals, prime minister, journalist, author etc., may be taken to the court some day and if is found guilty, he or she will serve time in prison. But my duty is to ask the protection of their legal rights, even if he is a shameless general who monitored my phone calls. So I shouldn’t fall into the trap of hatred and grudge, as some of my friends did. After seven months in detention, Tolon was released over the weekend with the following reason announced by the court: "Due to the lack of evidence that he is a member or administrator of a crime organization, as depicted in the scheme titled the ’Ergenekon Restructuring Document’ that has been posted on various Web sites since 2006 and published in the press since 2001." (The Sabah daily, Feb. 2, 2009)

The said blueprint was previously published in the Aydınlık and Aksiyon news magazines and in the Yeni Şafak daily! What does it mean? This simply means: People behind this strangeness either do not know the meaning of law or they are careless enough not to run a research on the published documents. Perhaps they are seeking revenge or are men of some certain posts.

The Ergenekon case, as one last push to cleanse out Turkey, bringing Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counterterrorism Center, or JİTEM, Susurluk and the Feb. 28 process disgraces to the court was being diluted by relevant or irrelevant complaints of some people. The decision about Tolon has directly sent this case into gutter.

You are arresting a man but failing to write a bill of indictment for seven months. In the end, the court sheds a light on the document that you have as evident and it turns out to be just a report prepared by the National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, in 1999 that was published years ago in the newspapers or magazines.

Imagine what a big disaster people keeping a copy of these articles at home were saved from! But unfortunately, the counsel for prosecution had no knowledge of the fact that the said document was already published in the newspapers! The court was informed about the situation by the defense lawyers. If no new evidence is found, it means Tolon was kept for nothing for seven months. This decision will be a turning point in the Ergenekon case. So the detainees will try to invalidate the evidence collected against them, following the footstep of this ruling.

The worst is that the Ergenekon case cutting the public conscience into two pieces will cause people who have provided support to this case to have self-questioning. Those who are found guilty will from there on have the right to question the justice of the court. The case will be perceived as sloppy in collecting evidence, as the one in the shadow of the grudge, and will always have potential reservations for becoming "wrong for right reasons," if a new counsel of prosecution is not formed.