Ergenekon Ate My Homework
From Andrew Finkel’s insightful column (for the full text, click here):
…Those defendants in what has become popularly known as the Ergenekon affair are accused of some pretty terrible things. On the other hand it is an absurdity to think that they are responsible for every unhappy swerve in Turkey’s post-war history.
Many of the things now being attributed to Ergenekon are not shadowy events that are suddenly emerging into the light, but things everyone knew about at the time…
It’s not Ergenekon that causes people to keep their mouths shut. There is a culture of complicity in which citizens turn a blind eye to others’ wrongdoing because they hope to get away with their own petty crimes. A mountain of regulations exists to protect the environment and natural and historical values, but a bird’s eye view of any Turkish city suggests those rules are there to line the pockets of those charged with enforcing them…
Of course there are many unsolved political crimes in Turkey that in the interest of justice need to be explained. Was Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian editor, gunned down by a bunch of ultranationalist hooligans acting alone, or were they manipulated by a paramilitary clique that staged the incident to derail Turkey’s ride to Europe. Did security officials fail to protect Hrant because they were obeying a secret set of instructions, or were they listening to the teachings of nationalist textbooks and the headlines of a chauvinistic press — and just couldn’t be bothered.
So yes, the Ergenekon conspiracy is broad and far-reaching. And the terrible thing is that the whole nation is in on it.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment