Duff, speaking to Today's Zaman stated: “This latest scandal deepens the concern about the state of relations between the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] and the civilian government and Parliament. The allegations are not going unremarked in NATO circles and will, if not properly dealt with, give rise to questions about Turkey's reliability as a military ally and prospective EU member state. The European Parliament, when it reassembles on July 14, will certainly raise these latest revelations about the Ergenekon affair with the commission and council.”
Duff also added: “It would also be helpful if Fethullah Gülen would emerge from the shadows. Religious orders have to be answerable to the norms and values of a democratic society. We need to know, for example, if Mr. Gülen subscribes in full to the spirit and letter of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights. Only a Turkey that is more comfortable with liberalism will be able to join the European Union. This means big changes all around.”
 Germany's Green Party Chairman Cem Özdemir |
Co-chairman of Germany's Green Party Özdemir also expressed his opinion that groups within the military plotting coups d'état against the government are a demonstration of the last throes of “the old Turkey.”
Özdemir, sharing his evaluations on the military action plan that called for measures to defame the AK Party and the Gülen movement, said he found it difficult to understand the individuals behind such conspiracies. Özdemir, who said his comments would apply only on the condition of the document being proven authentic, said: “In which country do these [coup plotters] live in? They never read the newspapers? They are constantly opposing change; they live inside a world notion that collapsed a long time ago.”
Gen. Başbuğ should provide answers Grenville Byford, a regular contributor to Newsweek magazine and an affiliate of the Caspian Studies Program at Harvard University, told Today's Zaman that Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ is the one who should be in the spotlight. “Assuming he denies all knowledge of this plot, the Turkish people then need to ask him two questions: ‘Why don't you know what is going on in the TSK? And how are you going to make sure this never happens again'?” he said. Byford emphasized that all discourse should be done with transparency and made public to allay any concerns on the matter. “This question should be posed in public and his [Başbuğ's] answer should be in the public domain,” he noted, adding, “It seems to me that the ball is firmly in Başbuğ's court, and no one should accept silence from him.” He further underlined that the press, the government and the prime minister to whom Başbuğ reports should keep asking these questions to find out what is really happening here. Byron is a Boston-based analyst and long-time researcher on Turkey. His articles have appeared in Newsweek, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Monthly. Abdullah Bozkurt Ankara |
He said the action plan, which was published for the first time by the Taraf daily last Friday, is the work of those “who fail to keep up with the new times.” Özdemir said the people of Turkey have shown many times that they disapprove of such an approach, adding that the TSK should rid itself of such activities as quickly as possible. “There is no chance that such plans might succeed anymore. What I am most upset about is that the reputation of the military is being grossly damaged after such incidents,” he said. He also emphasized that the military should avoid expressing its view on every issue.
Stating that the TSK's role in a democratic system is the obvious duty of any army, Özdemir said, “And they have no role to play other than that.”
He also said such attempts are in vain, noting that the Turkish public would no longer fall for such traps.
Özdemir said the best way to fight such attempts and establish a rooted democracy is through EU reforms. “A modern constitution is life insurance for Turkey. The government should never compromise on democracy,” he added.
Özdemir, who was elected as co-chairman of the German Greens in November 2008, is the first person of Turkish origin who was elected as leader of a significant party in Europe. Özdemir helped his party gain a significant edge in the European Parliament elections of June over the Christian Democrats, particularly in Stuttgart where they are strongest. The Greens were the second most successful party in large German cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich.
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