Word: ergenekon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...clandestine group accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. The case highlights a growing divide between his Islamic AK party and the secular military, which has staged coups in the past. The first trial of 86 suspected members of the group, known as Ergenekon, began last October. Both cases could drag on for months or even years...
...court. The 40 soldiers now being held include a retired general and colonel believed to have cofounded JITEM, a secretive military-intelligence unit which many Kurds suspect is responsible for most of the dirty work in the southeast, including the extrajudicial killings of dozens of Kurdish activists. The Ergenekon trial - the group named itself after a mythic central Asian valley Turks believe they come from - "is a milestone," says Nuserivan Elci, who represents some 50 families of the 'missing' in Silopi. "It's a historic opportunity for Turkey to deal with its past...
...opening of a trial for 86 people accused of plotting to overthrow Turkey's Islamic-leaning government, forcing a halt in proceedings and prompting a judge to be removed from the case. The defendants--including retired generals, journalists and lawyers--are charged with belonging to a secret group called Ergenekon, which prosecutors say planned a campaign of violence to oust a leadership it saw as threatening Turkey's secular constitution...
...Silivri prison-court. Tensions are high in Turkey, not because of empty political wrangling, but rather because dozens of prominent Turkish men, including former top army officers, face charges for planning alleged attacks and assassinations to destabilize the Turkish state. Government prosecutors have accused the men of comprising the Ergenekon group, a secret network allegedly so sinister it had composed a menu of targets to be eliminated as part of a plan to give the army a pretense to take over the government. Americans should follow this trial not because its details sound lifted from the next James Bond film...
...puzzle may never be solved. Critics of the Ergenekon investigation say that while aspects of the indictment may be relevant, the government is using it to avenge a bid by the secularist establishment - namely the courts and military - to close them down for alleged Islamism. Meanwhile, many supporters of the investigation argue that the case could finally rein in ultra-nationalist elements, which have long seen themselves as beyond the law's reach, and thus mark a crucial juncture in Turkey's democratization...