As Turkey's civilian leaders try to bring the plotters behind recent aborted coups to justice, some are hoping that this will lead to the trial of the leaders of earlier, successful coups that caused great delays in the country's process of democratization.

Turkey has had four military coups in the last 50 years, with only two involving armed force. The most recent was the Feb. 28, 1997 "post-modern coup," in which generals, using a combination of public and behind-the-scenes pressure, removed from power a government that the military considered Islamist. This week Turkish authorities arrested more than 20 people as part of a year-long investigation into the Ergenekon network, an ultranationalist gang planning operations that would pave the way for a military takeover. Political analysts say Ergenekon is part of Turkey's "deep state," elements in the country's security forces and state bureaucracy who are ready to take the law into their own hands for the sake of their agenda.

Among the suspects are two former military commanders, a journalist from a staunchly secular newspaper and the chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO). The process that the detainees appear to have planned is reminiscent of the period leading up to the post-modern coup, which began shortly after the names of some of the people detained were first made public in the course of a parliamentary inquiry into another scandal, the Susurluk affair, which revealed deep state ties between the security forces and politicians.

"We have today's coup plotters because past coup leaders have not been tried," said Sacit Kayasu, who was fired and disbarred because in 2000 he asked the State Security Court (DGM) in Ankara to punish Kenan Evren, the leader of the Sept. 12, 1980 coup, for overthrowing a civilian government. The reason for this protection of Evren was a number of clauses in the 1982 Constitution, drafted under military rule, which protected the coup leaders against any court action targeting them. "The undemocratic process has been engraved in the society more since 1980, and it was strengthened by the 1982 Constitution," Kayasu told Today's Zaman.

During military rule, from 1980 to 1983, over a quarter of a million people were arrested as "political extremists." Some were indicted at mass trials that continued long after the military withdrew. Torture, during and before the military takeover, was said by human rights activists, such as Amnesty International, to be systematic. Moreover, the rights of organized labor to strike and become politically engaged were severely circumscribed. Most imprisoned persons were from the intellectual strata of the society.

Many political leaders of the pre-coup era, including Süleyman Demirel, Bülent Ecevit, Alparslan Türkeş and Necmettin Erbakan, were banned from politics and all new parties needed to get the approval of the National Security Council (MGK) to participate in elections. Only three parties, two of which were actually created by the ruling military regime, were permitted to run.

"Since the 1980 military coup, the society has become quieter, the universities have become places where people cannot question and the judiciary has become one which cannot make a good judgment," Kayasu said.

Kayasu, who became a prosecutor after working as a lawyer for 12 years, said prosecutors today are either concerned about losing their jobs or are biased toward the status quo.

He pointed to recent research conducted by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) which revealed that prosecutors in Turkey have mostly been concerned about protecting the values of the state, rather than those of individuals.

Kayasu also said Zekeriya Öz, the prosecutor who has been heading the Ergenekon investigation, must have strong evidence for having detained so many people.

Kayasu added that the leaders of the 1980 coup d'état, headed by then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Kenan Evren, are comfortable today because nobody dared to question what they did.

"But they will not be comfortable if results come out of the Ergenekon investigation and the responsible people are punished," Kayasu said.

When it comes to touching untouchables, many people believe the military is still quite powerful in Turkey and cite the Şemdinli incident, in which noncommissioned gendarmerie officers were caught bombing a bookstore with a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) informant in the southeastern town of Şemdinli. The prosecutor in the case, Ferhat Sarıkaya, was disbarred after he included then-Land Forces Commander Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt in his indictment.

Meanwhile, Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) leader and independent deputy Ufuk Uras is in search of supporters to present a motion to the legislature for investigations by a parliamentary commission into two failed coup attempts in 2004.

Retired Gen. Şener Eruygur, who is believed to have been a leading figure behind the coup plots codenamed "Blonde Girl" and "Moonlight," was taken into police custody on July 2.

Eruygur's name was mentioned in the diaries of former military commander Adm. Özden Örnek, who, along with a number of other former commanders, had allegedly been plotting to overthrow the government.

"If Kenan Evren and his friends had been punished, we would have seen neither Feb. 28 nor other coup plots in 2004," Uras said in an interview with Today's Zaman.

Recalling the well-known words of Evren, who had said, "Sovereignty belongs to the people, but this country has owners," Uras said, "This is why we are in today's circumstances, because of those who consider themselves the owners of this country."

However, not many deputies have gotten behind Uras' campaign for the establishment of a parliamentary commission. With support mostly from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), the signatures in the campaign have reached just more than 20 so far in the 550-seat Parliament.

"If we had enough signatures for this campaign, undemocratic activities would not have found ground to flourish today," Uras said.

Indeed, the recent detentions came at a critical time, as the Constitutional Court convened earlier in the week to begin hearings in the closure case against the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The indictment against the AK Party, which is charged with anti-secular activities, was filed on March 14 by Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, who demanded that the party be dissolved and that 71 current and former members, including President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, be banned from political activity for five years.

Observers say if proper rule of law is to be established, the government should be consistent in its approach. The AK Party has at times equivocated, as in the example of the Şemdinli case, in which the government did not stand behind the prosecutor.

But if the Ergenekon arrests are handled correctly, the case could be a watershed for Turkey and open the way to a more democratic system, in which no one is above the law, Kayasu said, adding that the time will then come for the trial of former coup leaders.

todayszaman