TURKEY: THE ARMY AT GUNPOINT?

A new political scandal erupted in Turkey, overshadowing for a while the situation in neighbouring Syria and Iran in Turkish policy, turmoil between parties and in some cases, even the issue of combating terrorism. The arrest of the former chief of the General Staff, Ilker Basbug, shocked the public, instantly making headlines in the media.

The chief of the General Staff was accused of plotting a coup and creating and running a terrorist organization and was immediately sent to Silivri Prison with special security measures. The decision to arrest Basbug was made by an Istanbul court after a seven-hour interrogation at the Prosecutor's Office.

According to investigators, the general was one of the authors of the so-called "Internet memorandum" - a plan to post materials discrediting the Turkish authorities on the Internet. And the "Internet memorandum" was discovered during a search in the apartment of the retired Colonel Hasan Ataman Yildirim in another sensational trial - the failed coup d'etat Ergenekon. This case involves another 400 people.

According to the document, the colonel actively contacted officials in order to organize a "black PR campaign" against the current government. Participants in the "information attack" on the ruling Justice and Development Party used the IP-address of the national security agency, and some of these 42 sites were opened by the General Staff, which caused suspicion among the prosecutors, who immediately launched a secret investigation. More than 430 local and foreign websites, which were used for anti-government propaganda, were brought under control. During the investigation, all the witnesses gave equally clear testimony - the order to open the websites came from the chief of the General Staff, Ilker Basbug, who now faces life imprisonment.

It must be noted that in the sensational 2008 trial on a possible ban on the Justice and Development Party headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, information from websites created on orders from the General Staff was used.

Meanwhile, the opposition's reaction to the arrest of Bashbug was not long in coming. The head of the opposition Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, announced that the arrest of former chief of the General Staff "was not the last one". "The courts are instructed by the government," the politician said, adding that under the constitution, the chief of the General Staff can only be tried by the Supreme Council, not by civilian courts, which in itself contradicts the law. According to Kilicdaroglu, the government wants to weaken the negative public reaction to the tragedy in the town of Uledere on the border with Iraq, where through the fault of Turkish Air Force, 35 smugglers were killed instead of the terrorists by mistake.

Another opposition leader Devlet Bahceli did not leave it unanswered either. The head of the Nationalist Action Party announced that the arrest of General Basbug will become "yet another stain on the dirty dossier of Erdogan's party". According to Bahceli, presenting a general, who led the struggle against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party, as a terrorist is shameful. "Presenting part of the army as organizers of terrorism is dangerous and leads to chaos. In addition, if Basbug is a terrorist, the current president and prime minister, who worked with him side by side for two years, are also terrorists," Bahceli said, noting that while members of Hezbollah are tried in absentia, the former commander of the army is behind bars.

It is interesting that President Abdullah Gul chose not to express his position on the Basbug case, stating that the trial is not over yet. "The judiciary is independent, and I have nothing to add to what is happening. Besides, no-one can be called guilty without a court verdict," the head of state emphasized, admitting that "it would be better" if the former chief of the General Staff was tried by the Supreme Council rather than a civilian court.

Prime Minister Erdogan was more specific, saying that it would be better if the former chief of the General Staff was tried in absentia.

Finally, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said that "the government does not rejoice at the arrest of Ilker Basbug". At the same time, Arinc spoke out against drawing parallels with the General Staff, stressing that "respect for the army is undeniable". Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also called for self-restraint, saying that a particular opinion on any legal process can only be expressed after the verdict. However, this did not reassure the public.

In the first few hours after Basbug's arrest, the general's supporters gathered at the walls of Silivri Prison, waving flags and chanting: "The army and the people are united" and "The lie called Ergenekon is a US plan".

They wondered: "How come that a man who held the highest military posts under Erdogan for 7 years suddenly became a criminal seeking to overthrow the government of Erdogan? And why did the authorities do nothing when Basbug headed a 700,000-strong army?"

The position of Basbug himself soon became known. When leaving the courthouse, the general told reporters that he denies all the charges, calling the investigation's allegations "tragicomic". He recalled that he headed the General Staff of "one of the strongest armies in the world" from 2008 to 2010, i.e. under the current government, against which, according to the indictment, he led a "black PR campaign".

Basbug said that his arrest will definitely go down in the history of Turkey, since "such a senior person cannot have been involved in terrorist activities that the state failed to notice". "Why is it that I was arrested half a year after my retirement when I had no levers?" Basbug asked, adding that the attacks of the prosecutor's office hurt his "honour as a general" and are an affront to him.

A few months ago, Ilker Basbug said that had Ankara supported the US plans to invade Iraq and not refused to allow Washington to transfer them across its territory in March 2003, the question of the terrorist PKK would have been off the political agenda. Thus, the former chief of the General Staff made it clear that the foreign policy of the Erdogan government was wrong.

Meanwhile, there are first foreign reactions to his arrest, which, incidentally, have no hint about criticism of official Ankara.

US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland, for example, said that Washington was closely monitoring the developments associated with the arrest of General Ilker Basbug. She urged Ankara to hold "fair trials" within the framework of "generally accepted international standards".

European Union Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule said that the case of the former chief of the General Staff is "a step towards demonstrating the rule of law and democratic development in Turkey".

Meanwhile, analysts are wondering how the process will evolve further. After all, at stake is the image of the Turkish army, whose leadership is accused of creating a terrorist organization, and of the Erdogan government, which once gave the "green light" to the appointment and then trouble-free resignation of the 26th chief of the General Staff.

In this regard, opinions are divided. Some believe that the general's arrest should be regarded as a landmark event in the public-political life of the country, which is in transition from "dictatorship to democracy". Others, by contrast, believe that we are talking about a new round of struggle for power between the military and Erdogan's ruling party. There are also those who believe that the Erdogan government, failing on the foreign policy front, is trying to shift the blame on the military, thus distracting public attention.

Indeed, in the story with Ilker Basbug, the Erdogan government is in a rather sticky situation. If the court receives evidence that Basbug was engaged in terrorist activities when he was chief of the General Staff, this, according to Turkish experts, will mean that the prime minister was aware of the general's activity, but did not oppose it. The question arises: "Why did Erdogan work and share information of national importance with a person who headed a terrorist organization?"

If the prime minister says he was not aware of the developments, a question will arise about the competence of state security services, which were unable to reveal the plot or have announced it just now.

The fact that just before Basbug's arrest, the prosecutors demanded a life sentence for the 94-year-old former president of Turkey, Ahmet Kenan Evren, was not left without attention either. He is also accused of plotting a coup. In 1980, Evren, who served as chief of the General Staff, came to power in a coup. He ruled the country until 1989 after which he retired.

It is also interesting that Ilker Basbug is not the first chief of the Turkish General Staff, who has been prosecuted. Over 50 years ago, General Rustu Erdelhun was arrested. After the military coup of 27 May 1960, the general was arrested for pro-government views, dismissed on 3 June 1960 and then sentenced to death. However, the death sentence was soon commuted to life imprisonment, and in 1964, Rustu Erdelhun was amnestied.

It is hard to say what the fate of Ilker Basbug will be alike. It is only clear that this event will leave a deep mark in the history of Turkey and make a lot of political noise in the short-term.