Turkey is on the threshold of political upheaval

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Ergenekon" planned a series of terrorist acts and political assassinations, including assassinations against the Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk and several Kurdish political figures. The conspirators were planning to realize armed coup d'etat against right wing central government of Turkey. It is presumed that the members of the grouping had their role in the assassination if the Turkish journalist of Armenian origin Hrant Dink in January 2007. The "submerged state" is the one to be blamed for the assassination of Dink. The "submerged state" is an underground organization and a part of the security services and officials, who are strictly against the democratization of Turkey. Dink's assassination was more complicated than single crimes and was the result of "dangerous thinking" in Turkey," thinks Minnesota University Professor, Turkish historian Taner Akçam, who lives in the USA.

The Kemalists have decided to take revenge after the defeat in the parliamentary elections in July 2007, when the Islamic Justice and Development Party came to power in Turkey. The policy carried out by the Prime-Minister Recep Erdoghan in the time of former President Ahmed Sezer was criticized by Kemalists and military men. Rather often the President used his right of veto regarding the laws proposed by Justice and Development Party, which somehow concern the fundamentals of the state, established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Naturally, in a country like Turkey an organization fighting to return the Kemal times must exist. According to Rouben Safrastyan, the existence of organization "Ergenekon" is one of the manifestations of "submerged state", whose aim is to preserve Kemalism in Turkey. "The arrested had connections in higher spheres, including the army. "A wave of terrorist attacks threatens Turkey, but I am sure that the arrested are only the lowest squads of the multibranch network organization. Now they threaten with Orhan Pamuk and Christians with two aims. First of all it is to scare those who have other opinions and secondly, it is to create tension in the country, which will give occasion for army interference," mentioned Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies R. Safrastyan. As for Orhan Pamuk, it should be added, that after the assassination of Hrant Dink, he left the country and most probably, doesn't intend to return yet.

The phenomenon of "submerged state" used for Turkey is not something new. This tradition traces back to the days of Young Turks. During 1908-1928 the Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Central Committee of the Young Turks party, whose members were kept in secret. The head of this "state" enrolls groups of individuals who represent the political and military circles of the country. The names of these people are not known, even though they are in power to take decisions and possess all the means to realize them. What unites these people is their striving to preserve the fundamentals of Kemalist Republic, which is based on the principle of separation of the religion and state, as well as the national ideology of Turkish great-power nationalism. Turkish researchers do not exclude the fact that the "submerged state" to a certain extent manipulates the movement of the "grey wolves". "In this regard the assassination of Dink should be viewed as one of the assassinations which will influence not only the public atmosphere in Turkey, but will also be used by different political powers for their own interests," thinks the Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies.