Ergenekon targets the army: nationalist leader

ISTANBUL

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said the recent verdicts were the government’s way of pursuing grudges. AA photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said the recent Ergenekon verdicts aimed to weaken the Turkish Armed Forces while accusing government ranks of pursuing grudges.

Bahçeli said respecting the law was a necessity but the law had to earn respect as well. “To respect the law when it has lost all its objectivity is against logic and reason.”

Speaking at a press conference, Bahçeli accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of “ruling the state like a mob.”

“Things are not going bad in Turkey, they are going very bad. The law and justice that hold us together are being lynched. Our country now faces a civilian coup after all the military coups. The courts are being turned into Justice and Development Party (AKP) backyards, and the prime minister is ruling the state like mob,” Bahçeli said.

Bahçeli also slammed the government’s response, which he described as “close to throwing a party,” adding, “A vengeful attitude like this fits neither in democracy nor in our beliefs.”

AKP figures have responded favorably to the rulings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief political adviser, Yalçın Akdoğan, describing the coup case as a “turning point for Turkish democracy.”

Both retired and active army members were given prison sentences in the Aug. 5 verdict trial, which ended the five-year Ergenekon run.