Where are the protectors of exam question thieves?
A messaging program called ByLock was used by Gülenist coup plotters to communicate with each other cryptically. Some 700 people who used this program also happen to be suspects in the case of the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) stolen questions.
The wives of 102 coup-attempting officers were found to have been cheaters in this central exam. When it was first revealed six years ago that KPSS questions were stolen and distributed to a certain group, someone called Baki Saraç in the southwestern town of Isparta was detained. In his statement, Saraç said not only KPSS questions but also the questions of other central exams such as ALES and YGS – the graduate and postgraduate entrance examinations - were distributed by the Gülen movement.
Back then, the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the general director of the police were focused on this matter due to a direct order they received from the prime minister. “Find those who stole the questions and bring the file to me first,” the prime minister had said.
If that investigation had been conducted properly, and if the outcome of the investigation had not been swept under the mat by the “authorized person,” it might have been possible to uncover those who ended up planning the coup six years ago.
Officials do not seem to have any answers to this. Who whitewashed this investigation back then? Who protected the Gülenist gang and allowed them to organize within the state?
At a time when journalists and writers such as Nazlı Ilıcak, Şahin Alpay, Mehmet Altan, Ahmet Altan, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Ali Bulaç, Lale Kemal, Nuriye Akman and Mümtazer Türköne are arrested and awaiting trial under arrest, accused of being “coup plotters,” why are those who whitewashed this investigation now free?
Who swept the investigation into stolen exam questions under the carpet? Whoever it was, they knew before anyone else what the Gülenists were after. Those who deliberately overlooked this criminal organization are the biggest partners in the crime of coup plotting, right?
If Altan is arrested, why are the others free?
The court order arresting journalist and writer Ahmet Altan has prompted me to ask why he is the only one arrested concerning this topic. The reason for Altan’s arrest is his time as editor-in-chief of daily Taraf. A journalist can certainly be criticized for their editorial choices, but how can they be possibly arrested?
The court order said the publication of Taraf was conducted outside the boundaries of impartial and objective reporting. It said that because of the nature of the crime, the statute of limitations does not apply. The arrest warrant also stated that Taraf had printed several stories that defamed the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
“A public opinion was formed against both the TSK and the then Chief of General Staff Chief [İlker Başbuğ]. When this is evaluated, the paper was publishing in line with the aims of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization [FETÖ]. It is assessed that the paper and its editor-in-chief were serving the aims of FETÖ,” the arrest warrant said.
I want to draw your attention to this “assessment.”
If it is a justification for arrest, then why are other newspaper executives who were publishing stories similar to Altan during the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) case now free?
Remember back to those days. The entire pro-government media was almost in a competition with Taraf in covering the case. Parts of the Balyoz indictment were constantly in the headlines. There is no need to give names, but there are politicians who effectively assumed the role of prosecutor in these cases.
And now Altan is arrested while the others are free. Why don’t prosecutors take action? Why are no court cases being opened against other columnists and journalists who made publications “in line with the aims of FETÖ”?
Don’t misunderstand me - I’m not saying they too should be arrested. But when all the others are free, what kind of justice does the Altan’s arrest serve?