On 22 January, the police had taken many suspected members of the ultranationalist Ergenekon gang into custody, later arresting thirteen of them.

On Tuesday (26 February), the police arrested Associate Professor Ümit Sayin from Istanbul University, Associate Professor Emin Gürses from Sakarya University, Orhan Tunc, a writer and retired lecturer from Balikesir University, journalist Vedat Yenerer, gold dealer Hayrettin Ertekin, as well as a Muammer Karabulut.

"If necessary, a second war" 

Sayin’s name had previously cropped up in the press because he was accused of insulting Istanbul University’s rector Mesut Parlak by email.
In an interview on a website called “open intelligence”, Sayin said:

“We are losing control over our country. The state, intelligence organisations and the armed forces are being destroyed. Pro-Kurdish and separatist organisations are spreading everywhere. The Kurdish mafia is taking the place of the Turkish mafia; Turkey is being pushed into a Kurdish-Turkish civil war.”

“I can say this. The Turkish Republic and the Kemalist Revolution ended in 1938. Nationalism ended then, too. We need to build a new nationalist Kemalist revolution, if necessary we need to have a second War of Independence.”

A man of peace? 

Muammer Karabulut, another of those arrested, turns out to be the spokesperson for the “National Force Platform”, as well as the chairperson of the “Father Christmas Peace Council.” The latter organisation was formed in Antalya, southern Turkey, in 1996, with the aim of promoting peace.

"We have friends..."

Academic Emin Gürses is well-known for saying on television, “We have friends all over the world and I communicate with them,” a sentence which sounds less innocuous in the current context.

He is the author of the book “Separatist Terrorism: IRA-ETA-PKK.”

Anti-Kurdish discourse

Orhan Tunc has his own website, www.orhantunc.com, on which he publishes columns and analyses. In an article entitled “Appointment of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with Azrail (the angel of death)”, he accuses the AKP of putting the wrong people in prison while allowing those who say “Turkey should separate and Diyarbakir should become the (Kurdish) capital” to remain free. “The army is struggling with terrorism and AKP President Gül forgives a PKK member.”

Hayrettin Ertekin is known as the gold dealer of Semra Özal, widow of politician Turgut Özal.

Finally, Vedat Yenerer has been a war correspondent and has long worked as an independent reporter. (NZ/TK/AG)