The re-construction of the counter-guerrilla and the Ergenekon operation
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The duty of the communists, revolutionary, progressive and Kurdish patriotic forces is to profit from the developments for increasing the masses' initiative to demand an account from the counter-guerrilla state and the putschist generals.

 
 01 August 2008 / International Bulletin / No: 72
 
The Ergenekon trial, which is one of the main developments having been highlighted for months in the Turkish bourgeois politics, has entered a new stage in the last month.
Two of the retired putschist generals Hursit Tolon ve Sener Eruygur and together with them many personalities from the fields of media, capital, police, racist fascist parties etc. were arrested and imprisoned. Furthermore, the indictment of the case Ergenekon was released. The indictment does not contain any claims of a coup which were expected and broadly discussed in the bourgeois media and this shows that the regime's Ergenekon operation carried out against its own counter-guerrilla forces was a partial and limited operation.
The Ergenekon operation is an operation of the regime to re-construct the counter-guerrilla and it is based on many different reasons, from historical to current, from national to international reasons. This operation and every step of the regime from the land operations and air raids in Southern Kurdistan to the trial to ban the AKP are all closely linked to the plans of the USA and the other imperialist forces on the Middle East and related to this, to the part Turkey was assigned to in this context.
After the Greater Middle Eastern Project became frustrated due to the frustration of the US imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US imperialism made some changes in its policy on the region. The USA being in a difficult situation or facing failure in the Middle East means being in a difficult situation all over the world and losing its role as the gendarmerie of the world. This is a new situation for the imperialists as well as for the worlds oppressed, however both parties are at present not prepared for that. No matter how sharp the contradictions between the imperialists are, no imperialist force including China and Russia want the USA to lose in Iraq. The reason for that is that they have not yet managed to create a relation system that will replace the present role of the US imperialism and a correlation of forces that will make it possible to take more resolute steps. In face of this, the USA developed a policy to defend the status quo in the Middle East and first of all keep the unity of Iraq and started to organise its relations with Turkey, the Southern Kurds, as well as Iran, Syria and the other states of the region in this way. While withdrawing the attack plans on Iran for the moment, it curbed the period of the formation of a Kurdish state in Southern Kurdistan. New steps were also taken for the liquidation of the PKK , which is an important obstacle in defending the status quo in the Middle East.
The Turkish bourgeoisie became integrated in these approaches of the USA. A concept was created at the meeting of the chief of general staff Buyukanit and Prime Minister Erdogan on May 4, 2007 at Dolmabahce and the meeting of Erdogan and Bush on November 5, 2007. The general staff and the government, that are experiencing deep cleavages and conflicts among them, have compromised in the line of the USA. The PKK and the guerrilla are at the very sharp end of this concept. The main aim is the defence of the status quo in the Middle East. The Turkish ruling forces want to organise themselves at a new level so that the status quo in the Middle East will not be destroyed. The Turkish bourgeoisie joined the USA's plan to defend the status quo in the Middle East, but for that it has been unavoidable to re-organise its own forces.
The Ergenekon operations need to be understood together with this need for re-construction. Ergenekon is an operation of reconstruction carried out by the regime in order to re-organise those elements within the counter-guerrilla organisation that had diverged from the actual line and to take again under control those elements over whom the regime had lost control while the counter-guerrilla went stronger and broader. And of course, the target is not the counter-guerrilla's actual body but some elements that have been exposed. The Ergenekon operation has expanded and involved generals such as Veli Kucuk, Hursit Tolon, Sener Eruygur.
The counter-guerrilla had been organised during the period when Turkey became a member of the NATO and became an essential part of the organisation of the state. Nowadays, however, it has become an organisation that is no more central, limited and clandestine, but organised even at local places, cities and quarters, and its actual body is organised within the Turkish Armed Forces and its centre is the official organisations affiliated to it such as the Special War Department and Special Forces Commandership. The organisation Ergenekon is not only limited with the generals imprisoned and some personalities from the fields of military and civil bureaucracy, the media, capital and racist fascist parties.
In one aspect this period reminds us of Susurluk and the period of February 28. During this period, those counter-guerrilla elements in the police organisation that had exceeded the limits had been trimmed. And now, a broader and larger part, first of all, the soldiers that form the actual body of the counter-guerrilla, is being rebuked. Nevertheless, during both periods the main trend was that those forces that had come out and were exposed has been on the target and the official relations of the counter-guerrilla have never been on the agenda.
As an operation on which the AKP and the front of the army and the generals that suffer from a serious cleavage and clash of interests among them have compromised, this operation is being carried out totally controlled. Anyway, the regime and its two fronts would not be able to tolerate any uncontrolled proceeding because of the bourgeoisie's deep crisis of the regime as well as the fact that the counter-guerrilla is in fact the state and regime itself. Although the bourgeois media and bourgeois liberals guided by the AKP try to present Ergenekon as a big step towards democracy and the liquidation of the counter-guerrilla, it is quite clear that this operation carried out by the regime's two main forces, the AKP and the general staff, will be restricted to some certain groups.
In this compromise, the AKP government is more in the saddle due to its superiority over the generals' front achieved during critical periods such as the memorandum of April 27 and the early general elections, and uses the Ergenekon trials in order to strengthen this initiative.
The fact that even some military personalities, no matter that these are only retired generals, have been included in the case of Ergenekon, that a relationship is somehow claimed between the case and the Turkish Armed Forces whose privileges have never been touched and whose impunity has never been discussed shows how deep is the need of the regime for a re-construction and in one aspect it harms the mentioned position of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Many developments such as the Kurdish national movement and the fact that it became clear that this struggle could not be defeated by military means, the rise of political Islam, the developments forcing to confront with the Armenian genocide, the question of Cyprus and the imperialists' pressure on this issue, the period and laws of EU integration made the traditional way of acting of the regime fail. The balance of powers that have changed after the Cold War and the need of the Turkish state to get a position and to re-construct itself in accordance with its new role have made the situation more difficult. Finally, the need for re-construction showed itself in a stronger way. This period was answered by different groups of the Turkish bourgeoisie with different approaches and eventually, two different fronts, the front of the army and the generals on the one hand and those groups represented by the AKP and the oligarchy of the capital on the other hand, and two programs came up. Both fronts have no essential difference from the imperialists' approaches, however, the army wants to complete this period of re-construction in a way defending its current status quo while the other front aims at achieving more control of the political power. For this reason, there is a big fight for the power at the top of the regime. This crisis of the regime and the process of re-organisation of the regime's inner correlation of forces, the period of cleavage and polarisation in all fields, from the media to the organisations of the capital, from the juridical institutions to the police, from parliament to universities, are the fundamental facts that made the Ergenekon operations absolutely necessary and affected/determined its course. The AKP, that is the force loyally carrying out the US imperialists' plans on the region, the constructor of the neo-liberal destruction plans and the enemy of the working class and labourers, tries to profit from this operation, which means the liquidation of one part of the counter-guerrilla that were exposed, and wants to increase its initiative and to make the democratic public stand in favour of it through its anti-coup claims. And the front of the general staff is struggling to remove those poisoning elements out of control from its body.
The duty of the communists, revolutionary, progressive and Kurdish patriotic forces is to profit from the developments for increasing the masses' initiative to demand an account from the counter-guerrilla state and the putschist generals. The anti-putschist sensitivity that has developed in the last years with the public opinion that has grown in context with demanding an account from the counter-guerrilla on the anniversary of the massacre on Mayday 1977, the killing of Hrant Dink and the mass movement that developed later on, the actions on the anniversary of the fascist military coup of September 12, 1980 and many other struggles shows that this is absolutely possible and necessary.
 

 

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The re-construction of the counter-guerrilla and the Ergenekon operation
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The duty of the communists, revolutionary, progressive and Kurdish patriotic forces is to profit from the developments for increasing the masses' initiative to demand an account from the counter-guerrilla state and the putschist generals.

 
 01 August 2008 / International Bulletin / No: 72
 
The Ergenekon trial, which is one of the main developments having been highlighted for months in the Turkish bourgeois politics, has entered a new stage in the last month.
Two of the retired putschist generals Hursit Tolon ve Sener Eruygur and together with them many personalities from the fields of media, capital, police, racist fascist parties etc. were arrested and imprisoned. Furthermore, the indictment of the case Ergenekon was released. The indictment does not contain any claims of a coup which were expected and broadly discussed in the bourgeois media and this shows that the regime's Ergenekon operation carried out against its own counter-guerrilla forces was a partial and limited operation.
The Ergenekon operation is an operation of the regime to re-construct the counter-guerrilla and it is based on many different reasons, from historical to current, from national to international reasons. This operation and every step of the regime from the land operations and air raids in Southern Kurdistan to the trial to ban the AKP are all closely linked to the plans of the USA and the other imperialist forces on the Middle East and related to this, to the part Turkey was assigned to in this context.
After the Greater Middle Eastern Project became frustrated due to the frustration of the US imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US imperialism made some changes in its policy on the region. The USA being in a difficult situation or facing failure in the Middle East means being in a difficult situation all over the world and losing its role as the gendarmerie of the world. This is a new situation for the imperialists as well as for the worlds oppressed, however both parties are at present not prepared for that. No matter how sharp the contradictions between the imperialists are, no imperialist force including China and Russia want the USA to lose in Iraq. The reason for that is that they have not yet managed to create a relation system that will replace the present role of the US imperialism and a correlation of forces that will make it possible to take more resolute steps. In face of this, the USA developed a policy to defend the status quo in the Middle East and first of all keep the unity of Iraq and started to organise its relations with Turkey, the Southern Kurds, as well as Iran, Syria and the other states of the region in this way. While withdrawing the attack plans on Iran for the moment, it curbed the period of the formation of a Kurdish state in Southern Kurdistan. New steps were also taken for the liquidation of the PKK , which is an important obstacle in defending the status quo in the Middle East.
The Turkish bourgeoisie became integrated in these approaches of the USA. A concept was created at the meeting of the chief of general staff Buyukanit and Prime Minister Erdogan on May 4, 2007 at Dolmabahce and the meeting of Erdogan and Bush on November 5, 2007. The general staff and the government, that are experiencing deep cleavages and conflicts among them, have compromised in the line of the USA. The PKK and the guerrilla are at the very sharp end of this concept. The main aim is the defence of the status quo in the Middle East. The Turkish ruling forces want to organise themselves at a new level so that the status quo in the Middle East will not be destroyed. The Turkish bourgeoisie joined the USA's plan to defend the status quo in the Middle East, but for that it has been unavoidable to re-organise its own forces.
The Ergenekon operations need to be understood together with this need for re-construction. Ergenekon is an operation of reconstruction carried out by the regime in order to re-organise those elements within the counter-guerrilla organisation that had diverged from the actual line and to take again under control those elements over whom the regime had lost control while the counter-guerrilla went stronger and broader. And of course, the target is not the counter-guerrilla's actual body but some elements that have been exposed. The Ergenekon operation has expanded and involved generals such as Veli Kucuk, Hursit Tolon, Sener Eruygur.
The counter-guerrilla had been organised during the period when Turkey became a member of the NATO and became an essential part of the organisation of the state. Nowadays, however, it has become an organisation that is no more central, limited and clandestine, but organised even at local places, cities and quarters, and its actual body is organised within the Turkish Armed Forces and its centre is the official organisations affiliated to it such as the Special War Department and Special Forces Commandership. The organisation Ergenekon is not only limited with the generals imprisoned and some personalities from the fields of military and civil bureaucracy, the media, capital and racist fascist parties.
In one aspect this period reminds us of Susurluk and the period of February 28. During this period, those counter-guerrilla elements in the police organisation that had exceeded the limits had been trimmed. And now, a broader and larger part, first of all, the soldiers that form the actual body of the counter-guerrilla, is being rebuked. Nevertheless, during both periods the main trend was that those forces that had come out and were exposed has been on the target and the official relations of the counter-guerrilla have never been on the agenda.
As an operation on which the AKP and the front of the army and the generals that suffer from a serious cleavage and clash of interests among them have compromised, this operation is being carried out totally controlled. Anyway, the regime and its two fronts would not be able to tolerate any uncontrolled proceeding because of the bourgeoisie's deep crisis of the regime as well as the fact that the counter-guerrilla is in fact the state and regime itself. Although the bourgeois media and bourgeois liberals guided by the AKP try to present Ergenekon as a big step towards democracy and the liquidation of the counter-guerrilla, it is quite clear that this operation carried out by the regime's two main forces, the AKP and the general staff, will be restricted to some certain groups.
In this compromise, the AKP government is more in the saddle due to its superiority over the generals' front achieved during critical periods such as the memorandum of April 27 and the early general elections, and uses the Ergenekon trials in order to strengthen this initiative.
The fact that even some military personalities, no matter that these are only retired generals, have been included in the case of Ergenekon, that a relationship is somehow claimed between the case and the Turkish Armed Forces whose privileges have never been touched and whose impunity has never been discussed shows how deep is the need of the regime for a re-construction and in one aspect it harms the mentioned position of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Many developments such as the Kurdish national movement and the fact that it became clear that this struggle could not be defeated by military means, the rise of political Islam, the developments forcing to confront with the Armenian genocide, the question of Cyprus and the imperialists' pressure on this issue, the period and laws of EU integration made the traditional way of acting of the regime fail. The balance of powers that have changed after the Cold War and the need of the Turkish state to get a position and to re-construct itself in accordance with its new role have made the situation more difficult. Finally, the need for re-construction showed itself in a stronger way. This period was answered by different groups of the Turkish bourgeoisie with different approaches and eventually, two different fronts, the front of the army and the generals on the one hand and those groups represented by the AKP and the oligarchy of the capital on the other hand, and two programs came up. Both fronts have no essential difference from the imperialists' approaches, however, the army wants to complete this period of re-construction in a way defending its current status quo while the other front aims at achieving more control of the political power. For this reason, there is a big fight for the power at the top of the regime. This crisis of the regime and the process of re-organisation of the regime's inner correlation of forces, the period of cleavage and polarisation in all fields, from the media to the organisations of the capital, from the juridical institutions to the police, from parliament to universities, are the fundamental facts that made the Ergenekon operations absolutely necessary and affected/determined its course. The AKP, that is the force loyally carrying out the US imperialists' plans on the region, the constructor of the neo-liberal destruction plans and the enemy of the working class and labourers, tries to profit from this operation, which means the liquidation of one part of the counter-guerrilla that were exposed, and wants to increase its initiative and to make the democratic public stand in favour of it through its anti-coup claims. And the front of the general staff is struggling to remove those poisoning elements out of control from its body.
The duty of the communists, revolutionary, progressive and Kurdish patriotic forces is to profit from the developments for increasing the masses' initiative to demand an account from the counter-guerrilla state and the putschist generals. The anti-putschist sensitivity that has developed in the last years with the public opinion that has grown in context with demanding an account from the counter-guerrilla on the anniversary of the massacre on Mayday 1977, the killing of Hrant Dink and the mass movement that developed later on, the actions on the anniversary of the fascist military coup of September 12, 1980 and many other struggles shows that this is absolutely possible and necessary.