The New Islamist Turkey

The modern history of Turkey has undergone a sea change.  Kamal Ataturk's proud secular state is no more.  Turkey, the dividing line between East and West has become more comfortable with its Eastern heritage hearking back to its proud lineage in Islam as the controlling power in the Middle East long past the Ottoman Empire's collapse.  The slow but steady rise of Islamism engulfing the world of Islam has been a decade ensconced in Turkey.

The country's powerful military which was once relied upon to uphold the secular tradition introduced by Ataturk has been humbled and eviscerated, its power a dim vestige of the past.  But Tayyip Recep Erdogan and his Justice & Development Party are not yet finished with the Turkish military.  Its elite leaders are now being administered justice of a type that will most certainly inform the current government's opposition that their turn is next.

A Turkish court has sentenced 312 serving and retired army officers, while acquitting 34 of charges relating to a "Sledgehammer" plot to remove Prime Minister Erdogan from power in 2003.  Two retired generals along with a retired admiral who are considered to be the purported ringleaders in the presumed plot were handed out life terms.  Reduced to 20 years each due to the failure of the plot.

And Tayyip Recep Erdogan expresses his satisfaction at the outcome: "What is important for us is that the right decision emerges".  And, obviously, there is only one 'right decision', the only one that might have been possible for the court to arrive at.  And justice is done.

The military, once massively self-confident and aware of their traditional dedication to ensuring that Turkey remain a secular democratic party with interests and values common to the West as a stand-alone Muslim state with close ties to the U.S. and Israel, now views itself with dismay and a loss of self-assurance, demoralized and enfeebled.

According to charges brought against the plot organizers and those implicated in the purported plan to dislodge the Justice & Development Party from power, plans were underway to bomb historic mosques in Istanbul that would implicate Greece and cause a conflict that would allow for an army takeover of the government.

Retired generals Cetin Dogan and Halil Ibrahim Firtina, along with retired admiral Ozden Ornek, charged with being the ringleaders of the plot were sentenced to life imprisonment.  Prosecutors had sought 15-to20-year imprisonment for the 365 defendants.  Sentenced to 18-year terms were Engin Alan, a parliamentarian, and Bilgin Barani, who before his arrest was preparing to become Air Force commander.

Some in Turkish society feel the Erdogan government is using the courts to silence its political opponents.  Thousands of people, including journalists and lawyers remain imprisoned, pending verdicts in trials held by human rights groups to raise questions about Turkey's commitment to democratic rights.

Retired general Dogan's daughter stated her family feels the purpose of the trials was to settle old scores.  Reports by experts claiming documents submitted as evidence appear to be doctored support her claim.  Her father, she said, "had no sympathy for this government, but he would never have bombed mosques or shot down planes, never".