On Aug. 7, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Huseyin Celik responded cynically to reactions to Monday's Ergenekon verdicts. “The lawyers are shouting out at the [Silivri] courtroom, 'All places are Silivri, everywhere is [under] assault.' Who is coming under what assault? These are lawyers screaming out, 'We’re soldiers of Mustafa Kemal.' May [people] love soldiers like you,” he said. 

“If Mustafa Kemal was alive, he would not even let you peel potatoes. Is it Mustafa Kemal on trial that you’re shouting out 'We are soldiers of Mustafa Kemal?' Is the republic Mustafa Kemal dreamed about the kind of a republic dominated by a network like Ergenekon? Why are you using and abusing Ataturk’s [name] for your own ends?” Celik continued. 

Well said. But it would be equally wrong to forget that the AKP government did the same. Since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government came to power over a decade ago, the public's lingering question has been whether it is in a fight with the 1923 revolution, and therefore Ataturk; with Ismet Inonu, the country’s second president; or past military coups. Consciously or not, Erdogan has created this ambiguity and played into these national buzzwords, triggering the nation's past traumatic experiences. The question is not whether Turkey has dark pages in its history, but how it moves forward.

The Ergenekon trials promised hope in the beginning. As Sedat Ergin, a veteran journalist at Hurriyet Daily — and one who has read the record number of court documents — has written, things grew murky as the investigation and arrests broadened. “For instance, even professor Turkan Saylan, a cancer patient being treated in her home, was included in a terrorist organization investigation. The raids ... offended people’s consciences and showed that the process was taking on a political character,” he wrote in his Aug. 6 column.