The silver lining in the Ergenekon ruling

The overturning by Turkey's top court of appeal of the so-called "Ergenekon coup plot trial," which was initiated in 2007 and lasted until 2011, is being hailed as one of the most significant legal developments in recent Turkish history. 

The court ruled last week that the alleged "Ergenekon Terror Organization" did not exist at all and that the convictions meted out in the case were the result of trumped-up charges brought and pursued by supporters of the Gülen group within the judiciary. 

By a strange quirk of fate, it is the Gülen group that is accused now of plotting against the same government that the Ergenekon group allegedly plotted against. Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the Ergenekon case has fled the country and is on the run.

The tables may have turned, but this does not do away with many questions and facts relating to this case. To start with, it must be recalled that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Islamist Gülen group were once close allies.

Former Chief of the General Staff ?lker Ba?bu?, who was accused of being the leader of  Ergenekon and put in prison, reminded everyone, after the court of appeal's verdict, that President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, who was prime minister at the time, had also provided strong backing for the Ergenekon case and those prosecuting it.

Erdo?an and Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based preacher who heads the Gülen movement, may have fallen out since and become bitter enemies, but this does not exonerate the government of responsibility over its stance at the time.

Many innocent people, whose only "crime" was to be staunch supporters of secularism, were picked up and thrown in prison, with many of them languishing there for years. There was not an iota...