Ergenekon

The Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned convictions in the Ergenekon coup plot trial as the alleged Ergenekon Terror Organization could not be found and identified. The Ergenekon probe dates back to 2007 after a cache of explosives found at the home of a former military officer was alleged to be part of a big conspiracy against the government.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government supported the "Ergenekon" coup plot case between 2007 and 2011, according to Turkey's former military chief, ?lker Ba?bu?, who claimed the main actors behind the conspiracy were the sympathizers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. 

The Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals on April 23 concluded its reasoned decision for the "Ergenekon" coup plot case, which it overturned last week after ruling that the "Ergenekon Terror Organization," the target of the allegations, did not exist at all.

The Turkish Court of Appeals' ruling on April 21 which overturned the convictions in the "Ergenekon" coup plot case marked an era in the country's problematic relations between politics, the military and the judiciary.

Turkey's top court of appeals has overturned convictions in the Ergenekon coup plot trial, considered one of the most significant legal battles in recent Turkish history which lasted nearly a decade, ruling that the "Ergenekon Terror Organization," the target of the allegations, did not exist at all.

Turkey's top appeals court overturned convictions in the Ergenekon coup plot case on April 21.

According to Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, the seizure of Zaman media group on March 4 has nothing to do with the press freedom under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government; rather, it was a decision by an independent court. He also claims that the probe against the Zaman group has the dimension to curb the support to the "parallel structure," i.e.

Two Turkish journalists - daily editor-in-chief Cumhuriyet Can Dündar and its Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül - were released from prison in the early hours of Feb. 26 after being in pre-trial detention for 92 days. The release came after a decision by the Constitutional Court on the evening of Feb. 25.

The first court hearing was held in Istanbul on Feb. 1 in a case into the alleged creation of a terrorist organization, with U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as one of the main defendants, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.  

Turkey is not one of those banana republics or any of the one-man-rule sheikhdoms of the Middle Eastern political geography and most of the criticisms directed at President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his Justice and Development Party aim to divert Turkey from walking down such an anti-democratic, indeed dictatorial, road.