Turkey: Conspiracy Investigation Revives Concern About the "Deep State"

An ongoing investigation in Turkey into a gang suspected of high-profile killings and a plot to murder Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk is captivating the nation. The investigation suggests that the so-called Deep State, a shadowy network of ultra-nationalists that views itself as above the law, continues to be a force that must be reckoned with.

In all, 29 people – including a retired general and a prominent lawyer – have been charged by an Istanbul prosecutor with "provoking armed rebellion against the government." They allegedly conspired to assassinate public intellectuals, Kurdish politicians, even military targets, as part of a campaign to destabilize Turkish society and force the military to intervene.

Dubbed Ergenekon by the Turkish press, the conspirators apparently aimed to foment a military coup by 2009. Yet, after two years of increasing social tensions that culminated in army coup threats in April 2007, the group already seems to have a lot to account for.

"If only half the rumors about Ergenekon are true, the complete eradication of this secret network is crucial for Turkey's future," Joost Lagendijk, a member of the European Parliament and chair of that body's Committee on Turkey, wrote in a commentary published February 8 by Today's Zaman.

"Authorities must be praised that they have not given in to fear and have brought this conspiracy to daylight," Lagendijk continued. "However, Turkey has won only the first battle. To win the war against the