ANKARA - Leader of Turkey`s main opposition said Wednesday that in democratic societies, it was hard to accept detention of leading social figures without presenting a solid evidences.
Following detention of Ankara representative of Cumhuriyet daily newspaper Mustafa Balbay on Tuesday, Republican People`s Party (CHP) chairman Deniz Baykal visited headquarters of the newspaper in Ankara on Wednesday.
He said detention of "honorable, well known and prominent figures" under the Ergenekon investigation was perceived as an attempt to take out the opposition in Turkey amongst the society and caused serious fears.
"These detentions have been going on for over a year. Waves of detention are still surging. It is really hard to see them as the natural process of justice," Baykal said.
A total of 21 people were detained within the scope of Ergenekon investigation on Tuesday.
Police waged operations in several provinces including Ankara and Istanbul and detained 21 people.
Several Turkish figures including retired Gen. Hursit Tolon; Ankara representative of Cumhuriyet daily Mustafa Balbay; chairperson of Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Sinan Aygun and Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) head retired Gen. Sener Eruygur, were taken into custody.
An alleged criminal network that came to be known as "Ergenekon" was revealed after police seized hand grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12th, 2007 and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor`s Office launched an investigation into weapons.
Within the framework of the investigation, a retired non-commissioned officer Oktay Yildirim and owner of the shanty house Mehmet Demirtas were detained. On June 19th, 2007 a retired officer Muzaffer Tekin and retired non-commissioned officer Mahmut Ozturk were arrested.
Forty-five people including retired general Veli Kucuk; Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the Workers` Party; party`s secretary general Nusret Senem; lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz; retired officer Fikret Emek; Sevgi Erenerol, the spokesperson of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate; "Susurluk case convict" Sami Hostan; associate professors Umit Sayin and Emin Gurses were also arrested earlier.
Former president of Istanbul University Kemal Alemdaroglu and Ilhan Selcuk, the columnist of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, were detained but later conditionally released .
The prosecutors carrying out the investigation have not yet completed the indictment of the lawsuit which is believed to be concluded soon.
(OZG-BRC)