Leaders of the main political parties have remained focused on the latest wave of arrests as part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation, with some blaming the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government for the arrests and some others calling on everyone to avoid casting shadows over the judiciary.

Prime Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, who is also the leader of the governing AK Party, devoted his speech during yesterday’s parliamentary meeting to the recent arrests, and denied his party’s or government’s links to the arrests. “The debate over the arrest of some journalists has turned into an unjust campaign against the government. … The latest arrests have come as part of the judiciary’s own practices. It is a big mistake to link the arrests with our government or party,” he stated. Seven individuals -- six of whom are journalists -- were arrested recently as part of the Ergenekon probe. They are accused of close links to Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization that is charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Dozens of suspected Ergenekon members are currently in prison on coup charges. Among the arrestees are journalists, businessmen and members of the military.

Prime Minister ErdoÄŸan said 27 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey, but none of them were arrested on journalism-related charges. Critics of the government and the Ergenekon investigation claim the journalists were arrested because they wrote anti-AK Party or anti-government articles or books in the past.

“I am calling on those who have initiated an anti-government campaign over the latest arrests. Which one of the journalists was arrested for criticizing the government? Which one of them was arrested for journalism-related accusations? There are 27 journalists in prison. But none of them were arrested due to their profession. I want my nation to know all about this,” Erdoğan stressed.

The prime minister said the AK Party would stand opposed to any restriction on freedom of the press. He also lashed out at parties that have called on the government to “interfere” in the Ergenekon investigation. “Some are asking the government to interfere. They are asking the government to put pressure on the judiciary. As the government, we are standing where we are supposed to.”

In addition, he maintained the AK Party has provided huge freedom to the media during its tenure. “I ask every journalist and media organ to compare their current working conditions with those before 2002 [when the AK Party was swept to power.] Has the AK Party meddled with the stories of any newspaper? Some news stories disturbed us or some of them published fake stories about us. But we sought our rights in the judiciary,” he noted.

However, the prime minister noted the accusation of being a member of a terrorist organization that was established to destroy the constitutional order and democracy is something so important that it should not be overshadowed by debates over freedom of the press. “I am a prime minister who was jailed in the past for reciting a poem. I have said on every occasion that we must defend freedom of the press with our lives and respect freedom of the press till the very end. The AK Party swept to power as the representative of a huge mass who were deprived of their rights for many years. The AK Party considers rights and freedoms as a basis of existence,” Erdoğan remarked.

Mustafa Kamalak, the acting leader of the Felicity Party (SP), called for respect for judicial bodies and said everyone should patiently postpone comments until prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon investigation make a detailed explanation as to the exact reason behind the arrests.

“We do not know for certain what they are charged with. It is not right to make a statement that would influence an ongoing investigation. I do not think that the prosecutors and judges involved in the investigation acted in accordance with orders that would violate freedom of the press,” Kamalak said when speaking to Today’s Zaman.

The SP leader also expressed doubt that the journalists were arrested due to profession-related issues. “The judges and prosecutors in the Ergenekon case did not arrest the journalists for their journalistic activities or books they wrote. I do not believe this is possible,” he noted.

Zekeriya Öz, the chief prosecutor overseeing the Ergenekon investigation, made a statement on Sunday in the face of recent criticism that freedom of the press was being violated with the recent detentions of a number of journalists. Öz said the detentions did not come as a result of these individuals’ journalistic activities, but the evidence against them could not be made public at this time because of the confidentiality of the ongoing investigation.

Chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, however, adopted a critical approach toward the arrests. He said all members of Ergenekon should be tried, but also claimed that opponents of the AK Party are being silenced due to their anti-government publications. “The prime minister says the journalists were not arrested due to their criticism of the AK Party. He is trying to shape public opinion as if there is a law that it is a crime to criticize the AK Party. Of course no one is arrested due to their profession as a journalist, but anti-terror laws passed by the government pave the way for the arrests,” he stated.

The BDP leader also complained prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon probe are investigating crimes that were reportedly committed after 2003, shortly after the AK Party rose to power. “There is no file of crime related to crimes committed before 2003. It is as if the deep state did not exist before 2003. There are pieces of evidence related to crimes committed before then, but prosecutors are not investigating those crimes. They are only focused on crimes that were committed with the motive of overthrowing the AK Party,” he stated.

Today’s Zaman