Quo vadis?

All these are fine. But Saylan’s funeral was not a normal funeral ceremony. It was a political show. And everyone knows the reason. If the Ergenekon crime gang investigation’s 12th wave of arrests hadn’t involved her, just 35 days before her death, Saylan’s funeral could’ve not turned into a big political show.

Two simple questions here:

1. If Saylan hadn’t been interrogated as part of the 12th wave of arrests, could the funeral ceremony of the 74-year-old president of the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life, or ÇYDD, have been this large?

2. If Saylan had died at a later time, not on May 18, months later for instance, could we have seen such ceremony?

The simple yet honest answer to these questions is obvious. And the answer confirms that Saylan’s funeral ceremony was a big political show against the Ergenekon case.

***

Immediately after the 12th wave of Ergenekon arrests, on Apr. 19, I had completed my article as follows: "As soon as I heard about the detention of Tijen Mergen and of Saylan in the midst of her 70s, first thing that crossed my mind was that a third party was involved in this investigation to stain this case."

And I thought about this piece while I was watching this political show against the Ergenekon case on May 19 as an exploitation of Saylan’s funeral ceremony. The Republican Rally organized in Ankara on May 17, the "Solidarity Walk" attended by well-known figures of the cinema and theater worlds on May 18 from Galatasaray to Taksim in Istanbul, and the court decision from Sincan against President Abdullah Gül concurrentlyÉ

And the "anti-Ergenekon" show during Saylan’s funeral ceremonyÉ

Someone adding all these up said, "The pro-Ergenekon groups are at work." Is it so? I wouldn’t know really. But a "social-political picture" that makes one consider this is self-evident. Daily Taraf’s Ahmet Altan wrote the following the other day: "The rallies are increasing. These masses do not represent the majority but about one-fourth of the population. The Ergenekon partnership, backed by such a big crowd and by legalists, may turn everything into a mess. We might have big massacres and bloodbaths. The only power to prevent this is the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, again. If the AKP speeds up the EU accession bid, takes ’conservatism’ in local municipalities under control, and does not exclude city-dwellers, crowds in the street may withdraw their support for Ergenekon. Otherwise, as far as I see, trouble is approaching. And this time, it is approaching badly."

The most glorious, meaningful and striking of the said rallies was Saylan’s so-called funeral ceremony. Yes, it was not a funeral ceremony. There is a certain style and manner for funerals. But it was not seen in the Teşvikiye Mosque on May 19. What was seen instead?

We saw, instead, wreaths reading "Turkish Armed Forces" on them, which were applauded by the crowd for just this reason. Slogans like, "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal" or "Turkey is secular and will remain secular," and a half-hour long eulogy for Saylan by a "modern" imam who is quite a political figure, the author of a book titled "Religion Politicized, Politics turned out Religion" and who is a former deputy candidate of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, followed by a funeral prayer. The CHP administrative staff; retired Gen. Tuncer Kılınç asking, "Will the state apologize?" towards camera; and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals Sabih Kanadoğlu were in the front of Saylan’s coffin. People who are remembered as being the state themselves asked the question, "Will the state apologize?"

A group of artists who didn’t turn a hair as prominent Turkish authors were accused of belittling Turkey and taken to the court Ğ the artists who failed to show their sensitivities when Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was murdered and who just watched shameful interference to freedom of thought and expression Ğ were this time trying to reflect their "sensitivities" toward the Ergenekon detainees. After a solidarity meeting with pro-Ergenekon groups, these artists were not taking the leading role at the Teşvikiye Mosque during Saylan’s funeral.

On May 19, it was not Saylan’s funeral ceremony but a political show against Turkey’s biggest investigation. Most of the participants were there for quite different reasons or motives, but this still doesn’t justify the "political essence" of the ceremony.

***

Quo vadis?

Where are we heading toward?

Are we really heading into "bloodbaths, massacres and big trouble caused by the Ergenekon that legalists and famous artists support"? Are we really heading into "big trouble" indeed? Similar scenes from 2007 were supported by the strange 367-quorum incident and e-memorandum of the military but all were hit a blow by the July 22 elections. Back then, the presidential election crisis was at issue.

Former elite administrative made a counter-attack following the July 22, 2007, elections and filed for the closure of the AKP. The latest scenes are the rings of resistance exhibited through Ergenekon. But success in an "internal resistance" without an "external conjuncture" support is impossible. There is no "conjuncture" that exists in favor of Ergenekon; in fact, there isn’t any "internal conjuncture" either. The only thing the pro-Ergenekon side relies on is having trump cards if the government makes incredibly bad mistakes.

Otherwise, they have nothing in handÉ