When the Ergenekon investigation began four years ago, it was believed that company officials were involved in planning some assassinations.  As such, the investigation was an attempt to uncover Trurkish officials with plans to overthrow the government.  Recently, the investigation’s legitimacy was shaken when ten journalists and writers, including two self-proclaimed human rights reporters Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, were arrested.  

Civilitas honorary board member Murat Belge has also been targeted by the Ergenekon investigations.  Belge said in his column for the Taraf newspaper that “If Ahmet Sik can be arrested, then I, too, may very well be.”  

Sik, while a reporter for Nokta in 2007, was responsible for writing a story that led to the Ergenekon investigation in the first place.  Sener had recently written a book entitled Red Friday – Who Broke Dink’s Pen, which exposed the fact that Turkish security forces knew about Hrant Dink’s planned assassination.  Dink, who was the Turkish-Armenian editor of the Agos newspaper, was killed in 2007.

The prosecutor on the case has denied that either journalist was arrested for his ideas.  He added that the state had hard evidence against the two, though he was not at liberty to reveal the nature of the evidence.