A polemic sparked by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who alleged that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt collaborated on the release of a memorandum against the government in 2007, flared up yesterday after the former ex-military chief took the argument as an insult.

Büyükanıt responded to Kılıçdaroğlu's allegation yesterday in an interview with the Milliyet daily's Fikret Bila. Stating that the CHP leader's claims are “fiction,” Büyükanıt denied the allegation.“I see these remarks as an imaginary insult which is not based on any information or documents, against me as a person who wore the military uniform for 53 years. I condemn and reject these claims,” the former military chief said.In a move that drew a strong reaction both in Turkey and abroad, the General Staff posted a memorandum against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government on its website on the night of April 27, 2007, later dubbed the “e-memorandum.” The memorandum, which was released during the controversial presidential election process in 2007, warned the government not to act against the secular values of the republic, which the General Staff said it was guarding. The memorandum stood in the way of then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül's presidential candidacy, as the General Staff had concerns about his secular credentials. The government was forced to call a snap election in order to break the deadlock and received a record 47 percent of the nationwide vote.Indicating that the e-memorandum had led to a big rise in the votes of the AK Party, Kılıçdaroğlu claimed during a TV program on the NTV channel yesterday: “The e-memorandum was released to ensure the AK Party would come to power again through a discourse of victimization. Büyükanıt and Erdoğan made a deal in that case.” Kılıçdaroğlu pointed to a confidential meeting between Erdoğan and Büyükanıt at Dolmabahçe Palace in İstanbul after the release of the e-memorandum as evidence for his allegations.He also said it was very odd for Erdoğan not to take any action against Büyükanıt, as a person who is against military interventions in politics.Büyükanıt said he no longer wants to comment on the April 27 issue and added that his earlier comments are still valid. In February, Büyükanıt said that the statement was not a military memorandum in what some observers called open self-defense. As for the Dolmabahçe meeting, Büyükanıt said he had similar meetings with other prime ministers as part of his duty.The AK Party also lashed out at Kılıçdaroğlu, with AK Party Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik terming his allegations nonsense.CHP lent full support to e-memoKılıçdaroğlu kicked off another debate yesterday when he said the CHP will file a criminal complaint against Büyükanıt and will investigate the memorandum. Kılıçdaroğlu vowed to try Büyükanıt when it comes to power, unless the statute of limitations runs out in the case. He also said Çelik's comments confirm his claim because he did not name the General Staff's April 27 statement a memorandum.However, Kılıçdaroğlu's CHP lent the stronger support to the General Staff after the memorandum was issued. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who was the parliament speaker when the notorious e-memorandum was issued, said yesterday that he has an archive on who said what in the wake of April 27 and criticized the CHP's “insincere” attitude towards the issue. Noting that the government strongly reacted to the statement on the morning of April 28, Arınç said all the CHP deputies lauded the General Staff then. “Kılıçdaroğlu's remarks are an example of ignorance and do not befit a politician,” he said.Taraf daily columnist Yıldıray Oğur also dedicated his column yesterday to the comments of politicians, representatives of NGOs and journalists in the wake of the e-memorandum. “This is of course a memorandum and the government should do what falls on it [to comply with the memorandum],” Oğur quotes from CHP spokesperson Mustafa Özyürek. CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen also lent full support to the memorandum. “The General Staff's evaluations are no different from our own. We would put our signature under it [the memorandum],” Öymen had said at the time.İstanbul deputy Nur Serter had said her party “bows respectfully before the glorious Turkish military.” “Long live the Turkish military! The Turkish military heard us on April 27 and protected democracy. It protected the actual will of the Turkish Republic,” she had said.Oğur's column includes other comments and exposes the apparent support of some media outlets for the military in its antidemocratic move. “The opinions defended in that declaration are shared by the majority of the society,” said Hürriyet daily columnist Etuğrul Özkök, who was at the held of the daily at the time.“There are still some who ask what the next step is. The next step is the [action] of tanks,” said Yılmaz Özdil, another Hürriyet daily columnist.Milliyet's Bila had found the General Staff's move “principled.” “The General Staff displayed a principled stance against the ascension of the headscarf and the mentality it represents to the Çankaya presidential palace,” he had said, referring to Gül's wife, who wears a headscarf. 30 July 2010, FridayTODAY'S ZAMAN  İSTANBUL