Turkey has a long history with its "deep state," a clandestine ultra-nationalist, secularist network that has been present in all institutions of government and is composed of elements within the army, police, intelligence services and judiciary. The network, which had civilian allies in business circles and the media, was active since at least the 1970s and its mission was to silence anyone who was thought to be a threat to the Kemalist secular order of the Turkish Republic. From socialists to Islamists and Kurds, all were on the deep state's radar, sometimes becoming targets. That is the reason why the investigation into the Ergenekon organization, believed to be a part of the deep state, received the support of people from almost all strata of society when it started in 2007.Three years after it began, however, the investigation started to be viewed with suspicion as there were no convictions, yet many people were held in prison without charges. That was mainly due to the actions of the Kemalist judiciary as well as barriers based on the Constitution written by the generals of the 1980 coup. There was no way to secure convictions with that judicial system.In September 2010, Turkey went to a referendum on constitutional changes including major judicial amendments that would ease the way to confront the deep state and coup plotters. The changes won an endorsement from the people, however the proposed package was not the one the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government submitted in the first place. The secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) demanded a review from the Constitutional Court. The court partially annulled the articles related to the structure of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). The articles in question were controversial due to the proposed changes to the procedure for appointing members. That was a critical junction that opened the way for the Gülen Movement, a supporter of the referendum, to take control of the judiciary. People called for an end to the deep state. Instead, it was replaced with a new one.After the 2010 referendum, all hell broke loose in Turkey. Followers of Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in the U.S. since 1999, were generally clean shaven and English-speaking individuals educated in the West, which enabled them to be employed in government institutions without attracting the attention of the secularist establishment. The Gülen Movement was already powerful in the police force due to it training its members to enter the police academy, but it was harder for it to infiltrate the judicial system. Despite their modern image contradicting stereotypes of Muslims, they built a huge network within the state led by outside "judicial imams" or "police imams," who are part of a hierarchy of imams loyal to Gülen, "imam of the Cosmos." The revelation of that network last year led them to be called the "parallel structure," a new shadow state within the state.Following their infiltration of the judiciary, the year 2011 saw a number of suspect actions by the police and justice system. Almost every day there was a new raid or a new investigation. The movement's media network was full of reports of dozens of detentions directly or indirectly linked with Ergenekon or other purported criminal organizations that had never before been heard of in Turkey. Not only was the magnitude of the witch hunt disturbing, but there were serious allegations of forgery. I will continue from here next week.