ASSASSINATIONS WERE CRUCIAL FOR ERGENEKON MISSION, DOCUMENT SHOWS
Today’s Zaman
Aug 7 2009
Turkey
An internal memorandum of the Ergenekon organization that was included
in the third indictment against the group, accepted by the court
hearing the case on Wednesday, explains to members why assassinations
are crucial for reaching their aims.
The document, titled "The Restructuring, Management and Development
Project," reveals the cruelty Ergenekon was willing to resort
to in order to realize its ultimate goal of fomenting chaos and
overthrowing the government. The organization, which refers to itself
as Ergenekon in the text, sees it as a primary mission to destroy
all politicians that it deems to "have an ideology that goes against
the regime," according to the document. The document also says it
is an inevitable necessity that "assassination and disinformation"
be employed as primary tactics to this end. The document, which
states that all systems in the world that have managed to perpetuate
their existence have relied on this path, says, "The only way to stop
politicians who deem every method to be viable to reach their target
is assassination." It also says that another inevitable necessity
is cooperating with domestic and international illegal organizations
that fight for similar ideals. The document puts forth the idea that
Parliament should be composed of politicians who have similar opinions,
saying this would make Parliament more effective and functional. If
the structure of Parliament is closer to the stated ideal, then
"assassination operations" would not be necessary, states the document.
The document describes its structure as "an organization comprised
of some valuable Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) members … as well
as intellectual civilians of all professional backgrounds that are
loyal to Kemalism." The document recommends that the organization,
which it says has been a late initiative, be developed as quickly as
possible. "Ergenekon, with its civilian staff, which will be composed
of the elite of all professional backgrounds, will increase its
effectiveness significantly in both its domestic and international
operations," it says. The text also emphasizes that Ergenekon is a
"very special formation" and calls on taking the utmost care in the
recruitment process of civilian members. It points to young officers in
military academies and first and second year students in universities
as a "positive source" for possible recruitment.
The document also states that JÄ°TEM — an illegal organization formed
in the early 1990s inside the gendarmerie force under the guise of
anti-terrorism efforts, but which turned into an illegal structure
terrorizing the predominantly Kurdish Southeast in that decade with
the help of martial law in place in most of the region’s cities —
has been a good example of how civilians employed in such causes can
be useful. "Ergenekon has acquired adequate experience with the JÄ°TEM
reality," the document says.
The third indictment in the Ergenekon case, which was accepted by
Ä°stanbul’s 13th High Criminal Court on Wednesday, says that many
assassinations previously thought unrelated to Ergenekon were the
result of the organization’s work. The indictment claims that an attack
in 1993 by a fundamentalist mob in Sivas at a hotel where visiting
Alevi poets and intellectuals were staying was also orchestrated
by Ergenekon.
The 1,454-page indictment also includes a breakdown of the
assassinations and attacks planned for the future by the
group, based on organizational documents acquired during the
investigation. According to this, the group was planning to assassinate
members of the higher judiciary, Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan and
Minas Durmaz Guler, head of the Sivas Armenian Community. Other targets
of the group included Ali Balkız, chairman of the Alevi-BektaÅ~_i
federation and the federation’s secretary-general, Kazım Genc,
both very important figures in the Alevi community. The prosecution
also claims that the group had plans to assassinate journalist
and author Fehmi Koru, Turkish Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk,
Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Turk, Diyarbakır Mayor
and DTP politician Osman Baydemir and DTP deputy Sebahat Tuncel. The
indictment also notes that Selim Akkurt, one of the hit men recruited
for these assassinations, was arrested shortly after a conversation
between him and Ergenekon suspect Fikri Karadag was heard by the police
monitoring the conversations, in order to avoid an "unwanted incident."
The assassinations were to be carried out through a structure
established by Ä°brahim Å~^ahin, the founder and later deputy chief
of the National Police Department’s Special Operations Unit.
The prosecution’s allegations against Å~^ahin include the formation of
a structure called S-1, which would include teams of police officers
with experience in special operations.