NEW DOSSIER REVEALS ERGENEKON’S MURDEROUS DEEDS
Today’s Zaman
April 30 2009
Turkey
The leaders of Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization charged
with plotting to overthrow the government, masterminded the plan to
kill a Turkish-Armenian journalist in January 2007, as well as the
murders of dozens of people whose bodies were dumped at a crossroad
in Sapanca, near Istanbul, according to new evidence compiled by the
prosecution that was made public on Monday.
The dossiers of evidence from the second indictment in the trial of
the suspected members of Ergenekon were handed to defense attorneys
on Monday evening.
Metin Dogan, a former noncommissioned military officer who testified
as a witness in the murder trial of three Christian missionaries
brutally killed in Malatya, has testified for the prosecution in the
Ergenekon case. According to Dogan’s testimony, retired Gen. Veli
Kucuk, a prime suspect in the Ergenekon investigation, confessed
that his people had plans to kill Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, who would later be shot to death in broad daylight outside his
newspaper’s office in 2007.
In his testimony to the Ergenekon prosecutors from Jan. 5, 2009, Dogan
said in a meeting he had with Kucuk, the former general expressed
his disapproval of Dink and Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s only Nobel laureate
author, saying the two men spoke badly about the Turkish nation.
According to his testimony, Dogan, who was a technical noncommissioned
officer in the air force, started his post in 2001 and left the
army in 2003. After that, he started engaging in "illegal affairs,"
with a former deputy. It was during this time that he met Kucuk in
his office. Dogan said retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin, another former
military officer currently jailed as an Ergenekon suspect, was also
present in this meeting. In a subsequent meeting, a man named Osman
accompanied them. Also in this meeting, Kucuk told Dogan’s deputy
patron that three Christians in Malatya had to be killed because of
their missionary activities. In this conversation, Kucuk also told
Dogan that the "Dink deal" would be easy, adding that even the hit man
had been chosen. The prosecution believes the person named Osman Dogan
mentioned in his testimony might be Ergenekon suspect Osman Gurbuz,
who was the would-be hit man for an alleged assassination the group
planned for Pamuk.
Sapanca executions Another witness’ testimony included in the new
dossiers suggests that Ergenekon is also responsible for a series of
mysterious killings of mostly Kurdish businessmen in 1993 and 1994 in
the Sapanca area, referred to as the death triangle because most of
the bodies were dumped in the region between Sapanca, Hendek and Gebze.
The victims killed in the death triangle include Kurdish businessman
Behcet Canturk, who was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, and his
driver, Recep Kuzucu. Canturk was kidnapped by men in police uniforms
on Jan. 14, 1994. The bodies were found in a park in Sapanca the
next day. Attorney Yusuf Ekinci, who was allegedly close to Canturk,
was also found dead in Ankara on Feb. 25, 1994.
According to the testimony of this witness, who used the code name
Poyraz (Northern Wind) due to safety concerns, Sedat Peker, a mafia
gang leader also implicated in Ergenekon, ordered the death of Tolga
Atalay, who was killed in Mugla. In his testimony, Poyraz claimed
that Atalay called him shortly before his death and said: "Peker has
acted together with Veli Kucuk; they have done so many things. All
of the bodies dumped at the Sapanca crossroads were the work of
our organization. One of those killed was Canturk. They used me and
now they have decided to do me in." Poyraz said Atalay was killed by
Peker in the Datca district of Mugla after speaking against his boss,
apparently under the influence of alcohol.
The second murder case in the death triangle involved SavaÅ~_ Buldan,
who was kidnapped along with his friends Adnan Yıldırım and Hacı
Karay in Ä°stanbul on June 2, 1994. The bodies of the victims were
found in Bolu on June 4. SavaÅ~_ Buldan was the husband of a Democratic
Society Party (DTP) deputy, Fatma Buldan.
On March 27, 1994, Fevzi Aslan, a car dealer in Ä°stanbul, and his
nephew, Salih Aslan, were detained by men who introduced themselves
as police officers. They were found dead in Sakarya the next day. A
ballistics investigation revealed that the gun used in the murder of
Canturk and was the same gun that killed Fevzi and Salih Aslan.
On Feb. 4, 2007, a male body was found in Hendek. The body has still
not been identified.
Other people killed in the death triangle include Enis Karaduman,
Mustafa Capar and Ekrem Caylan.
Ergenekon leaked info to terrorists The new dossiers include evidence
that Ergenekon gave information to terrorists during an attack on
the Aktutun military outpost by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
on Oct. 3, 2008.
Another testimonial transcript included in the second indictment’s
additional dossiers claims that a terrorist using the code name Ape
Huseyin frequently contacted a noncommissioned army officer named
Kadri Celik, who provided information to the PKK militant. According to
ex-PKK commander Bulent Dumlu, who testified on Dec. 4, 2008, to the
Ä°stanbul Police Department, Celik was also in constant contact with
PKK leader Murat Karayılan, as well as other members of the Turkish
military. Celik left the military, but he still was in contact with
some members of the military, according to Dumlu’s testimony.
The media had discussed security flaws in the Aktutun attack for
days. The General Staff sued the Taraf daily over its allegations of
negligence. The case is still being heard.
Balbay on new coup plans According to other documents found in the
dossiers, Cumhuriyet daily’s Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay,
who was also arrested as part of the Ergenekeon investigation, held
frequent meetings with higher-ranking army officers.
According to meeting minutes seized from Balbay’s house during police
raids, Balbay met with Gen. Necdet Timur, who was the Land Forces
Commander at the time of Oct. 31, 1999. In this particular meeting,
Gen. Timur asked, "What should be done, should we pull something like
Feb. 28 again?" He was referring to the unarmed military intervention
of Feb. 28, 1997, which overthrew a coalition government led by an
Islamist party. A series of measures were taken at the end of this
intervention to prevent religion from taking up a larger space in
the society. To the general’s question, Balbay replied: "No, we need
something that would get results this time. You see what happens when
you spread it out over an extended period."
In another meeting held on Jan. 15, 2000, the minutes of which were
recorded meticulously by Balbay in his diary, Balbay tells Land Forces
Commanders Gen. Atilla AteÅ~_ and Timur as well as retired Gen. Dogu
Aktulga that the only way to deal with an Islamist government is by
"using a stick."