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ERGENEKON ORDERED MURDER OF MAYOR
Today's Zaman
Aug 6 2008
Turkey
A retired general -- currently under arrest as a suspected
administrator of Ergenekon, a shadowy gang with hands and arms in
every sphere and segment of society, including the military, that
stands accused of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order --
was behind the murder of the mayor of the Mediterranean province of
Mersin, the case prosecutor has claimed in his indictment.
According to witness testimony and other evidence cited in the
indictment, Ergenekon suspect former Gen. Veli Kucuk ordered the
murder of Atakent District Mayor Fevzi Dogan in Silifke, Mersin. Yusuf
KılbaÅ~_, currently in jail on charges of forcefully seizing property,
has emerged as a surprise witness in the case. In a letter to the
Ä°stanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office, he leveled series accusations
at the Ergenekon organization and Kucuk. KılbaÅ~_ wrote that a
former business partner of his, Omer Unver, had introduced him to
noncommissioned officer Ahmet Sezik, who was serving in the Erdemli
District Gendarmerie Command at the time.
KılbaÅ~_ maintains in his account that Sezik promised him a "career"
in Mersin. Sezik also introduced KılbaÅ~_ to Kucuk. During this
time, KılbaÅ~_ was given the responsibility of management of a small
hotel in the AyaÅ~_ area on the order of Kucuk and Sezik. KılbaÅ~_
said the group occasionally drank together and claimed that Kucuk
proposed KılbaÅ~_ kill the Atakent mayor. According to KılbaÅ~_'s
testimony, Kucuk said: "Such people are obstructing our organization
and our good friends. Such people have to die."
KılbaÅ~_ said he accepted the offer after being promised both
"material and emotional" support from Kucuk. He says he stalked the
mayor for five or six days, but was unable to find the right moment
to kill Dogan with no witnesses around. Later, Kucuk ordered Dogan be
killed using a hand grenade. KılbaÅ~_ said he did as he was told and
also claimed Kucuk thanked him after Dogan was killed. "Good job, we'll
do better things with you," Kucuk allegedly told KılbaÅ~_. Later,
KılbaÅ~_, who was serving time in prison for aggravated theft, found
that his partner was killed suspiciously and decided to confess his
initial encounter and later relationship with Kucuk.
However in a statement he released yesterday afternoon, Fevzi Dogan's
son, Ahmet Dogan, said he was deeply suspicious of the veracity
of Yusuf KılbaÅ~_' testimony. "We feel that they are making up
this scenario so that Yusuf KılbaÅ~_ would claim responsibility
for this. This is what he is doing. What we believe is this: Even
if they are connected to these people, the people who ordered the
death of my father are different people. If you ask who they are,
I can say that they are people who were involved in corruption and
had links with the prior administration -- this can be exposed if
it is seriously investigated. But I don't think our case is being
seriously investigated," he said. Dogan added that although it was
possible that Ergenekon-linked people were assigned or paid for the
job, the initial order must have been given by profiteers.
He said his father's first act as mayor was to stop uncontrolled
development and construction on the district's coastline and bring
down illegally constructed casinos and bars. His son claims that his
father was killed in the fight for profits.
Ergenekon suspect hospitalized
Ferit Ä°lseven, the editor-in-chief of the National Channel who was
arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation, was hospitalized
yesterday for a lung problem.
Ä°lseven, who is serving time at the Tekirdag F-type Prison, was
hospitalized at the Trakya University Hospital, where doctors released
a statement saying a mass off tissue was discovered in the upper lobe
of his right lung.
Ergenekon suspect Kuddusi Okkır, who was in custody for nearly a
year, died of lung cancer only a few days after his release. Okkır's
death had drawn attention to the poor health conditions of prisoners
in Turkey's jails.
Main accusations of indictment
The 2,455-page indictment, made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The victims include a secularist journalist, Ugur
Mumcu, long believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists
in 1993, head of a business conglomerate, Ozdemir Sabancı, who was
shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People's
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996,
secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, who was also believed to have
been killed by Islamic groups in 2002 and an attack on the Council
of State in 2006 that left a senior judge dead. Alparslan Arslan,
found guilty of this last assault, said he attacked the court to
protest an anti-headscarf decision it had made, but the indictment
contains evidence that he had been in contact with Ergenekon and that
his family received large sums of money from unidentified sources
after the shooting.
The indictment also says Veli Kucuk, believed to be one of the leading
members of the network, had threatened Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian
journalist slain by a teenager in 2007, before his murder, a sign
that Ergenekon could be behind his death as well.
The indictment exposes questionable relations between Ergenekon and
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the DHKP/C, raising
serious suspicions that Ergenekon might have played a role in inciting
ethnic hatred between Turks and Kurds and increasing sectarian tensions
between Sunnis and Alevis by a series of provocative acts.
The existence of Ergenekon was exposed following a police raid in
July 2007 on a house being used as an arms depot in Ä°stanbul's
Umraniye district. A detailed investigation into the explosives and
suspects detained in the raid suggests that provocative acts that
have dragged the country from one chaotic scenario to another were
inspired by Ergenekon, which had members from almost all segments
of society, including retired army officers, academics, journalists
and businessmen.
A total of 86 suspects, 47 of whom are currently under arrest,
are accused of having suspicious links with the gang. Suspects
will start appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face
accusations that include "membership in an armed terrorist group,"
"attempting to destroy the government," "inciting people to rebel
against the Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.
----------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Ergenekon behind Hiram Abas killing
The indictment also claims Ergenekon is responsible for the
death of Hiram Abas, a National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T)
member allegedly killed by an extreme left organization. One of the
indictment's cited secret witnesses, whose names are not disclosed to
the pubic out of security concerns, shared details of the killing of
Abas, and also the assassinations of retired generals Ä°smail Selen,
Memduh Unlutur, Kemal Kayacan and Adana Gendarmerie Regional Commander
Temel Cingöz, and former MİT Undersecretary Adnan Ersöz.
Another confession from a protected witness, codenamed Dilovası, who
was with the left-wing organizations Dev-Sol and the Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) for long years, suggests
the clear involvement of Ergenekon members in the Turkish security
forces with terrorist organizations. Dilovası, who received arms
training in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, also say that an officer of the
Turkish Special Forces taught training courses for militants of the
group. His confessions also suggest that Dursun KarataÅ~_, the DHKP-C
leader who escaped from prison in the year 1990, was protected by
some centers with access to state power. KarataÅ~_'s escape was made
possible by the help of a "secret hand," the witness says in the
indictment. Similarly, in operations of security in which tens of
DHKP-C militants were killed, KarataÅ~_ always managed to escape and
stay alive. "Veli Kucuk has close contacts with a number of people
in the organization [the DHKP-C]. He sends messages to KarataÅ~_
with a special courier," he said.
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
Duyar regretted Sabancı murder
Another protected witness, codenamed Yuksel, in his testimony to the
prosecutor said Mustafa Duyar, arrested in connection to the murder of
businessman Ozdemir Sabancı in İstanbul, was killed by a man hired
by Ergenekon. Sabancı was gunned down on Jan. 9, 1996 in his office
in the heavily guarded Sabancı Towers in Levent, İstanbul, along
with his company's general manager. The DHKP-C claimed responsibility
for the murder. The indictment presents compelling evidence linking
Ergenekon to the murder. Yuksel speaks about his recollection of
the day after the Sabancı murder in his testimony, saying: "I slept
in the same room as the Sabancı assassination trigger man, Mustafa
Duyar. Duyar wept after the murder, asking, 'Are we now murderers?'"
Corruption report found in Ergenekon archive
The Ergenekon indictment includes a report seized by the police
in the home of suspect Behic Gurcihan during a raid as part of the
Ergenekon investigation claiming that a gendarmerie major investigating
corruption in land dealings -- including sales or construction without
permits -- in Ä°stanbul's Buyukcekmece district had to end the probe
due to pressure from senior army officials. The report notes that
in addition to senior generals, governors, judges, prosecutors and
police officers were involved in the illegal transactions.
The major who penned the report said commanders in the military
seemed to protect lower-ranking soldiers involved in the illegal
deals, which, in turn, further encouraged them to be involved in
corrupt dealings. Senior judges, prosecutors and bureaucrats also
profited from this lucrative business, the report noted. The major
confesses in the document that the figures who seem to have played
a part in the land deals were able to intimidate both the judiciary
and the gendarmerie. "Let alone writing down these names in records,
the officers are often even scared to say these names aloud," he wrote.
The names in the report include late Prime Minister Turgut Ozal's
son, Ahmet Ozal, Gen. Teoman Koman and Gen. İsmail Hakkı Akansel
as well as Gen. Cevik Bir, a former deputy chief of staff, Governor
Erol Cakır and relatives of then President Suleyman Demirel.
Perincek: Ergenekon's link to PKK
A protected witness using the code name Deniz is cited in the Ergenekon
indictment as saying he witnessed Workers' Party (Ä°P) leader Dogu
Perincek, currently in jail as a major Ergenekon suspect, pay visits to
the camps of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to see the
now jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. There are photographs included
in the indictment that back up this claim. The witness noted that
"Ocalan always showed the greatest interest in Perincek among all of
his visitors." The indictment also notes that another secret witness
with the code name Ahmet said he witnessed many meetings between the
Ergenekon leader and Hizbullah leader Huseyin Velioglu.
--Boundary_(ID_0Pm0pdm3qKiWtgDzqKuGQA)- -
Today's Zaman
Aug 6 2008
Turkey
A retired general -- currently under arrest as a suspected
administrator of Ergenekon, a shadowy gang with hands and arms in
every sphere and segment of society, including the military, that
stands accused of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order --
was behind the murder of the mayor of the Mediterranean province of
Mersin, the case prosecutor has claimed in his indictment.
According to witness testimony and other evidence cited in the
indictment, Ergenekon suspect former Gen. Veli Kucuk ordered the
murder of Atakent District Mayor Fevzi Dogan in Silifke, Mersin. Yusuf
KılbaÅ~_, currently in jail on charges of forcefully seizing property,
has emerged as a surprise witness in the case. In a letter to the
Ä°stanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office, he leveled series accusations
at the Ergenekon organization and Kucuk. KılbaÅ~_ wrote that a
former business partner of his, Omer Unver, had introduced him to
noncommissioned officer Ahmet Sezik, who was serving in the Erdemli
District Gendarmerie Command at the time.
KılbaÅ~_ maintains in his account that Sezik promised him a "career"
in Mersin. Sezik also introduced KılbaÅ~_ to Kucuk. During this
time, KılbaÅ~_ was given the responsibility of management of a small
hotel in the AyaÅ~_ area on the order of Kucuk and Sezik. KılbaÅ~_
said the group occasionally drank together and claimed that Kucuk
proposed KılbaÅ~_ kill the Atakent mayor. According to KılbaÅ~_'s
testimony, Kucuk said: "Such people are obstructing our organization
and our good friends. Such people have to die."
KılbaÅ~_ said he accepted the offer after being promised both
"material and emotional" support from Kucuk. He says he stalked the
mayor for five or six days, but was unable to find the right moment
to kill Dogan with no witnesses around. Later, Kucuk ordered Dogan be
killed using a hand grenade. KılbaÅ~_ said he did as he was told and
also claimed Kucuk thanked him after Dogan was killed. "Good job, we'll
do better things with you," Kucuk allegedly told KılbaÅ~_. Later,
KılbaÅ~_, who was serving time in prison for aggravated theft, found
that his partner was killed suspiciously and decided to confess his
initial encounter and later relationship with Kucuk.
However in a statement he released yesterday afternoon, Fevzi Dogan's
son, Ahmet Dogan, said he was deeply suspicious of the veracity
of Yusuf KılbaÅ~_' testimony. "We feel that they are making up
this scenario so that Yusuf KılbaÅ~_ would claim responsibility
for this. This is what he is doing. What we believe is this: Even
if they are connected to these people, the people who ordered the
death of my father are different people. If you ask who they are,
I can say that they are people who were involved in corruption and
had links with the prior administration -- this can be exposed if
it is seriously investigated. But I don't think our case is being
seriously investigated," he said. Dogan added that although it was
possible that Ergenekon-linked people were assigned or paid for the
job, the initial order must have been given by profiteers.
He said his father's first act as mayor was to stop uncontrolled
development and construction on the district's coastline and bring
down illegally constructed casinos and bars. His son claims that his
father was killed in the fight for profits.
Ergenekon suspect hospitalized
Ferit Ä°lseven, the editor-in-chief of the National Channel who was
arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation, was hospitalized
yesterday for a lung problem.
Ä°lseven, who is serving time at the Tekirdag F-type Prison, was
hospitalized at the Trakya University Hospital, where doctors released
a statement saying a mass off tissue was discovered in the upper lobe
of his right lung.
Ergenekon suspect Kuddusi Okkır, who was in custody for nearly a
year, died of lung cancer only a few days after his release. Okkır's
death had drawn attention to the poor health conditions of prisoners
in Turkey's jails.
Main accusations of indictment
The 2,455-page indictment, made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The victims include a secularist journalist, Ugur
Mumcu, long believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists
in 1993, head of a business conglomerate, Ozdemir Sabancı, who was
shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People's
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996,
secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, who was also believed to have
been killed by Islamic groups in 2002 and an attack on the Council
of State in 2006 that left a senior judge dead. Alparslan Arslan,
found guilty of this last assault, said he attacked the court to
protest an anti-headscarf decision it had made, but the indictment
contains evidence that he had been in contact with Ergenekon and that
his family received large sums of money from unidentified sources
after the shooting.
The indictment also says Veli Kucuk, believed to be one of the leading
members of the network, had threatened Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian
journalist slain by a teenager in 2007, before his murder, a sign
that Ergenekon could be behind his death as well.
The indictment exposes questionable relations between Ergenekon and
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the DHKP/C, raising
serious suspicions that Ergenekon might have played a role in inciting
ethnic hatred between Turks and Kurds and increasing sectarian tensions
between Sunnis and Alevis by a series of provocative acts.
The existence of Ergenekon was exposed following a police raid in
July 2007 on a house being used as an arms depot in Ä°stanbul's
Umraniye district. A detailed investigation into the explosives and
suspects detained in the raid suggests that provocative acts that
have dragged the country from one chaotic scenario to another were
inspired by Ergenekon, which had members from almost all segments
of society, including retired army officers, academics, journalists
and businessmen.
A total of 86 suspects, 47 of whom are currently under arrest,
are accused of having suspicious links with the gang. Suspects
will start appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face
accusations that include "membership in an armed terrorist group,"
"attempting to destroy the government," "inciting people to rebel
against the Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.
----------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Ergenekon behind Hiram Abas killing
The indictment also claims Ergenekon is responsible for the
death of Hiram Abas, a National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T)
member allegedly killed by an extreme left organization. One of the
indictment's cited secret witnesses, whose names are not disclosed to
the pubic out of security concerns, shared details of the killing of
Abas, and also the assassinations of retired generals Ä°smail Selen,
Memduh Unlutur, Kemal Kayacan and Adana Gendarmerie Regional Commander
Temel Cingöz, and former MİT Undersecretary Adnan Ersöz.
Another confession from a protected witness, codenamed Dilovası, who
was with the left-wing organizations Dev-Sol and the Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) for long years, suggests
the clear involvement of Ergenekon members in the Turkish security
forces with terrorist organizations. Dilovası, who received arms
training in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, also say that an officer of the
Turkish Special Forces taught training courses for militants of the
group. His confessions also suggest that Dursun KarataÅ~_, the DHKP-C
leader who escaped from prison in the year 1990, was protected by
some centers with access to state power. KarataÅ~_'s escape was made
possible by the help of a "secret hand," the witness says in the
indictment. Similarly, in operations of security in which tens of
DHKP-C militants were killed, KarataÅ~_ always managed to escape and
stay alive. "Veli Kucuk has close contacts with a number of people
in the organization [the DHKP-C]. He sends messages to KarataÅ~_
with a special courier," he said.
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
Duyar regretted Sabancı murder
Another protected witness, codenamed Yuksel, in his testimony to the
prosecutor said Mustafa Duyar, arrested in connection to the murder of
businessman Ozdemir Sabancı in İstanbul, was killed by a man hired
by Ergenekon. Sabancı was gunned down on Jan. 9, 1996 in his office
in the heavily guarded Sabancı Towers in Levent, İstanbul, along
with his company's general manager. The DHKP-C claimed responsibility
for the murder. The indictment presents compelling evidence linking
Ergenekon to the murder. Yuksel speaks about his recollection of
the day after the Sabancı murder in his testimony, saying: "I slept
in the same room as the Sabancı assassination trigger man, Mustafa
Duyar. Duyar wept after the murder, asking, 'Are we now murderers?'"
Corruption report found in Ergenekon archive
The Ergenekon indictment includes a report seized by the police
in the home of suspect Behic Gurcihan during a raid as part of the
Ergenekon investigation claiming that a gendarmerie major investigating
corruption in land dealings -- including sales or construction without
permits -- in Ä°stanbul's Buyukcekmece district had to end the probe
due to pressure from senior army officials. The report notes that
in addition to senior generals, governors, judges, prosecutors and
police officers were involved in the illegal transactions.
The major who penned the report said commanders in the military
seemed to protect lower-ranking soldiers involved in the illegal
deals, which, in turn, further encouraged them to be involved in
corrupt dealings. Senior judges, prosecutors and bureaucrats also
profited from this lucrative business, the report noted. The major
confesses in the document that the figures who seem to have played
a part in the land deals were able to intimidate both the judiciary
and the gendarmerie. "Let alone writing down these names in records,
the officers are often even scared to say these names aloud," he wrote.
The names in the report include late Prime Minister Turgut Ozal's
son, Ahmet Ozal, Gen. Teoman Koman and Gen. İsmail Hakkı Akansel
as well as Gen. Cevik Bir, a former deputy chief of staff, Governor
Erol Cakır and relatives of then President Suleyman Demirel.
Perincek: Ergenekon's link to PKK
A protected witness using the code name Deniz is cited in the Ergenekon
indictment as saying he witnessed Workers' Party (Ä°P) leader Dogu
Perincek, currently in jail as a major Ergenekon suspect, pay visits to
the camps of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to see the
now jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. There are photographs included
in the indictment that back up this claim. The witness noted that
"Ocalan always showed the greatest interest in Perincek among all of
his visitors." The indictment also notes that another secret witness
with the code name Ahmet said he witnessed many meetings between the
Ergenekon leader and Hizbullah leader Huseyin Velioglu.
--Boundary_(ID_0Pm0pdm3qKiWtgDzqKuGQA)- -