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BLACKLISTS FOUND IN ERGENEKON HOME
Today's Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey
The Ergenkon indictment contains blacklists of hundreds of people
compiled by the state's intelligence agencies that were found in
the family home of Fikret Emek, a suspect of the Ergenekon gang,
which allegedly carried out tens of murders and assassinations for
its ultimate aim of overthrowing the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) government.
The investigation into Ergenekon, a shady network of political and
ordinary crime with links to various branches of the state apparatus,
began in the summer of 2007, when the police discovered a house in
Ä°stanbul being used as an arms depot. As the investigation expanded,
another house belonging to Emek's mother in the Central Anatolian
city of EskiÅ~_ehir was discovered to have held a large number of
explosives, weapons and ammunition.
During the raid on the home, the police found lists of people compiled
by various intelligence agencies that categorized people according
to their political affiliations. Many such lists were put together
by intelligence departments of the military during the years 1999 and
2000 in the Feb. 28 process, which started in 1998 when the military
overthrew the government in a non-armed intervention.
Page after page, the documents stamped "confidential" are ordered on
the basis of streets and districts of Ä°stanbul, listing hundreds of
residents as being members or supporters of armed terrorist groups
such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party-Front (DHPK-C), the Turkish Workers'
and Peasants' Liberation Army (TÄ°KKO) and the Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party (MLKP) as well as labeling them "extreme left,"
"religious fundamentalist" or names of religious orders such as Nurcu,
Suleymancı or NakÅ~_ibendi.
The lists are organized in charts. Hundreds of people are included,
from store owners to barbers, owners of karate training centers,
bars, coffeehouses and retail chains and tens of institutions such as
student associations, cultural groups and civil society organizations,
as well as the name of a mayor from the Republican People's Party
(CHP). However, it was not clear which security service compiled
the lists.
Emek's mother's house
A Kalashnikov assault rifle, one Kanas revolver, a 7.65 mm Lama
gun and silencers, a homemade rifle, ammunition of various sizes,
12 hand grenades, explosives and TNT blocks and C3 plastic explosives
were seized in a raid conducted into Emek's mother's house on June 26,
2007. A large number of documents were found in searches conducted both
in the EskiÅ~_ehir house and the house where Emek resides in Ankara.
These documents were included by the prosecutors in the 19th
folder among more than 400 evidence folders appended to the 2,455
page indictment. These documents indicate that the state actually
blacklisted its own people, despite official denials that such a
thing has ever taken place.
914 people blacklisted
Ten pages of lists are available among the documents found during the
searches in Emek's homes. For example, the words DHKPC/C and TÄ°KKO are
put next to the name of a completely legal and legitimate association
in İstanbul's Avcılar district, while the tags MLKP and DHKP/C
are given to another similar organization in the same district. On
the first list, which ends with the Zeytinburnu district, there are
records of 366 individuals and institutions. There are two other lists,
but the district names on these are not ordered alphabetically. In
addition to alleged supporters or members of the extreme left or
PKK supporters, these lists include people who are allegedly part
of organizations based on religious affiliation. In a list titled
"Addendum C, Individuals and organizations with links to illegal
organizations, sects and religious orders," 265 individuals are
blacklisted. In Addendum C, 283 more individuals and organizations
are blacklisted. The total number of people and organizations on
these lists is 914.
The compilers of the list -- who even put in minor details such as
"the wife of a teacher" about the people whom they blacklisted --
however, seemed to be oblivious to some of the political realities in
Turkey. In fact, there is blatant ignorance about some of Turkey's very
well-known civil society organizations. For example, the Mujdat Gezen
Culture Center, the former student movement activists' association the
'68ers Foundation, a foundation named after socialist movie director
Yılmaz Guney and an arts foundation named after the socialist poet
Nazım Hikmet are labeled as being "extreme left." The Human Rights
Association (Ä°HD) is qualified as being part of the DHKP/C and
PKK. The Contemporary Attorneys Foundation is marked as DHKP-C on
the list.
Where there was confusion, the intelligence officers who compiled the
lists and then delivered them to Ergenekon chose to write down all
the possibilities. For example, the Barikat journal is associated
with both the left-wing DEV-YOL and DHKP/C. In reality however,
Barikat had no relation to either of the two groups.
The indictment, which was made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The group is also suspected of being behind
the murder of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by
a teenager in 2007.
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.
--Boundary_(ID_PROEZpZ5LtDRFvhYsOvy4Q)--
Today's Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey
The Ergenkon indictment contains blacklists of hundreds of people
compiled by the state's intelligence agencies that were found in
the family home of Fikret Emek, a suspect of the Ergenekon gang,
which allegedly carried out tens of murders and assassinations for
its ultimate aim of overthrowing the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) government.
The investigation into Ergenekon, a shady network of political and
ordinary crime with links to various branches of the state apparatus,
began in the summer of 2007, when the police discovered a house in
Ä°stanbul being used as an arms depot. As the investigation expanded,
another house belonging to Emek's mother in the Central Anatolian
city of EskiÅ~_ehir was discovered to have held a large number of
explosives, weapons and ammunition.
During the raid on the home, the police found lists of people compiled
by various intelligence agencies that categorized people according
to their political affiliations. Many such lists were put together
by intelligence departments of the military during the years 1999 and
2000 in the Feb. 28 process, which started in 1998 when the military
overthrew the government in a non-armed intervention.
Page after page, the documents stamped "confidential" are ordered on
the basis of streets and districts of Ä°stanbul, listing hundreds of
residents as being members or supporters of armed terrorist groups
such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Revolutionary
People's Liberation Party-Front (DHPK-C), the Turkish Workers'
and Peasants' Liberation Army (TÄ°KKO) and the Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party (MLKP) as well as labeling them "extreme left,"
"religious fundamentalist" or names of religious orders such as Nurcu,
Suleymancı or NakÅ~_ibendi.
The lists are organized in charts. Hundreds of people are included,
from store owners to barbers, owners of karate training centers,
bars, coffeehouses and retail chains and tens of institutions such as
student associations, cultural groups and civil society organizations,
as well as the name of a mayor from the Republican People's Party
(CHP). However, it was not clear which security service compiled
the lists.
Emek's mother's house
A Kalashnikov assault rifle, one Kanas revolver, a 7.65 mm Lama
gun and silencers, a homemade rifle, ammunition of various sizes,
12 hand grenades, explosives and TNT blocks and C3 plastic explosives
were seized in a raid conducted into Emek's mother's house on June 26,
2007. A large number of documents were found in searches conducted both
in the EskiÅ~_ehir house and the house where Emek resides in Ankara.
These documents were included by the prosecutors in the 19th
folder among more than 400 evidence folders appended to the 2,455
page indictment. These documents indicate that the state actually
blacklisted its own people, despite official denials that such a
thing has ever taken place.
914 people blacklisted
Ten pages of lists are available among the documents found during the
searches in Emek's homes. For example, the words DHKPC/C and TÄ°KKO are
put next to the name of a completely legal and legitimate association
in İstanbul's Avcılar district, while the tags MLKP and DHKP/C
are given to another similar organization in the same district. On
the first list, which ends with the Zeytinburnu district, there are
records of 366 individuals and institutions. There are two other lists,
but the district names on these are not ordered alphabetically. In
addition to alleged supporters or members of the extreme left or
PKK supporters, these lists include people who are allegedly part
of organizations based on religious affiliation. In a list titled
"Addendum C, Individuals and organizations with links to illegal
organizations, sects and religious orders," 265 individuals are
blacklisted. In Addendum C, 283 more individuals and organizations
are blacklisted. The total number of people and organizations on
these lists is 914.
The compilers of the list -- who even put in minor details such as
"the wife of a teacher" about the people whom they blacklisted --
however, seemed to be oblivious to some of the political realities in
Turkey. In fact, there is blatant ignorance about some of Turkey's very
well-known civil society organizations. For example, the Mujdat Gezen
Culture Center, the former student movement activists' association the
'68ers Foundation, a foundation named after socialist movie director
Yılmaz Guney and an arts foundation named after the socialist poet
Nazım Hikmet are labeled as being "extreme left." The Human Rights
Association (Ä°HD) is qualified as being part of the DHKP/C and
PKK. The Contemporary Attorneys Foundation is marked as DHKP-C on
the list.
Where there was confusion, the intelligence officers who compiled the
lists and then delivered them to Ergenekon chose to write down all
the possibilities. For example, the Barikat journal is associated
with both the left-wing DEV-YOL and DHKP/C. In reality however,
Barikat had no relation to either of the two groups.
The indictment, which was made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The group is also suspected of being behind
the murder of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by
a teenager in 2007.
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.
--Boundary_(ID_PROEZpZ5LtDRFvhYsOvy4Q)--