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HUNDREDS EMPLOYED TO SPY FOR ERGENEKON
Today's Zaman
Aug 19 2008
Turkey
Ergenekon, an illegal organization dating back decades that is
suspected of attacks and assassinations to trigger a coup d'état
in Turkey, apparently employed ordinary people, from housewives to
students, to work as intelligence-gatherers for the group.
The extent of the intelligence network was such that Ergenekon had
a spy "on every single street," in the words of Ergenekon suspect
Erkut Ersoy.
Ersoy is the founder of an organization called the Special Bureau
Intelligence Group. This group worked for Ergenekon suspect
retired Col. Fikri Karadag, who is also the head of a shady civil
society group called the Kuvvayi Milliye Dernegi (National Forces
Association). Ersoy, who faces charges of "membership in an armed
terrorist organization" and "recording personal data illegally,"
in his testimony to the police in January of this year following
his detention said his intelligence bureau was only a mailing group,
restricted to 1,100 people.
He said he had experienced a psychological disturbance in 2002 and told
police his dream was to work for the National Intelligence Organization
(MÄ°T). However, recordings of phone conversations and other evidence
refute everything Ersoy says in an attempt to portray himself as a
mentally unstable dreamer.
The indictment, based on Ersoy's conversations on tapped lines, states
that the intelligence bureau was set up to collect intelligence laid
out in another Ergenekon planning document, titled "Lobby." Finding
new recruits and using the Internet as a propaganda tool to trigger a
coup against the government in power were also among the group's tasks.
Housewives, students, anyone
His earlier statements also support the phone conversation
transcripts. In an interview with the press much earlier, Ersoy said
that 756 people from a variety of fields, ranging from students,
doctors and housewives to lawyers, worked with the bureau. Ersoy
said his organization was similar to the "White Forces," a special
unit made up of civilian staff under the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)
Special War Department. Ersoy also claimed the group had people from
the Turkish General Staff, MÄ°T and police officers among its staff. He
stated that they reported suspicious individuals or vehicles to the
relevant authorities.
According to Ersoy's own description of this rather strange company,
he set up the Special Bureau Intelligence Group to solve problems
his acquaintances from various official intelligence units would
frequently talk about. "We said that if there is such a demand,
we should have it [this organization]. This is how we set up the
group in Ä°stanbul." Bureau agents say they fight every terrorist
organization, particularly the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and
against Armenian genocide allegations, the indictment says.
This unique structure is, according to Ersoy, not an alternative to
the state's own sources of intelligence. "We are not rivals to them,
nor do we desire to take on their duties. We are only supporting the
state's security institutions. We help them to complete certain things
faster and get results. Some people are afraid to apply directly to
the police for their own reasons. We act as intermediaries. Soon we
will set up a [telephone] line to report crimes. All our work is done
with the knowledge of the state's own intelligence agencies. They
protect us. We wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise."
Ersoy also said their bureau was open to anyone who wanted to
be recruited, as long as they were patriotic or sympathetic to
nationalists. "We are a nationalist group, at the end of the day,"
he had said.
--Boundary_(ID_002yMbxWgbvr64RTAwHroQ)--
Today's Zaman
Aug 19 2008
Turkey
Ergenekon, an illegal organization dating back decades that is
suspected of attacks and assassinations to trigger a coup d'état
in Turkey, apparently employed ordinary people, from housewives to
students, to work as intelligence-gatherers for the group.
The extent of the intelligence network was such that Ergenekon had
a spy "on every single street," in the words of Ergenekon suspect
Erkut Ersoy.
Ersoy is the founder of an organization called the Special Bureau
Intelligence Group. This group worked for Ergenekon suspect
retired Col. Fikri Karadag, who is also the head of a shady civil
society group called the Kuvvayi Milliye Dernegi (National Forces
Association). Ersoy, who faces charges of "membership in an armed
terrorist organization" and "recording personal data illegally,"
in his testimony to the police in January of this year following
his detention said his intelligence bureau was only a mailing group,
restricted to 1,100 people.
He said he had experienced a psychological disturbance in 2002 and told
police his dream was to work for the National Intelligence Organization
(MÄ°T). However, recordings of phone conversations and other evidence
refute everything Ersoy says in an attempt to portray himself as a
mentally unstable dreamer.
The indictment, based on Ersoy's conversations on tapped lines, states
that the intelligence bureau was set up to collect intelligence laid
out in another Ergenekon planning document, titled "Lobby." Finding
new recruits and using the Internet as a propaganda tool to trigger a
coup against the government in power were also among the group's tasks.
Housewives, students, anyone
His earlier statements also support the phone conversation
transcripts. In an interview with the press much earlier, Ersoy said
that 756 people from a variety of fields, ranging from students,
doctors and housewives to lawyers, worked with the bureau. Ersoy
said his organization was similar to the "White Forces," a special
unit made up of civilian staff under the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)
Special War Department. Ersoy also claimed the group had people from
the Turkish General Staff, MÄ°T and police officers among its staff. He
stated that they reported suspicious individuals or vehicles to the
relevant authorities.
According to Ersoy's own description of this rather strange company,
he set up the Special Bureau Intelligence Group to solve problems
his acquaintances from various official intelligence units would
frequently talk about. "We said that if there is such a demand,
we should have it [this organization]. This is how we set up the
group in Ä°stanbul." Bureau agents say they fight every terrorist
organization, particularly the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and
against Armenian genocide allegations, the indictment says.
This unique structure is, according to Ersoy, not an alternative to
the state's own sources of intelligence. "We are not rivals to them,
nor do we desire to take on their duties. We are only supporting the
state's security institutions. We help them to complete certain things
faster and get results. Some people are afraid to apply directly to
the police for their own reasons. We act as intermediaries. Soon we
will set up a [telephone] line to report crimes. All our work is done
with the knowledge of the state's own intelligence agencies. They
protect us. We wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise."
Ersoy also said their bureau was open to anyone who wanted to
be recruited, as long as they were patriotic or sympathetic to
nationalists. "We are a nationalist group, at the end of the day,"
he had said.
--Boundary_(ID_002yMbxWgbvr64RTAwHroQ)--