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ERGENEKON DOCUMENT REVEALS MÄ°T'S ASSASSINATION SECRETS
Today'S Zaman
Aug 19 2008
Turkey
A New Document From The Ergenekon Archive Has Revealed That The
National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) Paid Regular Salaries To
Ultranationalists To Carry Out Illegal Operations.
Ergenekon is a shadowy criminal network with links to the bureaucracy,
state security forces and other agencies whose members are accused
of orchestrating various murders and attacks so as to create chaos
and trigger a coup d'état against the government.
The information about MÄ°T has been suspected for a long time, but
this is the first time a document will appear in court that exposes
the details of an episode in which some members of the Nationalist
Movement Party's (MHP) extreme nationalist groups, also known as
the Grey Wolves, were armed and funded by the state to carry out
political murders.
The document, found in Ergenekon archives and presented to a civil
court of law last month along with the indictment against the
group's suspected members, revealed a deal made between various
ultranationalists who had fled the country as fugitives after being
involved in a number of acts of political violence in the prelude to
the violent coup on Sept. 12, 1980, most significantly the murder of
Milliyet newspaper Editor-in-Chief Abdi Ä°pekci (1977) and the brutal
killings of seven left-wing university students (1978).
These nationalists -- including Abdullah Catlı, Oral Celik and Mehmet
Å~^ener, who are all publicly associated with such activities as the
drug trade, extortion, and the kidnappings and murders of southeastern
businessmen -- were hired to assassinate targets, mostly members of
Armenian terrorist organization the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), which frequently attacked Turkish
diplomatic targets abroad in those days. Later, some of them were
brought back to Turkey to stage illegal operations against the
terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
An earlier record of evidence of shadowy MÄ°T operations only included
the names of Catlı and Haluk Kırcı. The secret archive document from
the Ergenekon investigation was found at the office of the Workers'
Party (Ä°P), a small neo-nationalist party whose leader is currently
in jail over alleged Ergenekon membership. It lists the names of
everyone on the assassination team and reveals that Catlı acted as
the group's leader, or "reis" in Grey Wolf jargon.
According to the Ergenekon document titled "The Armenian Question
2000-2002," the administrators in power in 1982 -- the generals who
staged the Sept. 12 coup -- decided to retaliate against ASALA's
terrorist attacks. MÄ°T's Deputy Regional Director Metin Gunyol was
assigned to lead the operation. He quit his position at MÄ°T in order
not to expose his true identity and flew to Europe under the name
Veli Ozpınar. Once in Europe, Gunyol contacted former Grey Wolf
Cengiz Cömert.
Cömert was later mentioned in a parliamentary commission report
prepared after the Susurluk affair of 1996 -- a car accident that
exposed for the first time the shadowy relations between state security
forces and the criminals they were employing for operations outside
the law -- as being linked to the murder of southeastern businessman
Mehmet Ali Yaprak, who was kidnapped and then killed.
Gunyol, after his initial contact with Cömert, set up a team of 12
individuals, including Abdullah Catlı (using the name Mehmet Sarol),
Oral Celik (Atilla Celik) and Mehmet Å~^ener (DurmuÅ~_ Unutmaz); others
included former nationalist club leaders Ramiz Ongun, Enver TortaÅ~_,
Tevfik Esensoy, Bedri AteÅ~_ (Ugur Ozgöbek), Rıfat Yıldırım,
Turkmen Onur and Uzeyir Bayraklı.
MÄ°T initially allocated $320 monthly to this group from the state's
discretionary funds for fighting terrorism; later they increased the
amount to $4,700. The group was supplied with five 7.65 mm Belgian
Brownings, five nine mm Brownings, two Kalashnikovs, nine blocks of
TNT, five blocks of plastic explosive and other ammunitions delivered
by couriers.
The group bombed the Armenian genocide memorial in Alfortville, Paris,
on May 3, 1984. The French police soon discovered that the operation
was commanded by the Turkish MÄ°T.
The indictment against Ergenekon argues that based on information
from the group's archive, the network planned to "learn" from MÄ°T's
"experience against ASALA." Ergenekon's plan was to turn Turkey's
economy into a narcotics-based industry, which would erode American
support for Turkey and at the same time "end peace and stability in
Armenia completely and until the end of time."
--Boundary_(ID_A2QWJCMiyXWH8/+1lmovIg )--
Today'S Zaman
Aug 19 2008
Turkey
A New Document From The Ergenekon Archive Has Revealed That The
National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) Paid Regular Salaries To
Ultranationalists To Carry Out Illegal Operations.
Ergenekon is a shadowy criminal network with links to the bureaucracy,
state security forces and other agencies whose members are accused
of orchestrating various murders and attacks so as to create chaos
and trigger a coup d'état against the government.
The information about MÄ°T has been suspected for a long time, but
this is the first time a document will appear in court that exposes
the details of an episode in which some members of the Nationalist
Movement Party's (MHP) extreme nationalist groups, also known as
the Grey Wolves, were armed and funded by the state to carry out
political murders.
The document, found in Ergenekon archives and presented to a civil
court of law last month along with the indictment against the
group's suspected members, revealed a deal made between various
ultranationalists who had fled the country as fugitives after being
involved in a number of acts of political violence in the prelude to
the violent coup on Sept. 12, 1980, most significantly the murder of
Milliyet newspaper Editor-in-Chief Abdi Ä°pekci (1977) and the brutal
killings of seven left-wing university students (1978).
These nationalists -- including Abdullah Catlı, Oral Celik and Mehmet
Å~^ener, who are all publicly associated with such activities as the
drug trade, extortion, and the kidnappings and murders of southeastern
businessmen -- were hired to assassinate targets, mostly members of
Armenian terrorist organization the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), which frequently attacked Turkish
diplomatic targets abroad in those days. Later, some of them were
brought back to Turkey to stage illegal operations against the
terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
An earlier record of evidence of shadowy MÄ°T operations only included
the names of Catlı and Haluk Kırcı. The secret archive document from
the Ergenekon investigation was found at the office of the Workers'
Party (Ä°P), a small neo-nationalist party whose leader is currently
in jail over alleged Ergenekon membership. It lists the names of
everyone on the assassination team and reveals that Catlı acted as
the group's leader, or "reis" in Grey Wolf jargon.
According to the Ergenekon document titled "The Armenian Question
2000-2002," the administrators in power in 1982 -- the generals who
staged the Sept. 12 coup -- decided to retaliate against ASALA's
terrorist attacks. MÄ°T's Deputy Regional Director Metin Gunyol was
assigned to lead the operation. He quit his position at MÄ°T in order
not to expose his true identity and flew to Europe under the name
Veli Ozpınar. Once in Europe, Gunyol contacted former Grey Wolf
Cengiz Cömert.
Cömert was later mentioned in a parliamentary commission report
prepared after the Susurluk affair of 1996 -- a car accident that
exposed for the first time the shadowy relations between state security
forces and the criminals they were employing for operations outside
the law -- as being linked to the murder of southeastern businessman
Mehmet Ali Yaprak, who was kidnapped and then killed.
Gunyol, after his initial contact with Cömert, set up a team of 12
individuals, including Abdullah Catlı (using the name Mehmet Sarol),
Oral Celik (Atilla Celik) and Mehmet Å~^ener (DurmuÅ~_ Unutmaz); others
included former nationalist club leaders Ramiz Ongun, Enver TortaÅ~_,
Tevfik Esensoy, Bedri AteÅ~_ (Ugur Ozgöbek), Rıfat Yıldırım,
Turkmen Onur and Uzeyir Bayraklı.
MÄ°T initially allocated $320 monthly to this group from the state's
discretionary funds for fighting terrorism; later they increased the
amount to $4,700. The group was supplied with five 7.65 mm Belgian
Brownings, five nine mm Brownings, two Kalashnikovs, nine blocks of
TNT, five blocks of plastic explosive and other ammunitions delivered
by couriers.
The group bombed the Armenian genocide memorial in Alfortville, Paris,
on May 3, 1984. The French police soon discovered that the operation
was commanded by the Turkish MÄ°T.
The indictment against Ergenekon argues that based on information
from the group's archive, the network planned to "learn" from MÄ°T's
"experience against ASALA." Ergenekon's plan was to turn Turkey's
economy into a narcotics-based industry, which would erode American
support for Turkey and at the same time "end peace and stability in
Armenia completely and until the end of time."
--Boundary_(ID_A2QWJCMiyXWH8/+1lmovIg )--