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COUP PLANNER ERGENEKON GANG 'INVOLVED' IN DRUG TRAFFICKING
Today's Zaman
Jan 29 2008
Turkey
Charges brought against the deep-state linked Ergenekon organization
by a Turkish court have shown that the gang was after a military
takeover in Turkey while records of phone conversations of its members
in the hands of German police show that they were also involved in
the drug trade.
The Ergenekon organization -- 14 of whose members were
arrested Saturday in one of the biggest operations ever against
deep-state-linked groups in Turkey -- was working to create a chaotic
atmosphere so that its counterparts in the military could overthrow
the government, charges brought against the group by a law court
in Ýstanbul has confirmed. All in all, 28 members of Ergenekon are
currently under arrest. They were also involved in the drug trade,
documents from the German police confirmed. Germany's Niedersachsen
State's anti-drug department, Landeskrimi-nalamtes (LKA), which tapped
the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part of a narcotics
investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were indeed in the drug
business as well.
The court accuses the members of the Ergenekon gang, a xenophobic
and ultranationalist organization suspected of a number of political
murders including that of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
of committing bombings and attacks in the past two years, of inciting
people to revolt, establishing a terrorist organization, of leading
that terrorist organization and of membership in the terrorist
organization.
Some of the gang members against whom charges have been brought are
Veli Kucuk, a retired general who is also the alleged founder of a
clandestine and unofficial intelligence unit in the gendarmerie,
the existence of which is denied by officials; controversial
ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who filed countless suits
against Turkish writers and intellectuals who were at odds with
Turkey's official policies; Fikret Karadað, a retired army colonel;
and Sevgi Erenerol, the press spokesperson for a group called the
Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.
Documents seized during the investigation into the gang, whose members
include former military officers, some of them high-ranking, revealed
that they were planning to create complete chaos in the country to
prepare fertile ground for a military coup d'etat in 2009.
An inspection of Kucuk's personal organizer showed that Ergenekon had
planned six steps to stage an eventual coup. Leaders of the Ergenekon
gang had jointly decided to "OK" Dink's murder in January of last year,
the murders of three Christians in Malatya last April, an attack on
the Council of State that left a senior judge dead and bombings at the
secularist daily Cumhuriyet, claimed some Turkish newspapers on Monday.
Daily Sabah also alleged that the murder of academic Necip Hablemitoðlu
was ordered by the German secret service. Hablemtioðlu's research
suggested that individuals opposing gold prospecting disguised their
acts as environmentalism but were really serving the interests of
powerful gold exporters in Europe. Several newspapers wrote that the
group had links to German intelligence.
The gang's plans to create chaos and confusion included giving rise
to armed conflict between Kurdish and Turkish citizens.
Newspapers wrote on Monday that the first stage of the group's plan was
to establish civil society organizations such as the Association for
the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), the National Forces Association
and the Bureau of the Protection of Rights, all ultranationalist
organizations. The second stage was to find support in the military
among younger officers and higher-ranking soldiers unhappy about the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The third stage involved a strange company known as the Special Bureau,
an intelligence agency for the group set up by a former intelligence
officer. The Special Bureau would protect the group's plans from
falling into the hands of the Nationalist Intelligence Organization
(MÝT) or a shady intelligence unit in the gendarmerie whose existence
is officially denied. The fourth stage included adding into this scene
bogus terrorist organizations that would foment conflict between
the country's Kurdish and Turkish populations. The unemployed,
nationalist and uneducated Turkish youth, most of whom spend their
time in the ultranationalist Idealist Clubs, would be used in various
acts. The sixth stage includes recent political murders the group
has been suspected of, including Dink's, the killing of an Italian
priest in 2006 and an armed raid on the Council of State -- as well
as plans that have not yet been realized, including the assassination
of Turkey's Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk.
Ergenekon involvement in drug trafficking
Meanwhile, the deep-state-linked Ergenekon organization has been
actively involved in drug trafficking to finance its activities,
documents from the German police confirmed.
Germany's Niedersachsen State's anti-drug department, the LKA,
which tapped the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part
of a narcotics investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were
indeed in the drug business as well. The records of a Nov. 20, 2003
phone conversation between retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin, arrested
in June of last year as the owner of the munitions depot found in
anÝstanbul shantytown that started the Ergenekon operation, and Yýlmaz
Tavukcuoðlu, an alleged drug trafficker, shows that Ergenekon used
drug money to fund its activities. The two men in these conversations
talk about the sale of a plot of land in Umraniye. According to
the LKA's Willi Neumann, the co-owners of the land were Tekin
and Ertuðrul Yýlmaz, the former owner of Doðuþ Factoring, who was
murdered in eastern Germany two years ago. Neumann's report asserts
that this piece of land might have been used to launder money from
drug trading with Tavukcuoðlu. According to a book by Doðan Karlýbel
titled "Turkey Operations of German Secret Services," the piece of
land was sold for $2.5 million. The money was shared between Tekin,
Tavukcuoðlu and Ayhan Parlak, who was arrested in the 2006 attack
against the Council of State, the same book claims.
Latest in the investigation
Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in the case objected to the release
of nine individuals taken into custody earlier on in the Ergenekon
investigation but later freed by the court. Late in the evening on
Monday, the prosecution appealed the release of lawyer Fuat Turgut,
who is currently the legal counsel of a suspect in the Dink murder,
daily Akþam columnist Guler Komurcu, Asým Demir, Raif Gorum, Emir
Caner Yiðit, Tanju Okan, Yaþar Aslankoylu, Anatoli Medjan and Atilla
Aksu. Representatives of Kerincsiz also appealed his arrest. The
Ýstanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court will review the appeals from
both sides.
--Boundary_(ID_HSqgk1Ttu2VAdY9oCoE4ig)--
Today's Zaman
Jan 29 2008
Turkey
Charges brought against the deep-state linked Ergenekon organization
by a Turkish court have shown that the gang was after a military
takeover in Turkey while records of phone conversations of its members
in the hands of German police show that they were also involved in
the drug trade.
The Ergenekon organization -- 14 of whose members were
arrested Saturday in one of the biggest operations ever against
deep-state-linked groups in Turkey -- was working to create a chaotic
atmosphere so that its counterparts in the military could overthrow
the government, charges brought against the group by a law court
in Ýstanbul has confirmed. All in all, 28 members of Ergenekon are
currently under arrest. They were also involved in the drug trade,
documents from the German police confirmed. Germany's Niedersachsen
State's anti-drug department, Landeskrimi-nalamtes (LKA), which tapped
the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part of a narcotics
investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were indeed in the drug
business as well.
The court accuses the members of the Ergenekon gang, a xenophobic
and ultranationalist organization suspected of a number of political
murders including that of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
of committing bombings and attacks in the past two years, of inciting
people to revolt, establishing a terrorist organization, of leading
that terrorist organization and of membership in the terrorist
organization.
Some of the gang members against whom charges have been brought are
Veli Kucuk, a retired general who is also the alleged founder of a
clandestine and unofficial intelligence unit in the gendarmerie,
the existence of which is denied by officials; controversial
ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who filed countless suits
against Turkish writers and intellectuals who were at odds with
Turkey's official policies; Fikret Karadað, a retired army colonel;
and Sevgi Erenerol, the press spokesperson for a group called the
Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.
Documents seized during the investigation into the gang, whose members
include former military officers, some of them high-ranking, revealed
that they were planning to create complete chaos in the country to
prepare fertile ground for a military coup d'etat in 2009.
An inspection of Kucuk's personal organizer showed that Ergenekon had
planned six steps to stage an eventual coup. Leaders of the Ergenekon
gang had jointly decided to "OK" Dink's murder in January of last year,
the murders of three Christians in Malatya last April, an attack on
the Council of State that left a senior judge dead and bombings at the
secularist daily Cumhuriyet, claimed some Turkish newspapers on Monday.
Daily Sabah also alleged that the murder of academic Necip Hablemitoðlu
was ordered by the German secret service. Hablemtioðlu's research
suggested that individuals opposing gold prospecting disguised their
acts as environmentalism but were really serving the interests of
powerful gold exporters in Europe. Several newspapers wrote that the
group had links to German intelligence.
The gang's plans to create chaos and confusion included giving rise
to armed conflict between Kurdish and Turkish citizens.
Newspapers wrote on Monday that the first stage of the group's plan was
to establish civil society organizations such as the Association for
the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), the National Forces Association
and the Bureau of the Protection of Rights, all ultranationalist
organizations. The second stage was to find support in the military
among younger officers and higher-ranking soldiers unhappy about the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The third stage involved a strange company known as the Special Bureau,
an intelligence agency for the group set up by a former intelligence
officer. The Special Bureau would protect the group's plans from
falling into the hands of the Nationalist Intelligence Organization
(MÝT) or a shady intelligence unit in the gendarmerie whose existence
is officially denied. The fourth stage included adding into this scene
bogus terrorist organizations that would foment conflict between
the country's Kurdish and Turkish populations. The unemployed,
nationalist and uneducated Turkish youth, most of whom spend their
time in the ultranationalist Idealist Clubs, would be used in various
acts. The sixth stage includes recent political murders the group
has been suspected of, including Dink's, the killing of an Italian
priest in 2006 and an armed raid on the Council of State -- as well
as plans that have not yet been realized, including the assassination
of Turkey's Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk.
Ergenekon involvement in drug trafficking
Meanwhile, the deep-state-linked Ergenekon organization has been
actively involved in drug trafficking to finance its activities,
documents from the German police confirmed.
Germany's Niedersachsen State's anti-drug department, the LKA,
which tapped the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part
of a narcotics investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were
indeed in the drug business as well. The records of a Nov. 20, 2003
phone conversation between retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin, arrested
in June of last year as the owner of the munitions depot found in
anÝstanbul shantytown that started the Ergenekon operation, and Yýlmaz
Tavukcuoðlu, an alleged drug trafficker, shows that Ergenekon used
drug money to fund its activities. The two men in these conversations
talk about the sale of a plot of land in Umraniye. According to
the LKA's Willi Neumann, the co-owners of the land were Tekin
and Ertuðrul Yýlmaz, the former owner of Doðuþ Factoring, who was
murdered in eastern Germany two years ago. Neumann's report asserts
that this piece of land might have been used to launder money from
drug trading with Tavukcuoðlu. According to a book by Doðan Karlýbel
titled "Turkey Operations of German Secret Services," the piece of
land was sold for $2.5 million. The money was shared between Tekin,
Tavukcuoðlu and Ayhan Parlak, who was arrested in the 2006 attack
against the Council of State, the same book claims.
Latest in the investigation
Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in the case objected to the release
of nine individuals taken into custody earlier on in the Ergenekon
investigation but later freed by the court. Late in the evening on
Monday, the prosecution appealed the release of lawyer Fuat Turgut,
who is currently the legal counsel of a suspect in the Dink murder,
daily Akþam columnist Guler Komurcu, Asým Demir, Raif Gorum, Emir
Caner Yiðit, Tanju Okan, Yaþar Aslankoylu, Anatoli Medjan and Atilla
Aksu. Representatives of Kerincsiz also appealed his arrest. The
Ýstanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court will review the appeals from
both sides.
--Boundary_(ID_HSqgk1Ttu2VAdY9oCoE4ig)--