Tweet
THIRD INDICTMENT TO SHED LIGHT ON CONTROVERSIAL EVENTS
Today's Zaman
06 July 2009, Monday
An indictment charging several individuals, most of whom served as
police and military officers and were previously arrested on charges
of being members of Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization
accused of plotting to overthrow the government, is likely to shed
light on a number of murders and attacks that have shaken the country
over the past few years.
A third indictment is expected to be released in 10 days and to
encompass close to 60 people, all detained between Jan. 7 and April 13
of this year. Sources have claimed that a number of murders currently
shrouded in mystery will be addressed in the third indictment. Among
these will be the murder of 35 people who died in a fire at the
Madýmak Hotel in Sivas on July 2, 1993. On that day, 35 people who
had gone to Sivas to attend the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival died
after their hotel was set on fire following unrest. Among those
who perished in the incident were writer Asým Bezirci, poet and
singer Nesimi Cimen, poet Metin Altýok, Behcet Aysan and folk music
singer Hasret Gultekin. Fifty-one people, including Aziz Nesin,
alleged to be the primary target of the attack, were wounded. Two
of the assailants died. The Baþbaðlar massacre is also expected to
make its way into the pending indictment. On July 6, 1993, Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists raided the village of Baþbaðlar, in
the Kemaliye district of Erzincan, killing 33 people including women
and children and wounding three people. Among the individuals expected
to be named in the upcoming indictment are: Ýbrahim Þahin, former
head of the National Police Department's Special Operations Unit;
Lt. Col. Mustafa Donmez; Mustafa Ozbek, chairman of the workers' union
Turk Metal; former Baþkent University Rector Mehmet Haberal; former
Ýnonu University Rector Fatih Hilmioðlu; former Ondokuz University
Rector Ferit Bernay; and writer Yalcýn Kucuk. More than 100 have
been detained since the beginning of the Ergenekon investigation in
July 2007, when an arms cache was discovered inside a shanty house
in Ýstanbul. Some were arrested, while others were released pending
trial. As the investigation expanded from the July 2007 discovery,
a structure suspected of being responsible for a number of politically
motivated murders, including that of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink in January 2007 and attacks on newspapers and judicial entities
to foment chaos and engineer a military takeover became more and more
visible. Every new wave of raids has produced more documents, evidence,
findings and testimonies leading to more detentions. Col. Dursun Cicek,
a senior military officer who is suspected of drafting an alleged
plan to discredit the governing Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) and having links to Ergenekon, will not be included in the
forthcoming indictment.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Today's Zaman
06 July 2009, Monday
An indictment charging several individuals, most of whom served as
police and military officers and were previously arrested on charges
of being members of Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization
accused of plotting to overthrow the government, is likely to shed
light on a number of murders and attacks that have shaken the country
over the past few years.
A third indictment is expected to be released in 10 days and to
encompass close to 60 people, all detained between Jan. 7 and April 13
of this year. Sources have claimed that a number of murders currently
shrouded in mystery will be addressed in the third indictment. Among
these will be the murder of 35 people who died in a fire at the
Madýmak Hotel in Sivas on July 2, 1993. On that day, 35 people who
had gone to Sivas to attend the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival died
after their hotel was set on fire following unrest. Among those
who perished in the incident were writer Asým Bezirci, poet and
singer Nesimi Cimen, poet Metin Altýok, Behcet Aysan and folk music
singer Hasret Gultekin. Fifty-one people, including Aziz Nesin,
alleged to be the primary target of the attack, were wounded. Two
of the assailants died. The Baþbaðlar massacre is also expected to
make its way into the pending indictment. On July 6, 1993, Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists raided the village of Baþbaðlar, in
the Kemaliye district of Erzincan, killing 33 people including women
and children and wounding three people. Among the individuals expected
to be named in the upcoming indictment are: Ýbrahim Þahin, former
head of the National Police Department's Special Operations Unit;
Lt. Col. Mustafa Donmez; Mustafa Ozbek, chairman of the workers' union
Turk Metal; former Baþkent University Rector Mehmet Haberal; former
Ýnonu University Rector Fatih Hilmioðlu; former Ondokuz University
Rector Ferit Bernay; and writer Yalcýn Kucuk. More than 100 have
been detained since the beginning of the Ergenekon investigation in
July 2007, when an arms cache was discovered inside a shanty house
in Ýstanbul. Some were arrested, while others were released pending
trial. As the investigation expanded from the July 2007 discovery,
a structure suspected of being responsible for a number of politically
motivated murders, including that of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink in January 2007 and attacks on newspapers and judicial entities
to foment chaos and engineer a military takeover became more and more
visible. Every new wave of raids has produced more documents, evidence,
findings and testimonies leading to more detentions. Col. Dursun Cicek,
a senior military officer who is suspected of drafting an alleged
plan to discredit the governing Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) and having links to Ergenekon, will not be included in the
forthcoming indictment.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress