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ANKARA: Minority leader hit list found on major's computer

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  • ANKARA: Minority leader hit list found on major's computer

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Nov 14 2009


    Minority leader hit list found on major's computer


    A list of 10 people to be assassinated has been found on the computer
    of a major arrested as part of the probe into weapons discovered in
    April during excavations launched as part of the investigation into
    Ergenekon, a clandestine group that allegedly plotted to overthrow the
    government.

    Retired naval Maj. Levent BektaÅ? was arrested on Friday in connection
    to weapons found on land owned by the Ä°stek Foundation in Ä°stanbul's
    Poyrazköy district in April. The İstek Foundation is owned by
    Ergenekon suspect and former Ä°stanbul Mayor Bedrettin Dalan, who is
    currently at large and believed to be abroad. The weapons at the site
    were registered in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK),
    according to a report from Turkey's sole weapons manufacturer, the
    state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation
    (MKE).

    Investigators cracked the code of an encrypted file on BektaÅ?'s
    computer, revealing a list of names of people who subscribe to the
    Agos daily, a Turkish-Armenian biweekly whose editor-in-chief, Hrant
    Dink, was shot dead in 2007, and names of 10 prominent representatives
    of minority groups to be assassinated.

    So far eight members of the military, including a naval major and two
    non-commissioned officers, have testified to prosecutor Murat Yönder,
    one of the prosecutors conducting the investigation into Ergenekon.
    Five of them were arrested on April 25 on charges of `membership in an
    armed organization' and `illegal possession of arms and explosives.'
    Yesterday, four more members of the military arrived at the BeÅ?iktaÅ?
    courthouse to testify to the prosecutor. Three of them were released,
    while one was referred to a court after the prosecution demanded his
    arrest. The names of the military personnel who testified yesterday
    were not released. Members of the press were not allowed to take
    photos as the three soldiers were released through the back door of
    the courthouse.

    Ten light anti-tank weapons, 20 percussion bombs, three other bombs,
    250 grams of C4 explosive, 19 emergency flares, 10 hand grenades, 800
    G3 bullets and a large number of cartridges for revolvers were found
    on the Ä°stek Foundation land. The discovery followed the unearthing of
    similar underground weapons caches in January during digs based on
    maps found in the homes of two suspects -- former Deputy Police Chief
    Ä°brahim Å?ahin and Mustafa Dönmez, a lieutenant colonel who turned
    himself in a few days after a warrant for his arrest was issued. Dalan
    was in the US during this wave of detentions and discoveries, which
    began on Jan. 7.

    14 November 2009, Saturday
    TODAY'S ZAMAN Ä°STANBUL
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