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ISTANBUL: Poyrazkoy arsenal case to continue at civilian court

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  • ISTANBUL: Poyrazkoy arsenal case to continue at civilian court

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    April 10 2010


    Poyrazköy arsenal case to continue at civilian court


    Judges on Friday rejected a request filed by attorneys representing
    the defendants in the Poyrazköy arsenal trial to transfer the case to
    a military court.

    According to the decision, 17 suspects, all of whom were present at
    yesterday's hearing, will continue to be tried at the Ä°stanbul 12th
    High Criminal Court before civilian judges. The 297-page indictment
    against the defendants alleges that they formed a gang and were
    planning to create chaos in the country and to wipe out the government
    and Parliament. Fifteen of the defendants are active duty military
    officers, but their trial will not take place at a military court
    since the charges against them are not related to their duties, the
    judges ruled yesterday.

    Police unearthed a cache of 21 light anti-tank weapons (LAW), 14
    grenades, 24 explosive fuses and 450 grams of C3 explosives in
    İstanbul's Poyrazköy neighborhood on April 21, 2009. Five of the
    suspects, including retired Maj. Levent BektaÅ?, Lt. Col. Ercan
    Kireçtepe, Maj. Emre Onat and Maj. Eren Günay, are charged with
    `attempting to destroy the government and Parliament using coercion
    and violence' and `membership in the Ergenekon armed terrorist
    organization.'

    Prosecutors demand two life sentences for each of those five
    defendants for the first charge and a prison term from
    seven-and-a-half years to 15 years for each of them for the second
    charge. The court's decision to keep the trial at the Ä°stanbul 12th
    High Criminal Court and not transfer it to a military court came as a
    relief for many of those concerned about the fate of the case since
    several high-ranking military officers, including Rear Adm. Levent
    Görgeç, are among the defendants. The military judiciary's
    independence from the influence of the command structure of the
    Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is of utmost concern in Turkey. Military
    courts drew the ire of civil society with controversial rulings in the
    past, as was the case in trial of the Å?emdinli bookstore bombing in
    2005 in which two noncommissioned officers and a terrorist Kurdistan
    Workers' Party (PKK) informant were caught red-handed. The suspects
    were first tried in a civilian court and sentenced to 39 years in
    prison, but they were all released in the first hearing after a higher
    court overruled the verdict and relayed the prosecution to a military
    court.

    The court also rejected a request sent by the lawyers of the
    Turkish-Armenian bilingual Agos weekly, whose former editor-in-chief
    Hrant Dink was shot dead while walking on a crowded avenue in front of
    the weekly's headquarters in Ä°stanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, to be
    co-plaintiffs in the case. The Agos attorneys wish to take part in the
    case because a CD found in BektaÅ?'s possession contains a detailed
    plan codenamed `Cage' and mentioned assassinating leaders of
    non-Muslim communities in Turkey. Fethiye Ã?etin, one of the Agos
    weekly's lawyers, said the Cage plan envisaged a planned attack on
    Agos and that the defendants had in their possession documents
    revealing the addresses of the weekly's subscribers.

    The Cage plan was allegedly prepared to undermine the ruling Justice
    and Development Party (AK Party) by assassinating prominent non-Muslim
    figures in the country and putting the blame for the killings on the
    party. The plot aimed to intimidate the country's non-Muslim groups,
    which would hopefully increase internal and external pressure on the
    government, diminishing public support for the party, which would
    eventually lead to a military takeover, according to the plan. The
    second hearing of the case will be held coming Thursday.



    10 April 2010, Saturday
    OSMAN ARSLAN Ä°STANBUL
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