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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 24 2011
Ergenekon suspects delivered talks at anti-missionary seminars
23 September 2011, Friday / EÅ?REF AKGÃ`N, MALATYA
Some of the key suspects currently under arrest on charges of plotting
to overthrow the government as members of a clandestine group
organized 23 conferences on the dangers posed by Christian
missionaries in the city of Malatya, according to the Malatya 3rd High
Criminal Court.
The Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court is hearing a trial on the brutal
killings of three people who worked at the Christian publishing house
Zirve in 2007. In a hearing held on Friday, Malatya İnönü University's
response to a court's query regarding individuals who are suspected of
having conducted campaigns against the military was read out loud.
The presiding judge said the university had also sent video recordings
of the conferences to the court. According to the correspondence, the
university held 23 panels or conferences on missionary work and
similar issues between the years 2000 and 2008.
Retired Gen. HurÅ?it Tolon and journalist Mustafa Balbay, who are both
suspects in the trial on Ergenekon, a clandestine group that
prosecutors claim attempted to overthrow the government, were among
the lecturers in some of these conferences, as well as Türkan Saylan,
who died of cancer after she was named a suspect in the investigation
in 2009. The university reported that the first conference, titled
`State Governance and Atatürk' and delivered by Gen. DoÄ?u Aktulga, was
held on Nov. 21, 2000 and the last one, on National Security, was held
on May 9, 2008, one year after the Zirve murders.
Investigators have long suspected links between the Zirve murders and
Ergenekon. Most of those accused are known for their staunch
nationalism and outspokenness against foreign missionaries.
Plot to kill Mutafyan
Another hearing held on Friday was one in the Ergenekon trial being
heard in Silivri by the Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court. One of the
suspects, a police officer named Kenan Temur, delivered his defense
during the trial, denying accusations that he was part of a death
squad formed by Ä°brahim Å?ahin, the former deputy police chief of the
Police Department's Special Operations Unit, to assassinate non-Muslim
community leaders.
Temur said he did not have any idea why he was listed as the head of a
cell that was assigned the task of assassinating Armenian Patriarch
Mesrob Mutafyan in documents seized from Å?ahin. He said he had only
worked as a close protection officer for Å?ahin, but rejected the
prosecution's claims that he had accompanied Å?ahin during visits to
various cities.
The court found that Deputy Chairman of the Workers' Party (Ä°P) Ferit
Ä°lseven, an Ergenekon suspect, along with Ä°P leader DoÄ?u Perinçek,
also organized a conference with the theme `Where is Turkey headed?'
that included sections on missionary activity in Turkey. Another
Ergenekon suspect, journalist Tuncay Ã-zkan, also delivered a lecture
on a similar theme in 2006.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-257782-ergenekon-suspects-delivered-talks-at-anti-missionary-seminars.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Sept 24 2011
Ergenekon suspects delivered talks at anti-missionary seminars
23 September 2011, Friday / EÅ?REF AKGÃ`N, MALATYA
Some of the key suspects currently under arrest on charges of plotting
to overthrow the government as members of a clandestine group
organized 23 conferences on the dangers posed by Christian
missionaries in the city of Malatya, according to the Malatya 3rd High
Criminal Court.
The Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court is hearing a trial on the brutal
killings of three people who worked at the Christian publishing house
Zirve in 2007. In a hearing held on Friday, Malatya İnönü University's
response to a court's query regarding individuals who are suspected of
having conducted campaigns against the military was read out loud.
The presiding judge said the university had also sent video recordings
of the conferences to the court. According to the correspondence, the
university held 23 panels or conferences on missionary work and
similar issues between the years 2000 and 2008.
Retired Gen. HurÅ?it Tolon and journalist Mustafa Balbay, who are both
suspects in the trial on Ergenekon, a clandestine group that
prosecutors claim attempted to overthrow the government, were among
the lecturers in some of these conferences, as well as Türkan Saylan,
who died of cancer after she was named a suspect in the investigation
in 2009. The university reported that the first conference, titled
`State Governance and Atatürk' and delivered by Gen. DoÄ?u Aktulga, was
held on Nov. 21, 2000 and the last one, on National Security, was held
on May 9, 2008, one year after the Zirve murders.
Investigators have long suspected links between the Zirve murders and
Ergenekon. Most of those accused are known for their staunch
nationalism and outspokenness against foreign missionaries.
Plot to kill Mutafyan
Another hearing held on Friday was one in the Ergenekon trial being
heard in Silivri by the Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court. One of the
suspects, a police officer named Kenan Temur, delivered his defense
during the trial, denying accusations that he was part of a death
squad formed by Ä°brahim Å?ahin, the former deputy police chief of the
Police Department's Special Operations Unit, to assassinate non-Muslim
community leaders.
Temur said he did not have any idea why he was listed as the head of a
cell that was assigned the task of assassinating Armenian Patriarch
Mesrob Mutafyan in documents seized from Å?ahin. He said he had only
worked as a close protection officer for Å?ahin, but rejected the
prosecution's claims that he had accompanied Å?ahin during visits to
various cities.
The court found that Deputy Chairman of the Workers' Party (Ä°P) Ferit
Ä°lseven, an Ergenekon suspect, along with Ä°P leader DoÄ?u Perinçek,
also organized a conference with the theme `Where is Turkey headed?'
that included sections on missionary activity in Turkey. Another
Ergenekon suspect, journalist Tuncay Ã-zkan, also delivered a lecture
on a similar theme in 2006.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-257782-ergenekon-suspects-delivered-talks-at-anti-missionary-seminars.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress