Tweet
RETIRED GEN TOLON PRIME SUSPECT IN NEW MALATYA MASSACRE INDICTMENT
by Esref Akgun
Today's Zaman
June 8 2012
Turkey
An additional indictment prepared into the 2007 Zirve Publishing
House murders, in which three people who sold Christian literature
were brutally killed, points to retired Gen Hursit Tolon as the prime
suspect in the case.
The indictment was submitted to the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court on
Friday. The court has 15 days to either accept the document or return
it to prosecutors for a more detailed work. There are 19 suspects
in the indictment, and prosecutors are seeking two life sentences
without the possibility of parole for Tolon. Tolon, a former 1st
Army Corps commander, is currently under arrest as part of the case
into Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network that has alleged links
within the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government.
The indictment accuses the 19 suspects of "inciting murder,"
"establishing a terrorist organization and becoming member to it"
and "working to overthrow the government." Among other suspects are
retired Col. Mehmet Ulger, who served as Malatya Provincial Gendarmerie
Brigade Commander in 2007, Maj. Haydar Y., noncommissioned officer
Abdullah A., sergeant Mehmet C. and Ruhi A., an instructor at Inonu
University's theology department.
On April 18, 2007, Christians Necati Aydin (35), Ugur Yuksel and
German national Tilmann Ekkehart Geske (46) were tied to their
chairs, stabbed and tortured at the Zirve Publishing House in
the southeastern Anatolian city of Malatya before their throats
were slit. The publishing house they worked for printed Bibles and
Christian literature. Suspects Abuzer Yildirim, Cuma Ozdemir, Salih
Gurler and Hamit Ceker were apprehended at the scene and immediately
taken into custody, while another suspect, Emre Gunaydin, jumped
from a third-storey window in an attempt to escape from police and
was taken into custody after being treated for injuries.
The indictment also states that the Zirve murders were carried out
as part of the Cage Action Plan, a subversive plot allegedly devised
by military officers that sought to undermine the government through
assassinations and other acts of terror against non-Muslims in Turkey.
The Cage plan was allegedly drawn up on the orders of Ergenekon. Cage
plan documents specifically call the killings of Armenia-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and
the Zirve murders an "operation." An anti-democratic group within
the Naval Forces Command behind the Cage plan had intended to foment
chaos in society with those killings, but complained that the plan
had failed when large segments of society protested the killings in
mass demonstrations.
From: Baghdasarian
by Esref Akgun
Today's Zaman
June 8 2012
Turkey
An additional indictment prepared into the 2007 Zirve Publishing
House murders, in which three people who sold Christian literature
were brutally killed, points to retired Gen Hursit Tolon as the prime
suspect in the case.
The indictment was submitted to the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court on
Friday. The court has 15 days to either accept the document or return
it to prosecutors for a more detailed work. There are 19 suspects
in the indictment, and prosecutors are seeking two life sentences
without the possibility of parole for Tolon. Tolon, a former 1st
Army Corps commander, is currently under arrest as part of the case
into Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal network that has alleged links
within the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government.
The indictment accuses the 19 suspects of "inciting murder,"
"establishing a terrorist organization and becoming member to it"
and "working to overthrow the government." Among other suspects are
retired Col. Mehmet Ulger, who served as Malatya Provincial Gendarmerie
Brigade Commander in 2007, Maj. Haydar Y., noncommissioned officer
Abdullah A., sergeant Mehmet C. and Ruhi A., an instructor at Inonu
University's theology department.
On April 18, 2007, Christians Necati Aydin (35), Ugur Yuksel and
German national Tilmann Ekkehart Geske (46) were tied to their
chairs, stabbed and tortured at the Zirve Publishing House in
the southeastern Anatolian city of Malatya before their throats
were slit. The publishing house they worked for printed Bibles and
Christian literature. Suspects Abuzer Yildirim, Cuma Ozdemir, Salih
Gurler and Hamit Ceker were apprehended at the scene and immediately
taken into custody, while another suspect, Emre Gunaydin, jumped
from a third-storey window in an attempt to escape from police and
was taken into custody after being treated for injuries.
The indictment also states that the Zirve murders were carried out
as part of the Cage Action Plan, a subversive plot allegedly devised
by military officers that sought to undermine the government through
assassinations and other acts of terror against non-Muslims in Turkey.
The Cage plan was allegedly drawn up on the orders of Ergenekon. Cage
plan documents specifically call the killings of Armenia-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and
the Zirve murders an "operation." An anti-democratic group within
the Naval Forces Command behind the Cage plan had intended to foment
chaos in society with those killings, but complained that the plan
had failed when large segments of society protested the killings in
mass demonstrations.
From: Baghdasarian