Hürriyet, Turkey
March 23 2008
Turkey’s leftist anti-AKP journalist released Sunday after his
custody
Leftist Cumhuriyet daily’s columnist and chairman of the board of
trustees Ilhan Selcuk was released early on Sunday by the
prosecutor’s office after he had been taken to the court with
suspected links to an illegal gang which was accused of paving the
way to a military coup, hurriyet.com.tr reported. Selcuk, 83, was
taken into custody with the claims of "taking over a mission on
behalf of an organization without being the member of the
organization" on Friday around 4.30 a.m. (0230 GMT) from his home.
The way of his custody under the Ergenekon operation had drawn fierce
criticism. (UPDATED)
Ilhan Selcuk, who had been detained within the scope of Ergenekon
investigation, was released by the prosecutor’s office at around
01:30 a.m. (2330 GMT Saturday) after being interrogated for 4,5
hours.
Upon the request of the prosecutor, Selcuk was banned from going
abroad. Additional custody period was given against 6 people
including Workers’ Party (IP) chairman Dogu Perincek and former
rector Kemal Alemdaroglu.
Justice Ministry officials said the way of taking Selcuk into
custody, which drew fierce criticism -some saying it reminded the
events happened during the military junta in 1960s and 1970s-, was
the decision of the security officials, adding it’s not an ordinary
exercise and there was no such order from the prosecutor.
Critics have said Selcuk was accompanied by two bodyguards appointed
by Interior Ministry and had no way to escape so that he should have
been invited for interrogation instead of taking into custody while
he was sleeping.
In the operation 11 more people were taken into custody in Friday’s
operation including Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek and former
rector of Istanbul University Prof. Kemal Alemdaroglu. Perincek was
taken into custody in Ankara and brought to Istanbul for
interrogation, the official Anatolian Agency reported.
Turkish police has searched branches of Workers’ Party and private TV
channel Ulusal Kanal in Istanbul. "Police staged simultaneous
operations at the branches of Workers’ Party, Ulusal Kanal and
Aydinlik magazine in Istanbul and Ankara around 4-4:30 a.m. this
morning," Erkan Onsel, deputy chairman of the party, told reporters.
There is no official statement or indictment on the Ergenekon
Operation. But private Star TV reported on Friday Selcuk was taking
under custody with the claims of "taking over a mission on behalf of
an organization without being the member of the organization".
CUMHURIYET IS ANTI-AKP
Analysts say Selcuk’s detention is a new episode in the secularists
and Islamist groups’ struggle for power. Cumhuriyet is among the
strongest opponents of the AKP government in media.
High-level AKP officials, including Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan,
have said the closure case against the ruling party was launched to
cover up the Ergenekon operation.
Selcuk is a very important and prominent figure in Turkey’s leftist
political movement. He was arrested in 1970s following a
military-declared state of emergency. He has been writing columns in
leftist Cumhuriyet daily, which became the symbol of anti-AKP
movement, since 1963 and published number of books such as "I Think
Therefore Shoot Me", "Left-Right-Sharia".
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday in front of the Cumhuriyet
building in Istanbul to protest Selcuk’s custody and called the
government to resign. Similar demonstrations were held at the
Workers’ Party building in Ankara.
Ibrahim Yildiz, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, told journalists on
Friday Selcuk’s detention reminded the events of military
intervention into politics from 1971 and 1980.
CHP: "DEEP STATE OF AKP"
The leader of main opposition leftist CHP accused AKP of trying to
create its own "deep state." "Turkey is being dragged into a very
dangerous conflict. This process is not consistent with democracy,"
Deniz Baykal told in a televised news conference in Ankara.
The socialist independent MP Ufuk Uras also showed reaction to
Selcuk’s detention on Friday, saying such threatening actions against
journalists are hurting the public concisness and increasing concerns
on judiciary. "Those exercises should be consistent with law and
fundamentals of democracy. Such anti-democratic and threatening
behaviors cause question marks in the soceity" he said in a statement
on Friday.
ERGENEKON OPERATION
The probe against the Ergenekon gang started after hand grenades that
were issued to security forces were seized at the home of a retired
military officer in Istanbul last June. A retired military commander
and a lawyer were among those arrested earlier. A total of 39 people
have been arrested under the investigation.
Authorities have not commented publicly on the investigation, and
most reports about the investigation have emerged in local media and
are based on anonymous sources. The Ergenekon gang was suspected of
being behind a series of bombings on the Cumhuriyet newspaper offices
carried out last year, Turkish media have said previously.
Newspapers have said the group had been plotting a series of bomb
attacks and assassinations and were behind the killing of Turkish
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.