TOTAL 44 ARRESTED IN ERGENEKON WITH TURK PARTY LEADER

Hurriyet
h/turkey/8522225.asp?gid=231&sz=59603
March 24 2008
Turkey

Workers’ Party (IP) chairman Dogu Perincek was arrested on Monday by
the court with suspected links to an illegal gang which was accused of
paving the way to a military coup while Istanbul University’s former
rector Prof. Kemal Alemdaroglu was released. (UPDATED)

Leftist Cumhuriyet daily’s columnist Ilhan Selcuk had also been
released on Sunday by the prosecutor’s office. Security forces had
taken Perincek, Alemdaroglu and Selcuk into custody early on Friday,
drawing fierce criticism from both opposition parties and media.

Critics have said their way of taken into custody was wrong and
the indictment is not prepared since the operation started eight
months ago.

Only Perincek was arrested by the court under the Ergenekon operation
on Monday. Perincek was earlier transferred to court on charges of
"being high-level leader of Ergenekon terrorist organization and
holding confidential documents about state". The number of people
arrested in the Ergenekon operation rose to 44. Istanbul high criminal
court decided to arrest Perincek. Selcuk was released on Sunday and
Alemdaroglu on Monday.

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.

SELCUK’S CUSTODY

The chairman of the board of trustees 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. Upon the
request of the prosecutor, Selcuk was banned from going abroad.

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.

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.