Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 12 2008
Mafia leader testifies in Ergenekon probe
A mafia leader serving four years in prison for heading a crime gang
was brought to the Beþiktaþ courthouse on Friday to testify to a
prosecutor investigating a political crime gang believed to have been
carrying out preparations for an overthrow of the government.
On Friday, Alaattin Çakýcý, arguably the most famous mafia boss in
Turkey, who was convicted of `leading an organized crime gang’ by an
Ýstanbul court last year, was brought to the chambers of prosecutor
Zekeriya Öz at the Beþiktaþ courthouse yesterday to testify as part
of an investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy and powerful
neo-nationalist gang suspected of being behind a number of
politically motivated murders, including the assassination of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. Possible links Çakýcý
might have to Ergenekon were not immediately clear.
So far 47 suspects have been arrested as part of the Ergenekon
investigation, launched after the police found a house full of guns
and explosives in Ýstanbul last June. Those who have been arrested
include retired generals and army officials; public figures such as
journalists; mafia leaders including drug lords; and the previous
suspects of a 1996 car crash in Susurluk which revealed that a police
chief at the time had dealings with a mafia leader and a deputy, who
wss the chief of a Kurdish clan in the Southeast funded by the state
to fight the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Four years for Çakýcý
Çakýcý was convicted by the Istanbul 14th Higher Criminal Court last
year in February. The court ruled Çakýcý should be tried under
Article 220, Section 1 of the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which
foresees punishment for `forming a criminal organization.’ When
handing down Çakýcý’s four-year sentence, the judge said, `The way
crime was committed, the significance of the law [Article 220] and
the severity of the danger stemming from the crime should be taken
into consideration, and a fair and logical punishment should be
decided based on the minimum sentence.’