‘KUCUK WAS ERGENEKON’S NUMBER-EIGHT MAN’

Today’s Zaman
April 23 2008
Turkey

Retired Gen. Veli Kucuk was the Ergenekon criminal gang’s number-eight
man, says Tuncay Guney, a Turkish rabbi with suspected ties to the
group, according to a report in the Sabah daily yesterday.

Guney, currently serving as a rabbi at the Jacobs House Jewish
Community Center in Toronto, Canada, claimed there were seven people
within the Ergenekon gang superior to Kucuk, who has been under arrest
since late January as part of an investigation into the criminal
formation allegedly seeking to overthrow the government. "Kucuk
was serving as Ergenekon’s secretary-general," asserted Guney in an
interview with Sabah.

Guney came to prominence when the first documents related to the
Ergenekon gang were seized on his computer in a 2001 police raid. He
is also known as the person who revealed Kucuk’s ties with the gang.

"Important decisions in the gang were made by Kucuk. There were seven
people superior to him in Ergenekon till 2001. I am not aware of the
gang’s current formation. I don’t know what Kucuk’s current position
in the gang is, but I know the seven people who were superior to
Kucuk in the gang — but I cannot disclose their names due to my
personal security. Yet I can say that some of these seven names are
still active in the gang," he claimed.

So far about 50 suspects have been arrested as part of the Ergenekon
investigation, launched after the police found a house full of
guns and explosives in Ä°stanbul last June. Those arrested include
retired generals and army officials, as well as public figures such
as journalists and mafia leaders. The Ergenekon gang is believed to
be a shadowy and powerful neo-nationalist formation allegedly behind
a number of politically motivated murders, including the assassination
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.

"Ergenekon’s official religion is Shamanism. Kucuk used to speak
about Shamanism in the gang’s gatherings. He used to say Turks’
main religion was Shamanism," noted Guney.

He also claimed recent operations against Ergenekon were not thorough
enough.

"The gang was discovered after the documents on my computer were
revealed. But you cannot eliminate a gang with two prosecutors and
a few police department heads. I made a deposition to police for 11
hours related to Ergenekon in 2001, but no operation was launched
against the gang despite my testimony," remarked Guney.

–Boundary_(ID_TDwaCUg1SxoEBK/XeltitA)–