SKETCHES OF TOP AGENCIES FOUND DURING ERGENEKON RAIDS
Today’s Zaman
July 29 2008
Turkey
Elaborate drawings of the building plans for many key state agencies
were found during the yearlong investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy
and powerful organization that allegedly planned to overthrow the
government by force.
Documents collected also suggest plans to assassinate the former
Land Forces commander, whose promotion to chief of general staff was
nearly certain at the time.According to the indictment, submitted
to an Ä°stanbul court last week, highly detailed plans of many state
buildings, such as the Supreme Court of Appeals, the NATO facilities
in Ä°zmir and the military General Staff building, were found as a
result of detentions, raids and searches during the investigation,
which began last July.
Ergenekon — 46 of whose alleged members are currently in jail awaiting
trial — is suspected of a large number of unsolved political murders
and attacks previously attributed to terrorist organizations of
varying political leanings.
The nearly 2,500-page indictment says drawings of some state buildings
were found on a compact disc in a raid at the office of the Workers’
Party (Ä°P), whose leader is currently jailed on suspicion of Ergenekon
membership. A file folder on the disc named "Judiciary — Nusret Senem
[Ä°P secretary-general]" contains detailed drawings of the Supreme
Court of Appeals, showing all the main entrance and exit points,
possible security gaps, areas where the lighting is weak and security
camera locations. The indictment recalled that the Supreme Court of
Appeals chief prosecutor has received serious threats to his life.
Other files on the compact disc reveal detailed sabotage plans,
such as how to disable the ceiling sprinklers at NATO facilities
in Ä°zmir. A map found in the same folder details the routes used
by NATO personnel when driving to other facilities and points where
security appears to be lax.
Another plan, also found in an Ä°P office, serves as proof that in
2005 the group planned to assassinate Gen. YaÅ~_ar Buyukanıt, the
current chief of the Turkish military who was at the time the Land
Forces commander.
The prosecutor wrote: "The plans, projects and drawings show clearly
that the organization had no problem acquiring information and
intelligence to plot an assassination — one of the methods of the
organization to restrain governments, its main purpose — and that
all these building [drawings] were prepared by professionals."
In addition, drawings of the General Staff, residential complexes
for gendarmerie officers and their families, the route Buyukanıt
was supposed to take when visiting Ä°zmir in 2005, the tube overpass
in the Kızılay area of Ankara, drawings suggestive of plans to try
to assassinate businessman Ä°shak Alaton and a drawing of a hotel in
the KaÅ~_ district of the southern province of Antalya were found.
The indictment, made public on Friday, says the Ergenekon network is
behind a series of earth-shattering political assassinations over the
past two decades. The victims include a secularist journalist, Ugur
Mumcu, long believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists
in 1993; the head of a business conglomerate, Ozdemir Sabancı, who
was shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People’s
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996;
secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, who was also believed to
have been killed by Islamic extremists in 2002; and an attack on the
Council of State in 2006 that left a senior judge dead. Alparslan
Arslan, found guilty of the Council of State killing, said he attacked
the court to protest an anti-headscarf decision it had made. But the
indictment contains evidence that he had been in touch with Ergenekon
and that his family received large sums of money from unidentified
sources after the shooting.
The indictment also says Veli Kucuk, believed to be one of the leading
members of the network, had threatened Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian
journalist slain by a teenager in 2007, before his murder, a sign
that Ergenekon could be behind his death as well.
Ergenekon suspects moved to Silivri
The Ergenekon indictment accuses a total 86 suspects, 47 of whom are
currently in custody, of links with the gang. Suspects will begin
appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face accusations
that include "membership in an armed terrorist group," "attempting
to destroy the government," "inciting people to rebel against the
Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.
On Monday the Ä°stanbul court that received the indictment ordered
a transfer of all Ergenekon suspects under detention to a prison in
the northwestern city of Silivri, due to the large number of suspects
and the fact that they are currently being held in different jails.
The court also ruled that four judges from the Council of State will
attend the hearings as witnesses.
–Boundary_(ID_fKK2fAwH/FIeqBRlD4rQHQ) —
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress