PKK LEADER EXPRESSES DESIRE TO TESTIFY IN ERGENEKON CASE
Today’s Zaman
12 August 2008, Tuesday
Turkey
The founder and leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) has stated that he would like to testify before the prosecutor
handling the case of the ultranationalist Ergenekon gang, a shady
network that is accused of having plotted to overthrow the government.
The indictment against the suspected Ergenekon members, who include
retired senior army generals, academics, civil society representatives,
journalists and mafia leaders, has drawn links between the PKK and
the Ergenekon network. The indictment presents evidence and witness
accounts clearly suggesting that the members of the organization who
formerly worked in various intelligence units of the state had used the
PKK to shift public opinion in favor of their agenda, which aimed to
eventually trigger a military coup. The Vatan daily yesterday reported
that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is currently serving a life
sentence as the sole inmate of the prison-island of İmralı in the
Sea of Marmara, expressed his desire to testify to Prosecutor Zekeriya
Oz and provide him with information on the Ergenekon organization.
One of the issues Ocalan said he would like to inform the prosecutor
of is a proposal once made to him to assassinate Tansu Ciller, head of
the True Path Party (DYP) coalition government, which ruled between
1993 and 1995. Ocalan claimed that individuals related to Turkey’s
deep state, or Ergenekon, had once contacted him saying they were
plotting to assassinate Ciller and proposed that the PKK could claim
responsibility. "I rejected this offer," Ocalan said. He also noted
that he would like to share important information on Veli Kucuk, a
retired general currently in jail as a suspected Ergenekon leader, and
on some of the incidents that occurred in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated
Southeast, where the PKK has been waging a violent separatist campaign
against Turkey’s security forces since the ’80s.
Ocalan also said he would like to respond to some of the allegations
that the PKK was covertly supported by shady elements within
the Turkish state. However, he also noted that he did not expect
the prosecutor to agree to hear his testimony. "They wouldn’t be
positive about my testifying," he said. Ocalan stated that he knew
there were attempts to infiltrate the PKK since the late ’70s, but he
denied allegations that he or the PKK were a project of the National
Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T).
Not just politics, but a lot of money
The indictment lists a number of politically motivated assassinations,
attacks and other activities, such as organizing seemingly civilian
rallies as part of Ergenekon’s ultranationalist social engineering
plans, but the enormous financial resources of the group also qualify
it as a major crime network.
A letter found in the home of Ergenekon suspect Kucuk, which is
addressed to him, informs the former general of a gang formed between
the military, the police and politicians in the southeastern city of
Hatay. This letter has also been made part of the indictment against
Ergenekon. This letter was written in the year 1996, when Kucuk was
still a member of the army and serving in the Southeast.
According to the letter, this gang, which organized the smuggling
of explosives and other goods into Turkey, made $3.5 billion in
their dealings. The gang was allegedly led by Gen. Ethem Erdag, who
retired in 2007, another man named Abdulkadir Eryılmaz and Col. Cengiz
Yıldırım, who was earlier suspected of gang involvement during an
investigation in 1996. Erdag was tried at a military court in 2007.
The letter says once Erdag was promoted to commander of the 3rd
Army Corps in the region, he started "appointing his own men" to
posts in the region. It notes that Capt. Ramazan Turan was promoted
to head of the Gendarmerie intelligence unit in Hatay. Col. Feramuz
Kucuk, another friend of Erdag, was assigned to the Hatay Provincial
Gendarmerie. The gang also had strong economic ties to a local tribe
known as the Zelluhs, the letter says.
The text details the names of colonels, captains and other officers
involved in illegal trade. "Everybody performs his role perfectly. It
is practically impossible for MÄ°T not to be aware of these activities;
however, MÄ°T remains outside of this team."
The names of 11 officers, a deputy police chief in Hatay and even
politicians, including Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Turan
Cirkin, are cited in the letter as being members of the gang.
Background of Ergenekon probe
The existence of Ergenekon, a behind-the-scenes network attempting
to use social and psychological engineering to shape the country
in accordance with its own ultranationalist ideology, has long been
suspected, but the current investigation into the group began only
in 2007, when a house in Ä°stanbul’s Umraniye district that was being
used as an arms depot was discovered by police.
The investigation was expanded to reveal elements of what in
Turkey is called the deep state, finally proving the existence of
the network, which is currently being accused of trying to incite
chaos and disorder in order to trigger a coup against the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) government. The indictment, made
public last month, indicates that Ergenekon was behind a series of
political assassinations over the past two decades. The group is also
suspected of being behind the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian
journalist killed by a teenager in 2007. Eighty-six suspects, 47 of
whom are currently under arrest, are accused of having suspicious
links to the gang. Suspects will start appearing before the court
on Oct. 20 and will face accusations that include "membership in an
armed terrorist group," "attempting to bring down the government,"
"inciting people to rebel against the Republic of Turkey" and other
similar crimes.
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