ERGENEKON INDICTMENT TO BE INCLUDED IN MALATYA MURDERS CASE

Today’s Zaman
Aug 22 2008
Turkey

The panel of judges hearing the murder trial of three missionaries
killed at a Christian publishing house in the eastern province
of Malatya last year has ruled to integrate the nearly 2,500-page
indictment against Ergenekon, a gang accused of trying to topple the
government by force, into the Malatya case.

The tenth trial of the case was heard yesterday at the Malatya 13th
High Criminal Court. The panel of judges announced that the indictment
of Ergenekon and all of its associated folders would be requested on
DVD and incorporated into the documents of the Malatya case.

The decision marks an important step in the course of the trial,
during which lawyers representing the victims’ families have
continuously insisted that the murder of the three Christians was
not a simple hate crime, but something that goes much deeper. Recent
evidence collected in the Ergenekon investigation also suggests that
the brutal killings might have been organized by Ergenekon, which is
suspected of a large number of murders and bombings aimed at creating
chaos in the country to serve the organization’s ultimate purpose of
overthrowing the government.

Speaking to journalists outside the courthouse, Erkan Yucel, a lawyer
representing the victims’ families, said they might consider in the
near future requesting to merge the two trials.

Also in yesterday’s trial, jailed suspects Emre Gunaydın (19), Salih
Gurler (20), Abuzer Yıldırım (19), Cuma Ozdemir (20) and Hamit
Ceker (19) — who were captured by the police at the crime scene on
the day of the murders — delivered additional defense statements,
something they had requested at the previous hearing on July 3. All
five denied the charges directed at them.

After Gunaydın finished his defense statement, presiding judge Eray
Gurtekin asked him whether he knew retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, who
is being sought as part of the Ergenekon investigation, given that
Gunaydın — who spent time in the hospital after the brutal murders
due to an injury he sustained as he tried to escape the scene —
had written down the general’s name on a piece of paper. Gunaydın
denied knowing Ersöz, saying he had no recollection of taking down
a note with the said general’s name. The next trial was scheduled
for Sept. 12, 2008.

The investigation into Ergenekon, a behind-the-scenes network
attempting to use social and psychological engineering to shape the
country in accordance with its own ultra-nationalist ideology, began
in 2007, when a house in Ä°stanbul’s Umraniye district that was being
used as an arms depot was discovered by police.

Over the course of the investigation, the case was expanded to reveal
elements of what in Turkey is called the deep state, finally proving
the existence of the Ergenekon network, which is currently being
accused of trying to incite chaos in order to trigger a coup against
the 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.

–Boundary_(ID_fS5bJ6esHlSFb9ekLrfZ4A)–