ERGENEKON SUSPECT JOINS ANTI-GOV’T PROTEST

Today’s Zaman
09 October 2008, Thursday
Turkey

A man who was briefly detained earlier this year during the
investigation into Ergenekon, a shady crime network accused of
plotting against the government, participated in an anti-government
protest yesterday.

President of the neo-nationalist Turkey Youth Union (TGB) Adnan
Turkkan, who was briefly detained but released without charges, joined
a demonstration protesting the government’s higher education policies
in front of Ä°stanbul University yesterday. The protestors, accusing
the government of cronyism and clientelism in university appointments,
shouted slogans against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The protesters, a group of approximately 30 TGB members, were in
front of the faculty of sciences at Ä°stanbul University, where the
2008-2009 academic year started yesterday. Making a statement to
the press on behalf of the group, Turkkan claimed that the AK Party
government was trying to overtake Turkey’s universities using the
Higher Education Board (YOK) as its instrument.

He accused the AK Party government of being the "co-president" of US
President George Bush’s "Greater Middle East Project."

General Eruygur to stay in hospital

Meanwhile, retired Gen. Kenner Eruygur, an Ergenekon suspect
released from prison last month for health reasons, will remain
in the hospital. Eruygur, who suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage,
was partially paralyzed following brain surgery at the Kocaeli State
Hospital.

Eruygur’s doctors said he needs to be monitored for an indefinite
period of time. Eurygur has been in the intensive care unit of the
hospital for 22 days.

The chief physician at the hospital, Nazım Mutlu, said Eruygur has
not fully recovered. "He can recognize his wife, he can understand
what doctors say, but he hasn’t regained full consciousness. He
is partially paralyzed on his right side, but he appears to be
improving. He still has respiratory problems," Mutlu informed the
press at the hospital yesterday.

Nearly 90 people will stand trial starting Oct. 20 in the Ergenekon
case. 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 ultranationalist 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 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. Suspects will
start appearing before the court on Oct. 20 facing charges including
"membership in an armed terrorist group," "attempting to bring down
the government," "inciting rebellion against the Republic of Turkey"
and other similar crimes.

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