WPS Agency, Russia
What the Papers Say (Russia)
October 22, 2008 Wednesday

TURKEY UNCOVERS A PRO-RUSSIAN UNDERGROUND;
Ergenekon secret society trial begins

by Mikhail Zygar, Mais Alizade

Reports from the Ergenekon secret society trial in Turkey

The trial of Ergenekon secret society members has opened in
Istanbul. They are charged with plotting a coup d’etat and
terrorism. Dozens of well-known Turkish journalists, academics, and
ex-officers are involved in the case. The prosecution team’s
conclusion also alleges that the underground organization was linked
to Russian intelligence.

The case of the Ergenekon secret organization, which sounds like a
fanciful political thriller, started in June 2007. A year of
investigations has revealed that Ergenekon was responsible for all of
Turkey’s most notorious unsolved crimes over the past decade. For
example, it has been blamed for murdering Armenian journalist Grant
Dink in January 2007. The investigation team also alleges that
Ergenekon gunmen plotted to kill Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

Forty-nine people were arrested in the first stage of the
investigation. This was followed by a second series of arrests in July
2008. They included one of Turkey’s most prominent retired generals,
Sener Eruigur, who heads an influential public organization called the
Ataturk Idea Society. After his arrest, pro-government media reported
details of a plan to seize power – allegedy found in the general’s
possession. The coup was meant to take place in four
stages. Ultimately, the military was to have seized power, as it has
done before: in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997.

However, the investigators later stated that they knew of no such
plans.

As Turkish journalists and investigators have noted, almost all of the
people arrested in this case have a very friendly attitude to
Russia. Dogu Perinchek, leader of the Turkish Labor Party, has visited
Russia a number of times and worked closely with Eurasian Movement
leader Alexander Dugin. The arrested ex-rector of Istanbul University
signed a cooperation agreement with Moscow State University. General
Eruigur openly called for Turkey to withdraw from NATO, join the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and form a military alliance with
Russia and Iran. Finally, what the Turkish media regard as the most
damning evidence of a Russian connection: the move to charge retired
general Levent Ersez, former head of the police intelligence
department, with Ergenekon-related crimes. Police were unable to
arrest Ersez because he went into hiding in Russia.

In commenting on the arrests, the Turkish media described them as a
strike at "Russophile" forces in Turkish society. The prosecution
team’s conclusion went even further, alleging that the Ergenekon
secret society was linked to Russian intelligence – with Alexander
Dugin as the intermediary. However, Turkey’s Main Intelligence
Department has already issued a denial, stating that it has no
information to confirm the validity of this charge.

Dugin himself made haste to speak out in defense of the arrested
people, describing them as "leaders of the anti-American lobby,
proponents of closer relations with Russia and countering the Turkish
government’s pro-American policies."

Source: Kommersant, No. 191, October 21, 2008, p. 9

Translated by InterContact

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress