Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 10 2009
Ergenekon planned to kill Pamuk’s brother
Academic Å?evket Pamuk, the brother of the Nobel Prize winning
author Orhan Pamuk, was likely to be killed by Ergenekon, a shadowy
network with plans to overthrow the government, recent evidence
gathered on the gang has revealed.
After previous revelations that Orhan Pamuk was on Ergenekon’s hit
list, the gang is now suspected of masterminding an assassination
attempt against Å?evket Pamuk, an academic at the London School
of Economics and BoÄ?aziçi University. The police
detained Ä°brahim Å?ahin, a former president of the
National Police Department’s Special Operations Unit, on Wednesday and
seized a number of documents along with nine guns. A large cache of
weapons, ammunition and bombs was found buried underground in Ankara’s
GölbaÅ?ı district yesterday, discovered as a
result of a police search based on a map found in the home of
Å?ahin. The police also found detailed intelligence documents
about some public figures, including the Pamuk brothers.
Analysts say because of the fact that Orhan Pamuk has been receiving
police protection ever since he was found to be on the Ergenekon hit
list, the gang might have chosen his brother as a target. They also
note that the plan to kill Å?evket Pamuk might have arisen after
his recent remarks about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of
the Turkish Republic.
In previous days, Å?evket Pamuk, who is an expert on Ottoman and
modern European history, stated that the myth of Atatürk
prevents an environment of free discussion in Turkey. Speaking to the
Spanish El Paà – s daily, he said he was surprised to see the
discussions in Turkey over "Mustafa," a recently released biographical
documentary depicting the lesser-known sides of Atatürk’s
life. "Atatürk is a historical figure and a human; however,
there has been an attempt to transform his image into a cult to enable
the government after his death to govern Turkey as they
wanted. Atatürk made mistakes as anyone [else] can do. Yet, a
mythology has been created around him to prevent a number of political
issues, including the Kurdish and Armenian issues, to be discussed. It
is impressed upon us during primary school that Atatürk was
superhuman," he noted.
Orhan Pamuk has also recently made a statement about the Ergenekon
terrorist organization, saying: "I was informed about the
assassination plans before the plans were revealed to the public. Some
people are trying to underplay the importance of the investigation
into Ergenekon. I do not like talking about politics, but those people
have killed and have planned to kill others. There is certainly such
an organization."
10 January 2009, Saturday
SEDAT GÃ`NEÃ? / ALPER SANCAR ANKARA