Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 13 2009

Police detain retired colonel linked to Malatya murders

A retired colonel being sought on an arrest warrant issued as part of
an investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization
charged with plotting to overthrow the government, was detained in
Ankara yesterday by squads from the Ankara Police Department.

Investigators believe the retired colonel, identified as Mehmet
Ã`lger, might solidify the suspected link between Ergenekon and the
murders of three Christians at a publishing house in Malatya in
2007. It has been reported that Ã`lger previously served as the
Malatya Provincial Gendarmerie Battalion commander. He was lined up to
testify in court as a witness in the murder of three Christians in
Malatya, sources said. Zekeriya Ã-z, the chief prosecutor in the
Ergenekon investigation, is planning to investigate suspected links
between the Malatya murders and Ergenekon. Reports said Ã`lger’s
name was mentioned in a letter written by an informant to the court
conducting the Malatya investigation.

Sources said the police had been monitoring the retired colonel’s
phone conversations as part of the Ergenekon investigation for some
time. Ã`lger was detained as a result of potentially incriminating
statements he made during phone conversations with several Ergenekon
suspects and because of information provided by Dicle University
instructor Abdurrahim DoÄ?ru, who was detained earlier in the
investigation on charges of financing Ergenekon. Ã`lger, who was
detained yesterday in the capital, was transferred to Ä°stanbul
for interrogation by police and will later testify to a court.

Meanwhile, a noncommissioned officer on active duty at the
Intelligence Department of the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Battalion
Command was detained yesterday. The noncommissioned officer, a special
sergeant identified as Mehmet Ã?olak, was also transferred to
Ä°stanbul yesterday. Ã?olak frequently met with Ruhi Abat,
a theology professor who allegedly incited the Malatya murders.

The co-plaintiff lawyers in the Malatya case requested in January that
Ergün Poyraz, one of the suspects arrested in 2007 as part of
the investigation into Ergenekon, testify in court as a witness in the
Malatya murder case.

Ergenekon-Malatya link

Recent evidence collected in the Ergenekon investigation has
consistently suggested that the brutal Malatya 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. Lawyers representing the families of the victims have been
calling for a deeper investigation into Ergenekon ties since the start
of the investigation.

During a hearing of the Malatya case held in February at the Malatya
3rd High Criminal Court, the presiding judge announced that the
Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is trying the
Ergenekon case, had sent his court a copy of the Ergenekon indictment
in response to the Malatya court’s query into the possibility of
merging the two cases. The judge also said the Ergenekon indictment
had as of that day been merged with the Christian murders case.

Ergenekon is suspected not only in the Malatya murder case, but also
in various other attacks and assassinations, including the killing of
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in early 2007.

On April 18, 2007, Necati Aydın (35), UÄ?ur Yüksel
and German national Tilmann Ekkehart Geske (46) were tied to their
chairs, tortured and stabbed at the Zirve publishing house in the
eastern Anatolian city of Malatya before their throats were slit. The
publishing house they worked for published Bibles and Christian
literature. Suspects S.G., C.Ã-., H.T. and A.Y., whose full names
were not disclosed because of their ages, were caught at the crime
scene and immediately taken into custody. The main suspect, Emre
Günaydın, jumped from a third-story window while
attempting to escape from police and was taken into custody after
being hospitalized.

13 March 2009, Friday
TODAY’S ZAMAN Ä°STANBUL