ON ARMENIAN ORIENTATION OF ERGENEKON
Ruben Melkonyan
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31 March 2009
You can steadily assert that in the recent period the developments
around the terrorist organization called Ergenokon are among the most
important and significant in many aspects happenings in the domestic
political life on Turkey. This case is very often associated with
the notion of "deep state". It is mentioned that the disclosure
of Ergenekon and trial in reality are a kind of struggle between
pro-Islamic government and secular militaries. The fact that there
are militaries in Ergenekon, and even high-ranked militaries,
is irrefutable.
It is enough to mention that at present the high-ranked Turkish
militaries, e.g. famous retired general Veli Kucuk, majors Mehmet
Zekeria Ozturk, Mehmet Fikri Karadag, captain Muzaffer Tekin are all
targeted in the investigation either as defendants or suspects. There
were also detainees who were set free after interrogation, for example,
generals Hursit Tolon, Sener Eruygur, who was set free for health
reasons. By the way, the problems with health and the usage of that
reasoning is rather widespread amid the suspects in Ergenekon case. And
most of them are either already in the hospital, or they applied with
such a request and militaries are very often taken to Gulhane Military
Medical Academy. On every court session 5-7 suspects are absent for
health reasons. At present moment about 100 suspects are targeted in
the investigation of Ergenekon case and this number constantly tends
to rise. It is noteworthy that there are representatives of different
professions and areas. Thus, the chairman of Turkish Labour party
Dogu Perincek, retired general Veli Kyucuk, retired colonel Mustafa
Levent Gorgtas, the former acting chairman of Special operative
administration Ibrahim Sahin, the chief of Department for Combating
Organized Crime of Istanbul Serdar Sacan, journalist Tuncay Ozkan,
lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, scientist Yalcn Kucuk, the chairman of the
Chamber of Trade of Ankara Sinan Ayguz and many others.
The fact that among the members of Ergenekon there are many people
who have definite anti-Armenian attitude and who contend actively
with Armeniancy and Armenia strikes the eye. It is significant that
in the course of investigation it became clear that the organized
nature of their anti-Armenian activity was applied by the Ergenekon
terrorist structure.
One of the persons, most well-known for his obvious anti-Armenian
activity is retired general Veli Kyucuk. He is pan-Turkist and
today he is regarded by the representatives of those circles as
one of the most notable pan-Turkists of 20th century. One of the
most important pledges of that sonorous title was obvious at times
support to "younger brother" Azerbaijan during the war in Artsakh and
after it. Kyucuk is implicated in many shady deals and cases but it
should be mentioned that for us his name became even more interesting
particularly in the context of the persecutions and the assassination
of Hrant Dink. Let us remind you that youth nationalist organizations,
which called themselves "idealists", initiated actions against Dink,
and especially after Dink published in "Agos" newspaper the article,
which evidenced about the Armenian descent of Sabiha Gukcen, the
first Turkish woman-pilot and one of the most important symbols of
Turkey. "Idealist" arranged protest action in front of the office of
"Agos" with the poster saying "Dink, you are our target". It should
be mentioned that "idealists" is the youth wing of radical nationalist
organization "Grey wolves", and it is not a mere chance that Dink was
assassinated by a young radical nationalist. General Veli Kucuk is
a decisive authority for all those circles. There are facts, which
evidence to the direct contacts of Kucuk and people involved in the
murder of Dink. He even took part in the trial on Dink’s case. By the
way, that fact bothered Dink and his milieu, as Hrant’s brother Khosrov
Dink said after the assassination, his brother began to realize the
real danger and the seriousness of the persecutions especially after
Veli Kucuk had appeared on the scene.
Within the framework of Ergenekon trial many noteworthy incidents
also happened. On one of the hearings during his speech for defense,
while speaking about his activity after he had resigned from the army
in 2000 he stated: "I took part in the activities arranged by Turkish
research educational foundation, sometimes I had also made reports. I
made reports on Eastern issue and I have always been of the opinion
that it is not Kurdish issue. In every village I explained that PKK
(Kurdish workers party) is not Kurdish, and that Eastern issue in not
Kurdish but Armenian issue. The reason I am here today is because some
people do not like". Such accusations against Armenians are not new in
Turkish political discourse, but it is interesting that high-ranked
Turkish military speaks about it openly and points out as their
main enemy Armenians, who are alien to them, while Muslim Kurds are,
after all, their coreligionists. By the way, other defendants also
expressed the same idea and believed that the main reason for their
arrest was the Armenian problem. It should be mentioned here that
Turkish officials of different rank have spoken about the alleged
Armenian belonging of PKK: from the minister of internal affairs
to the governour; that theme is one of the important components in
Turkish arsenal of political speculations. From time to time Turkish
press and different organizations make a big deal about PKK fighters
and their camps, which are alleged to be situated in Armenia.
Turkish lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who prosecuted a claim against writer
Orhan Pamuk after his famous statement, has also been detained on
the case of Ergenekon. He is also one of the "pupils" of Veli Kucuk
and he took an active part in the trial of Hrant Dink.
The other suspect, the chairman of the Chamber of Trade of Ankara Sinan
Ayguz, was the first who expressed his dissatisfaction at the slogan
used after the assassination of Hrant Dink "We are all Armenians,
we are all Hrant Dink".
The other well-known figure who is the target of the investigation
is the chairman of the Workers’ party of Turkey Dogu Perincek. It
would be not out of place to mention that he is one of the most
important links in the Tukish propaganda machinery working against
the international recognition of Armenian Genocide. It is also known
that Dogu Perincek is of Armenian descent but his activity is directed
against Armeniancy. Such a phenomenon sometimes can be seen in the
circles of those who have converted faith or lost their identity1.
During the process on Ergenkon case it occurred that Perincek was
one of the leaders and founders of that organization, but the most
important fact is that the aforementioned organization communicated
with PKK and its guerillas with his help. The pictures of Dogu
Perincek and Abdullah Ocalan in one of the fighters’ camps were
also published. In the course of the trial the "advisory" letter
of Perincek to Ocalan dated on may 26 20002 was presented. By
showing the alleged connection between PKK and Ergenekon, Turkish
authorities, in our opinion, gain several aims. Firstly, they show
the connection between Kurdish guerillas and Turkish "deep state",
which used all that to destabilize the situation in the country,
i.e. to create prerequisites for the revolution and to implement it,
but it is even more important that this exposure caused deep keen
disappointment among oppositional Kurds, and a part of them have even
felt themselves deceived. On the other hand, today the present Turkish
government is engaged in the opening of Kurdish TV channel and radio
and it is obvious that it would soften Kurdish issue at some extent.
The phase of the activity of Dogu Perincek, which is devoted to
the struggle against the international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, has also been reflected indirectly in the trial. Thus, it
is known that, that the organization with unequivocal name "Taleat
Pasha" arranged many actions particularly against the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in Europe. Perincek was one of the active
members of that organization.
"Taleat Pasha" organization was especially active in 2005-2006, when
a number of Turkish politicians, scientists initiated joint campaign
in that line. Among them were the ex-president of the unrecognized
republic of North Cyprus Rauf Danktas, pseudo-historian Halacoglu and
others. As a result, the proceedings were initiated against Perincek in
Switzerland for the denial of the Armenian Genocide (later he turned
to the European Court of Human Rights making a big noise round that
issue). But it is remarkable that within the framework of Ergenekon
trial it became clear that the committee of "Taleat Pasha" was one of
the structures created by Ergenekon and worked on the instructions of
the terrorist organization3. While speaking about it Perincek announced
the following in the court: "That group included Nevzat Yalcndaz,
Mehmet Dulger and Ibrahim Ozdogan who were the members of parliament
from the ruling "Justice and Development" party at that time"4.
Then, after listing the names of scientists and other politicians,
Perincek stated: "If all that was arranged by Ergenekon, then it
means that all those people are the members of Ergenekon"5. The
radical-nationalist leader of the Workers party did not forget about
the political orientation adopted by him and blamed "imperialist
powers" and mainly the USA in his arrest.
Apropos to the radical anti-Armenian views of Perincek it should be
mentioned, that Turkish press has published recently his statements
made before on Armenian issue in general, which speaks for his
changeable and contradictive image. "Zaman" newspaper, the mouthpiece
of ruling Turkish party, re-published the article of Perincek, which
had been published in issue 88 of "Turkish left" magazine, entitled as:
"Ittihan compradores killed hundreds of thousands of Armenians". By
the way, those views were expressed during the trial which had taken
place earlier. Thus, in 1961 Perincek establishes "Turkish workers
and peasants party", which was closed in 1971 after the military
interference, and Perincek and his friends were arrested. His defensive
speech in the court later was turned into a book, where, on page 154,
he spoke about Armenia issue: "Ittihan compradores implemented the
policy of persecution and massacre of national minorities. In the
East hundreds and thousands of Armenians were killed, the others
were deported from the country. Abdul Hamid coloured the Empire with
the blood of hundreds of thousands of workers killed in Anatolia and
thousands of Armenians killed in the streets of Istanbul.
Among the defendants on that case the former chief of Special
operative department of Turkey Ibrahim Sahin stands out for his
scandalous testimony. There are interesting details in his testimony,
concerning Armenian direction. He handled Armenian issues on different
stages of his activity, mainly in 1983 he was posted a commander of
a special police forces combating ASALA and he was in Germany and in
the US to get necessary education7. According to the material of the
criminal case, Sahin created a group, which consisted of 300 people,
and it included the officers of Operative department and soldiers who
were under 308. With the help of that group the terrorist organization
arranged and implemented various acts. In the court Sahin testified
that the he had created the group at the at a will of the commander
of the Seventh corpus of Turkish army, general Bekir Kalyoncu and
the chief of the department of communications support and public
affairs of General Staff brigade-general Metin Gurak. In 1993 Sahin
by the order of the Ministry of Internal affairs of Turkey created
Special operative department, where he worked till 1996; in 2002 he
was sentenced to six years in prison on the charge of involvement in
the well-known case of Susurlik, but Sahin under the pretext of the
health problems was amnestied by the president. By the way, the name
of Veli Kucuk was also mentioned in the view of that case.
As it becomes apparent form the testimony of Sahin, he delt with
Armenian issues after he had retired. Thereunder we make a quotation
from his testimony: "I know a woman Fatma Cegiz, nicknamed Asena,
who lived in Kesaria, and sometimes I visited her. She knew that
I was interested in Armenian problem and so she acquainted me with
a writer. During the conversation with him he told that Armenians
arranged monthly assembly in Tomarza and the person responsible for
it was a jeweller from Sebastia. So I gathered detailed information
on that and decided to inform about it intelligence"9. "…a person,
whose name was Hudayi, told me about a woman, whose name was Sepil. He
told that the real name of that woman was Matild Sarsanyan and she
searched gold in the district of Erznka. Hudayi also told that woman
established houses in different South-Eastern provinces where she
sheltered Armenians, who had come from abroad. So I told people from
National Intelligence Service (MIT) whom I knew about it, and they
wanted to know more"10. It is also remarkable that Sahin tried or got
the instruction to find out material on the ethnic origin of members of
different parties, politicians and celebrated persons. According to his
testimony, there are 520 Armenians in Kurdish Democratic Society Party.
But there were even more remarkable facts, found in Sahin’s notebook:
there were mentioned different facts on ethnic origin of different
politicians. There was mentioned in handwriting that the leader
of Nationalist movement party (MNP, "Grey Wolves") Devlet Bahceli,
Democratic Society Party leader Ahmet Turk, the parliament deputies
from MNP Mehmet Sandir, Mahmet Eimur had Armenian origin11. There is
also a statement in the aforementioned notebook that the population of
the area between central and south-eastern part of Anatolia allegedly
consists of Armenians.
Sahin, just like Veli Kucuk and others puts forward the statement
that PKK is not a Kurdish, but an Armenian structure: "PKK is not an
organization, which represents our Kurdish brothers, it is Armenian
organization13". He asserts that he has struggled against PKK during
his professional carrier, and after he had gone on pension he began
to write books, where he presented the idea that PKK was an Armenian
structure14. He also expressed those views on local TV channels15.
In the course of investigation it became clear that Sahin’s group
had arranged assassination attempts. Among supposed victims the
names of Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul Mesrop Mutafyan, the general
secretary of Alevi-bektasi union Kazem Genci, the chairman of the
same organization Ali Balkez were mentioned16. It is remarkable that
Sahin called those planed actions "internal clean-up" and he regarded
the involvement in the Armenian issue as a priority while choosing
targets. Thus, Sahin confessed that if he had not been arrested then
in a week they would have began a campaign against the leaders of the
Armenians17. Within the framework of "internal clean-up" there were
also some measures planed against some representatives of Turkish
intelligentsia, those who had arranged recently "We apologize"
campaign. During the activity of Sahin and his criminal group Alevi
organizations also were in the focus of their attention mainly because,
in accordance with their sources, there were also Armenians in those
organizations. They also planed the assassination of the leader of
the Armenian community of Sebastia Minas Duran Guler18. According
to Minas Guler’s brother Ervand Guler the number of the Armenians
in Sebastia does not exceed 200 and this number reduces day by day,
though according to the official sources there are 1136 Armenians in
Sebastia. Minas Guler is also a person responsible for the Armenian
"communities" of Kesaria, Tokat, Erznka19. It is obvious that one
could hardly call the shatters of Christian Armenians preserved in
the eastern parts of Turkey communities. The choice of Sebastia
by the criminal group of Sahin is explained by the fact that it
has more or less multi-ethnic picture and is convenient to deepen
the atmosphere of fear and to boost instability, which finds room
within the logic of Ergenekon’s activity. It should be mentioned,
as it turned out the assassination of three Christian employees of
publishing house in Malatya, which caused a stir in Turkey and abroad,
was also arranged by Ergenekon.
Thus, this scandalous trial and the exposures made in its course
come to prove that various anti-Armenian actions were arranged and
implemented by the Turkish state or its "deep" variant. At the same
time it is obvious that Turkish propaganda and state machinery, as
a matter of fact, still regard the Armenians as their enemies. It
is remarkable and at the same time expected that the issue of ethnic
origin is in the focus of attention of the state institutions, and this
once again gives the evidence of the fact that the problem of ethnic
origin and it various expressions are on the agenda in Turkey today.