ERGENEKON PLOTTED BLOODSHED, DARK FUTURE FOR TURKEY
Today’s Zaman
Aug 6 2009
Turkey
Ergenekon, a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow
the government, had devised plots to assassinate tens of people,
including bureaucrats, judges, journalists, politicians and writers,
which were prepared in graphic detail, including the names of the
would-be hitmen, claims the prosecution in the third indictment
prepared in the case, which was accepted by the 13th Higher Crime
Court of Istanbul on Wednesday.
The indictment claims that the prosecution has reason to believe
that an attack in 1993 by a fundamentalist mob in Sivas at a hotel
where visiting Alevi poets and intellectuals were staying was also
orchestrated by Ergenekon. The mob set the hotel on fire, killing 35
Alevis. The incident is remembered as one of the darkest moments in
Turkey’s recent history. The indictment also says that a hand grenade
attack at the Cumhuriyet daily in 2006, in which no one was injured;
and an armed attack at the Council of State a few days after the
attack that resulted in the death of a senior judge were also the
doing of Ergenekon.
The indictment claims that the prosecution has reason to believe
that an attack in 1993 by a fundamentalist mob in Sivas at a hotel
where visiting Alevi poets and intellectuals were staying was also
orchestrated by Ergenekon. The mob set the hotel on fire, killing 35
Alevis. The incident is remembered as one of the darkest moments in
Turkey’s recent history. The indictment also says that a hand grenade
attack at the Cumhuriyet daily in 2006, in which no one was injured;
and an armed attack at the Council of State a few days after the
attack that resulted in the death of a senior judge were also the
doing of Ergenekon.
The document lists a breakdown of the assassinations and attacks
planned for the future by the group, based on organizational documents
acquired during the investigation.
According to this, the group was planning to assassinate members of
the higher judiciary. Based on a blueprint map of the Supreme Court of
Appeals acquired at the Workers’ Party (Ä°P) headquarters in Ankara,
the prosecution claims the group had obtained detailed drawings of the
building as well as information of its inner structure and security
systems. The Ankara Police Department has confirmed that the Supreme
Court of Appeals’ blueprint found in the investigation accurately
reflects the details of the building.
Plot to kill Armenian patriarch The new indictment also includes
details about a plot to assassinate Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan,
based on documents found in the home of Ä°brahim Å~^ahin. The documents
found in Å~^ahin’s home include a Google Earth map of the area where
the patriarchate is located, notes about the patriarchate’s security
system, photographs of Mesrob and pictures of the patriarchate taken
at different angles. There are also text documents explaining the
details of the plan to kill the patriarch.
According to writings laid out in text on a document titled the
"Intimidation Plan (Mutafyan)," the group was going to use a light
anti-tank weapon (LAW) for the assassination, a number of which were
found hidden away at various places during the investigation. According
to this, police officer Kenan Temur was going to direct the attack
while those who would carry out the plan would be appointed by Fatma
Cengiz, YaÅ~_ar Oguz Å~^ahin, Fahri Kepek and an individual identified
only as "Commander Talat."
The document further laid out the action plan, saying: "The periodic
hours of the individual’s entrance and exit from the [church] will
be established. Two LAWs will be taken from the secret depot and
placed in suitable places that face the patriarchate. Two men, who
will be assigned to the assassination, will be positioned outside
the patriarchate. If all is well, one of them will hold his watch in
his right hand, letting it dangle down from his palm, while the other
one will light a cigarette with his right hand, holding his left hand
in his pocket. Any other gesture will be interpreted as danger. In
the last stage, as the target enters the street both gunmen will
be ready and when one starts firing at him, the other one will also
start firing indiscriminately."
Assassination plan for Minas Durmaz Guler Another assassination
the group planned was that of Minas Durmaz Guler, the head of the
Sivas Armenian Community. The prosecution is relying on evidence
from phone conversations between Fatma Cengiz and Ä°brahim Å~^ahin
to support this claim. The would-be hitmen, Ersin Gönenci and Oguz
Bulut, were arrested before they could carry out the assassination,
the indictment notes.
Other targets of the group included Ali Balkız, the chairman of the
Alevi-BektaÅ~_i federation, and the federation’s secretary-general,
Kazım Genc, both very important figures in the Alevi community. Among
documents found in Å~^ahin’s house regarding the planned assassination
of the two Alevi leaders are detailed blueprints and maps of the two
men’s houses, their photographs and notes indicating that Balkız would
be killed by a bomb planted in his car while Genc would be assassinated
by an explosive package sent to his address. The perpetrators were, as
in other cases, already selected. Muhammed Sakarya was to be the cell
leader in this operation. A document titled the "Intimidation Plan"
also explains the purpose of the assassination as provoking Alevis
and fanning conflict between the Alevi community and the country’s
majority Sunni population.
Buyukanıt, Koru, Pamuk and DTP members on the list
In a document found at Ä°P headquarters it was clearly written that
the group had tried to assassinate former Chief of General Staff
Gen. YaÅ~_ar Buyukanıt in 2005 during a trip the general took
to İzmir and Balıkesir. Based on information obtained from the
interception of phone conversations of the suspects, the prosecution
claims that the group had plans to assassinate journalist and author
Fehmi Koru, Turkey’s Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk, Democratic
Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Turk, Diyarbakır Mayor and DTP
politician Osman Baydemir and DTP deputy Sebahat Tuncel. The indictment
also notes that Selim Akkurt, one of the hit men recruited for these
assassinations, was arrested shortly after a conversation between him
and Ergenekon suspect Fikri Karadag was heard by the police monitoring
the conversations, in order to avoid an "unwanted incident."
NATO and shopping mall targets The indictment also claims that the
organization was planning attacks at a NATO command center in Ä°zmir
and a number of shopping malls including the Optimum and Antras
shopping malls in the capital. Most of these plans were discovered
through documents found in Ä°brahim Å~^ahin’s office.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress