NATIONAL POLICE OF TURKEY SUSPECTED IN PLANNING OF MURDER OF REPRESENTATIVES OF ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS IN TURKEY
ArmInfo
2009-11-20 15:07:00
ArmInfo. The investigation into an alleged illegal network known as
Ergenekon has revealed that a civilian who was formerly employed by
the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had collected detailed information on
Turkey’s ethnic Armenian population.
As Turkish Zaman says, Ergenekon investigators found that Fatma
Cengiz, who is currently a suspect in the case against Ergenekon,
collected various dossiers regarding the Armenian community in Turkey.
The file included a list of subscribers to the bilingual Armenian
weekly Agos.
In addition, there were lists of names and members of Armenian
foundations and churches, which were classified as "active" or not, as
well as the balance sheets of Agos. Cengiz had been in the limelight
before after claims that she gave information to Ibrahim Sahin,
a former deputy head of the National Police Department’s Special
Operations Unit, to establish "S-1 and S-2 teams" to assassinate
intellectual leaders in society.
According to sources, Cengiz also tracked the names of academics,
writers and journalists who participated a two-day academic conference
held on Sept. 24-25, 2005, at Istanbul Bilgi University titled "Ottoman
Armenians during the Decline of the Empire: Issues of Scientific
Responsibility and Democracy." The conference openly disputed the
official Turkish account of the Armenian massacres. In the files
allegedly belonging to Cengiz, who is also known as Asena Ozturk,
there are several famous names, with notes next to their names:
Halil Berktay, "professor, he had publicly said that Armenians were
massacred"; Kazm Aknc, "secret Armenian, he applied to a court to
change his religion after Dink [Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink
who was assassinated by an ultranationalist teenager in 2007]";
Ece Temelkuran, "she said that if something happens to her the
prime minister is responsible for it, she is a graduate of the Ankara
faculty of law"; Herkul Milas, "he is not an Armenian"; Sevan Nisanyan,
"writer at Taraf, maybe from Agos, needed to be investigated"; Markar
Esayan, "Taraf writer, information regarding him will come together
with Etyen Mahcupyan"; Aytac Ilhan, "he might be a student in Igdr,
he should be investigated, he had applied to change his religion";
Baskn Oran, Adalet Agaoglu and Elif Safak.
Investigators have also found a PowerPoint presentation which was
allegedly prepared by Cengiz, who signed it as Asena Ozturk. In that
presentation, pictures of Sahin and Korkut Eken, a former officer of
the TSK Special Operations, are placed side by side. There is also a
photograph of former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukant, in
addition to the expression "Everything is for the country," written
in blood on a background of weapons and the Turkish flag.