NAVAL JUNTA UNDER ERGENEKON CONTROL, DOCUMENT SHOWS
Today’s Zaman
Nov 25 2009
Turkey
According to a document retrieved from a CD seized from the office
of retired Maj. Levent BektaÅ~_, who is currently under arrest
over suspected links to a large arms cache unearthed in Istanbul’s
Poyrazköy district, an anti-democratic group within the Naval Forces
Command was under the control of Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal
organization accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
The CD was found along with many others in BektaÅ~_’s office during a
police raid in April, which came after the discovery of munitions on
land owned by the İstek Foundation in Poyrazköy the same month. The
CD exposed the group’s plans to assassinate Turkey’s prominent
non-Muslim figures and place the blame for the killings on the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) as part of an action plan called
the Cage Operation Action Plan. The desired result of the killings
was that an increase in internal and external pressure on the party
would ensue, leading to diminishing public support for the AK Party.
A document titled "My Agendas" on the same CD revealed that the
assassination plans were directed by retired Col. Levent GöktaÅ~_,
who is in jail for suspected membership in Ergenekon, which suggests
that the Naval Forces Command junta was under the control of Ergenekon.
"Send what is in Dilek Bozkaya’s possession to L. GöktaÅ~_ through the
lawyer Serdar Ozturk," reads a directive on the said document. Both
Bozkaya and Ozturk are currently imprisoned for suspected Ergenekon
membership. Another note on the same document reads: "We have contacted
the Fabricator. The movement for a more brilliant future needs to
be more active." Fabricator is an alias for the Workers’ Party’s
(Ä°P) jailed leader Dogu Perincek. The document also mentions another
Ergenekon-linked plot to launch a bloody attack on students visiting
the Rahmi M. Koc Museum in Ä°stanbul. According to the document, the
attack was to be launched at a time when many students were visiting
the museum.
The plan was exposed in May after a large number of explosives were
discovered in a submarine at the museum during the investigation
into Ergenekon.
After an investigation by the military, they announced that the
explosives at the bottom of the submarine had been forgotten by
commandos.
Ergenekon prosecutors, however, decided that the findings of the
military investigation were too weak to ease concerns over the
discovery of explosives at the museum. The prosecutors examined the
submarine in the museum and reached the conclusion that it was not
possible for the commandos to forget that a large amount of explosives
were in a submarine.
The same document also includes confidential information about
the private lives, wives, children or girlfriends of a number of
high-ranking members of the military. The document suggests that
some of those members of the military were blackmailed with that
information and urged to work in line with the ambitions of the Naval
Forces Command junta.
Part of the document was dedicated to the junta’s "friend"
organizations. Among those organizations were groups such as Hizb
ut-Tahrir and their leaders, including Ä°skender Evrenesoglu, Haydar
BaÅ~_, Abdullah Agar and Ä°smail Yavuz. Most of those figures are
known to be members of hard-core religious fundamentalist groups.
What is the Cage Plan?
The plan was signed by Lt. Col. Ercan Kirectepe and was planned
to be put into operation by a team comprising 41 members of the
Naval Forces Command. The hoped-for result from the assassinations
of prominent non-Muslim figures and related propaganda would be an
increase in internal and external pressure on the AK Party, leading
to its political demise, according to the plan.
The action plan would be implemented to lend support to the suspects
arrested so far as part of the Ergenekon investigation; render
ineffective the so-called psychological warfare waged by the AK Party
and its supporters (against the military); change the course of the
agenda in Turkey; boost the morale of the junta within the Naval
Forces Command; and win the appreciation and support of the public.
The blame for each of the assassinations by the junta would be put
on the AK Party.
The plan was divided into four phases; "Preparation," "Raising Fear,"
"Shaping Public Opinion" and "Action."
The action plan also called the killings of Armenian-Turkish journalist
Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Andrea Santoro and three Christians in
Malatya an "operation." The group aimed to generate chaos in society
with those killings, but complained that the plan failed when large
groups protested the killings in mass demonstrations.
The plan also revealed that the anti-democratic formation within the
Naval Forces Command was being led by three admirals, identified with
their initials F.O., K.S. and M.F.Ä°. BektaÅ~_, Kirectepe, GöktaÅ~_
and Maj. Emre Onat also worked for the junta. All of them were arrested
as part of the ongoing Ergenekon probe.