REPORT: CYDD DOCUMENTS SUGGEST LINK WITH ERGENEKON
Today’s Zaman
April 28 2009
Turkey
Documents seized at the Kadikoy office of the Support for Modern
Life Association (CYDD) during a police raid earlier this month
have revealed that the association had close ties to Ergenekon, a
clandestine terrorist organization charged with plotting to overthrow
the government, according to a report published in the Bugun daily
yesterday.
While going through documents seized at the CYDD Kadikoy office on
April 13, police found a document titled "_2008toplantiozeti" (summary
of 2008 meeting). The document reveals that the association was in
close cooperation with Ergenekon, taking orders from and reporting
to the terrorist organization, Bugun reported.
According to the document, CYDD officials informed retired Gen. Sener
Eruygur, a suspected member of Ergenekon, about the activities of
the association. "We will destroy the studies previously conducted
for rector appointments. Lists forwarded to Sener Pasha bearing the
names of scholarship applicants will also be destroyed. We will not
have direct contact with the rectors of Istanbul, Inonu, Antalya,
Samsun, Uludag and Dokuz Eylul universities, but will continue to
support them. … We previously established contact with Tuncay Ozkan
[a journalist currently in jail for suspected links with Ergenekon]. We
will avoid appearing close to him for a while. [Republican] Rallies
could be organized once more to mobilize the public," reads the
document, as reported in Bugun. Another document reportedly reveals the
association’s efforts to organize young people: "We should increase
the number of houses where students are accommodated and select
neighborhoods where female and male students can reside together. We
should not keep sacred materials in the open in these houses. The
European Union appreciates our project to benefit from the richness and
diversity of the Armenian, Syriac, Chaldean and Yezidi communities."
The documents also serve as proof, says the Bugun report, for claims
that the CYDD granted scholarships to members of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK). "We have to be careful about scholarships granted
to students who are implicated in arson. Turkan [Saylan] said we may
delete the records of scholarships offered to these people, but must
not stop granting them money," reads one of the documents.
Police believe many recent arson attacks on vehicles in a number of
Turkish cities, including Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, are the work
of PKK supporters, states Bugun. Since November 2007, PKK supporters
have torched hundreds of automobiles parked on streets to protest
Turkey’s operations against the terrorist organization.
According to the documents, the CYDD was quite meticulous when
selecting scholarship recipients. The association refused to provide
religious students with financial aid. "We will continue our efforts
to win over Alevi families. Our target is those who have not been
assimilated by Sunnis. They should have no ties with religion. … We
have received criticism that some girls to whom we have granted
scholarships wear the Islamic headscarf after they graduate. This
is very important. Such incidents have a bad impact on those who
financially support our association. We have to be very careful,"
one document remarks, according to Bugun.
The association has also been very careful to avoid being linked to
Ergenekon suspects, as is expressed in one of the documents, which
says CYDD members should not contact people who have been detained
or arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
