Daniel Steinvorth
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/
Last week’s arrest of military brass amid allegations of a plot against the Turkish government have dealt a serious blow to the country’s secular elite. But some are asking if Prime Minister Erdogan has bitten off more than he can chew.
Four-star General Cetin Dogan, 69, has a fondness for luxury. Shortly before his retirement, the army veteran, who until five years ago was the commander of the First Army of the Turkish armed forces and a feared hawk, bought a three-story beach villa in the resort town of Bodrum on the Aegean Sea, where he intended to spend his golden years.
But that vision is not likely to materialize, at least not for the foreseeable future. Last Monday, police officers with Turkey’s counter-terrorism force TEM searched Dogan’s dream house. The general himself was arrested in Istanbul, where he was taken away in handcuffs. No one had ever treated him like that before.
Ibrahim Firtina, 67, was also taken by surprise. The heavyset four-star general, with his bushy, Leonid Brezhnev-style eyebrows, was the commander of the 60,000-member Turkish Air Force, the pride of Anatolia, for four years. Like Dogan, he too was considered a member of the country’s top military brass, an untouchable “pasha.”
That was until last Monday, when police rang the doorbell at his villa in Ankara. When the pasha opened the door in his robe, his wife called out: “What do they want from you?” “You are under arrest,” one of the officers said. “You have half an hour to say goodbye. Please take only a few essentials with you.”
Arresting ‘Golden Boy’
At about the same time, a special task force paid a visit to Özden Örnek, 67. The retired commander-in-chief of the Turkish navy, a man who was considered highly talented from an early age, a high flyer his wife affectionately referred to as “Golden Boy,” was worshipped like a demigod while in office. Even after going into retirement, Örnek was fond of wearing sparkling, white uniforms in public. The police officers took him into custody while he was having breakfast. “Excuse us, Admiral, but we must arrest you now,” they said politely.
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As many of you are aware, significant cases and developments like this never have any coverage here in the US; thanks to the State Department. And when I say ‘significant’ I don’t mean only as a domestic issue in Turkey. These recent cases on Ergenekon have significant international implications, especially for the United States. Here is a fairly decent summary of Ergenekon for those of you who are not familiar with it: Link. http://www.turkishgladio.com/readfile.php?id=24
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| The Ergenekon Terrorist Network – The Basics |
| http://www.turkishgladio.com/readfile.php?id=24 |
|
Ergenekon is the name of an alleged clandestine neonationalist terrorist organization in Turkey with close ties to military, press, business, police, and politics. Ergenekon is called a kind of deep state organization which aims to rule Turkey behind the screen of a democratically elected government. The term of “Ergenekon” is related to the mythic birth place of the Turkic race. The name of the network is a clever labeling and it is difficult for anyone to declare that he/she is against the “Ergenekon” due to patriotic nature of its name. The organization was planning to incite public unrest and encouraging the military to disobedience with the aim of toppling the government in Turkey and they were preparing a series of bomb attacks to create a chaos ahead of a coup in 2009. There were several rumors about this organization among people. The term of deep state was first used by former Turkish Premier Bulent Ecevit in the year of 1973. He said that “The cover of the counter guerrillas must be removed”[1]. It took 28 years to start the process of removal. Tuncay Guney’s statement to the police is the backbone of the Ergenekon indictment. He was former agent of National Intelligence Negligence Agency (MIT) allegedly were tasked to infiltrate to Gendarmerie’s Intelligence Agency (JITEM) or vise versa. The police have been observing Ergenekon for years under the supervision of the public prosecutors. Recovery of weapons arsenal in an apartment in Umraniye, Istanbul was the first and important evidence against the terrorist organization in the June of 2007. The Ergenekon investigation is a collaborative action taken by all criminal justice system’s agencies in Turkey. It initiated with an anonymous phone call to Trabzon Gendarmerie’s tip line about that evidence (explosives and weapons) in 2007. Trabzon Gendarmerie submitted the information to Istanbul Gendarmerie. After that, Istanbul Gendarmerie and Istanbul Police Department jointly conducted operation to apartment belonged to Yıldırım Yigit. The grenades and weapons found in that apartment belonged to Oktay Yıldırım who is a retired noncommissioned army officer and he is currently under arrest in relation to the case. According to Yigit, he was constantly threatened to not testify that the explosives belonged to Oktay Yıldırım[2]. The Chief Prosecutor of Istanbul assigned a team leaded by prosecutor Zekeriya Oz to investigate this organization. The team investigated the case for 16-month and prepared a 2,455-page indictment with 30 separate charges against the suspects including being a member of a “terrorist organization,” illegal possession of weapons, and provoking the public for armed insurgency against the Turkish government. The Ergenekon case is now called the Turkish Trial of the Century. Even some said Pandora’s Box has been opened[3]. Many believe that this trial will help people understand the entire history of a Turkish Gladio. Majority of Turkish public is supporting the case because they believe that this case will enhance the Turkey’s democracy. Until now many people were taken into police custody (86 suspects by November 2008) in relation to the Ergenekon case. At the beginning 37 members of the organization were arrested, including well-known military commanders, political leaders, newspaper columnists, and academicians. Some of them are
The organization was attempting to destabilize Turkey and produce support for a coup against the government. Therefore, there are many charges against the suspects of this organization. They are:
There are possible links between the Ergenekon and below listed terrorist networks[4]
Here is the list of ammunition were recored during the investigation so far (as of December 2008): 39 hand grenades, 2 detonated hand grenades, 11 kg of C-3 explosive, 1160 gr explosive blocks, 1 gas bomb, 10 fuses, 5 signal rockets, 3 smoke bombs, 21 TNT blocks, 1 re bomb, 84 capsules, 24 re cartridges, 50 bomb fuses, 35 bomb fuses of various sizes, 1 training grenade, 2 explosive pipes, 18 gr Emolite explosive, 13-centimeter long fuse for explosive capsules, 3 tubes of hydraulic acid, 3 long-range rifle, 2 rifles, 2 air rifles, 21 shotguns, 3 blank shooting revolvers, 34 cartridges, 1074 shotshells, 73 hunting shotshells, 1 silencer, 2 detonated mortar shells, 9 detonated anti-aircraft shells, A bayonet, knives, a large number of bearings, time-controlled fuses and other material used in, making bombs, and wireless communication devices.[5] The Ergenekon Investigation had a direct impact on anti-American sentiment in Turkey since neonationalist groups including key figures of Ergenekon terrorist network was leading promoters of anti-Americanism. According to Transatlantic Trends, Turkish warmth toward the US increased in this year 2008 for the first time since 2006[6]. Another important aspect of the Ergenekon case is its Russian connection. Most of the arrested individuals has strong tie to Russia. Former Gendarmerie General Command intelligence department head Levent Ersöz who was also the alleged sales director of Rosoboronexport, a Russian arms exporter, fled the country since a search warrant has been issued for him in the Ergenekon investigation. An Interpol red bulletin was issued for him. He is currently in Russia free of movement. Alexander Dugin, a loyal supporter of Putin, is a great supporter of the Ergenekon Terrorist network. He asked necessary action to response investigation against anti-American and pro-Russian network from Putin and Medvedev. He is considering this operation as a challenge of Turkey against Russia[7]. Alleged Political Motivations, Extensive use of wiretapping, and length of the indictment was received great amount of critics but many intellectuals declared their support to investigation and requested deepen the investigation in order to get rest of the people tied up with the Ergenekon. They see the case as an important step to democratization of Turkey[8]. Turkish Criminal Justice System is being tested for implementation of due process in this case. They are conducting the investigation flawless so far. As recent update, in the last wave of the Ergenekon terrorist organization operation, currently, 36 individuals, including three retired generals and 10 active officers of various ranks is in detention in the police facility for interrogation due to their possible link to the terrorist network. In the house of fugitive Lt. Colonel Mustafa Donmez in the city of Sakarya, countless amounts of weapons, including 73 hand grenades, numerous guns and rifles along with Kalashnikov and Kanas firearms, have been found up to this point during raids as part of the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon.[9] In addition to this arsenal, underground arsenals were recovered with 30 types of explosive and LAWs in Ankara’s Golbasi district based on a map found in the home of İbrahim Şahin, a former police chief of SWAT department. He is accused of giving order to assassinate an Armenian community member in the city of Sivas. Law Enforcement authorities are expecting other arsenals spread all over the Turkey. [1] Aziz Ustel Savcı, Ergenekon’u Kenan Evren’e sormalı asıl!, http://www.stargazete.com/gazete/yazar/savci-ergenekon-u-kenan-evren-e-sormali-asil-113287.htm [2] Timeturk English, (14 November, 2008). “Umraniye bombs were Ergenekon’s”, retrieved from http://en.timeturk.com/Umraniye-bombs-were-Ergenekons-11334-haberi.html [3] Baydar, Yavuz (30 November, 2008). As Turkey plunges into the Ergenekon case, Today’s Zaman, retrieved from http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=156336 [4] http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=153889 [5] http://medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/pdf/2008/20081020-ergenekon-at-first-glimpse1.pdf [6] www.transatlantictrends.org , see the polls from 2006, 2007, and 2008 [7] The Russian Trail in Turkey’s Ergenekon Scandal: Who is Alexander Dugin? http://www.geopolitika.lt/?artc=2874 [9] http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=163610&bolum=100 |
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As many of you are aware, significant cases and developments like this never have any coverage here in the US; thanks to the State Department. And when I say ‘significant’ I don’t mean only as a domestic issue in Turkey. These recent cases on Ergenekon have significant international implications, especially for the United States. Here is a fairly decent summary of Ergenekon for those of you who are not familiar with it: Link.
