Ergenekon ties abroad a political "third rail" in Turkey
One of the most sensitive aspects to the current exposure by the Turkish government of the Ergenekon terror network in Turkey is the links the group have with similar "Gladio" and "false flag" terrorist networks in other nations, including the United States, Russia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Israel, and France. A number of Turkish officials told WMR that such links have been established by many of these political leaders and human rights leaders were reluctant to describe the closeness of the relations between Ergenekon, a shadowy network of military officers, politicians, judges, businessmen, professors, drug cartels, terrorist groups, and journalists, to similar "deep state" organizations in other countries.
A Turkish parliamentary inquiry discovered links between Ergenekon and the U.S. embassy in Ankara and former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Marc Grossman, and his military attache, Major Douglas Dickerson, were recalled from Ankara in 1997 after it was discovered that they were involved with Ergenekon elements in trying to overthrow the government of Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev. Grossman is currently the vice chaoirman of the Cohen Group, founded by former Defense Secretary William Cohen. Grossman also serves on the board of trustees of Istanbul's Roberts College, a one-time American university that counted two Turkish Prime Ministers and scores of Turkish cabinet ministers, businessmen and diplomats among its alumni. The college is now a lycee, a private preparatory high school.
Ergenekon was used by the CIA to bolster the agency's operations in countries of the former Soviet Union that form part of the old Turkic empire. The Turkic realm includes Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. There are reports from Kyrgyzstan that Kyrgyz special forces used foreign snipers using exotic weaponry to kill demonstrators during the recent coup against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Kurmanbek's brother, Zhanysh Bakiyev, reportedly hired Georgian, Chechen, and Latvian mercenaries to attack the demonstrators. President Bakiyev was also entertaining an offer from the United States to establish a second U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan's southern Fergana Valley region, a hotbed of Bakiyev supporters where Bakiyev is now holed up while refusing to give up power. The proposed U.S. base in the Fergana Valley, closer to Afghanistan, would have complemented the U.S. air base at Manas, outside of Bishkek. The future of the Manas airbase is now in doubt after it has been revealed that U.S. payments for the base ended up in the foreign bank accounts of both President Bakiyev and his son, Maxim Bakiyev, who, it should be noted, was due to attend an economic investment conference in Washington, DC on April 8, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Kyrgyz-North America Trade Council.
The Council's website lists as board members ousted Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor V. Chudonov; Douglas Renfield-Miller, the council's president and former investment banker for UBS; Marc Miller; Zamira Sydykova, Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States and a former editor-in-chief of Res Publica, a George Soros-funded propaganda operation; and Kenneth Hansen of Chadbourne & Park in Washington, DC and an oil and natural gas investment counselor.
Maxim Bakiyev served as the chief of the Kyrgyz Central Agency for Development, Investment, and Innovation and is now wanted by the new Kyrgyz government on criminal charges. However, the Obama administration, adhering to the CIA's and Soros's global agenda -- an agenda that is on the same economic and political page -- is refusing to disclose Maxim Bakiyev's whereabouts. The U.S. embassy in Bishkek is remaining mum on whether the Obama administration is considering Maxim Bakiyev political asylum.
The Kyrgyz operations by Bakiyev parallel those of Ergenekon's foreign operations in Azerbaijan, Russia, and other Turkic-speaking countries and regions
The Ergenekon link to Russia is primarily through Levent (Lev) Ersöz, the alleged sales director of Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms exporter. Ersoz fled Turkey after an arrest warrant was issued for him.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, when informed about Turkish intelligence bribes and blackmail of American politicians and the role played by the American Turkish Council (ATC) in lobbying in Washington and working closely with the American Israel Pubic Affairs Committee (AIPAC), replied, "It sounds a lot like Ergenekon." A leading Turkish human rights campaigner said he was told by Turkish sources in Washington that there was no such organization as Ergenekon. In fact, the Obama administration is hoping that the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would simply drop the Ergenekon investigation. Obama officials are clearly concerned that the Ergenekon investigation will soon lead to the CIA in Langley and the lobbying firms on K Street.
The Blue Mosque of Istanbul. Neocons and pro-Israelis in America attempt to demonize Turkey because it is a democracy with a majority Muslim population. As a senior Islamic official told WMR in Ankara: "We Muslims in Turkey are very tolerant. When the head of a five star hotel in Ankara tried to convince me to hold our Islamic affairs meetings at his hotel because they do not serve alcohol, I replied: why should I move our venue from the Sheraton and Intercontinental? Many of our participants want to have a drink. Islam considers drinking alcohol a sin but we do not force our beliefs on others who choose to drink."
WMR learned in Ankara that successive Turkish military attaches at the Turkish embassy in Washington were key players in Ergenekon. After the revelations by former FBI Turkish and Azeri translator Sibel Edmonds about the Turkish "deep state" operations in the United States, the FBI ordered and end to its investigation of the Turkish embassy and the ATC because the investigation would harm "arms smuggling" being carried out with the knowledge of the Bush administration, particularly Cheney and Rumsfeld. WMR also learned that the United States and Israel are worried where the Ergenekon investigation will lead.
Senior Turkish officials also revealed to WMR that the Ergenekon investigation could lead to the expsore of similar deep state networks tied to Israel and the United States in Azerbaijan, Syria....[ home to the infamous White House Murder INC,....], and Egypt. The attack on the Turkish economy in 2006 has also been linked to Ergenekon working with Soros, according to one senior Turkish government official.
In addition, during the 1990s, FBI wiretaps of the Turkish embassy and the ATC in Washington yielded intelligence on the use of Ergenekon and the Gray Wolves paramilitary terrorist group to funnel weapons to the U.S.- and "Al Qaeda"-supported Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the Balkans. The intelligence also pointed to a link between Ergenekon, the KLA, and drug trafficking into the Balkans, through Turkey, from Afghanistan.
A senior and influential Turkish parliamentary official told WMR that because the Turkish "deep state" canot win at the ballot box they have resorted to using members of Turkey's diaspora abroad to seek support for a coup against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and propagandize that Turkey's government is Islamic and intent of re-veiling women. Certain influential members of the diaspora are conspiring with Jewish supporters of Israel abroad to demonize the Erdogan government, according to the source. In addition, Turkish "deep state" members are often flying to Washington, DC to blur the picture that the United States has of Turkey. The "deep state" representatives, working through neocon organizations like the American Enterprise Institute, Jewish-led Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the Hudson Institute, the Jewish-led Levin Institute in Manhattan, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) are prompting their American counterparts to inform the Obama administration that the Ergenekon case has gone on too long. In fact, WMR reported that during President Obama's last meeting with Erdogan, the president called on the Turkish Prime Minister to release some of the jailed Ergenekon figures. The request to Erdogan placed Obama isquarely n the corner of the Ergenekon coup plotters and Israel.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul (r.) after being presented with a copy of editor's (l.) book on America's "deep state" -- "Jaded Tasks."
The Turkish parliamentary official revealed that there were "entrepreneurial military activities" at the Turkish embassy in Washington, DC involving members of the Turkish military attache staff. In effect, the Turkish official, who is also a former Turkish military officer, confirmed the claims by Edmonds that the embassy was involved in paying bribes to U.S. politicians and engaged in espionage.
The Turkish parliamentarian said that the recent election in Ukraine, the revolt in Kyrgyzstan, and the opposition to the government in Georgia was part of a "political correction" going on in eastern Europe and central Asia. He said that the neocons have permitted "democracy" to become a tainted word in central Asia. He added that the political reforms in Turkey were inspiring people in central Asia and the Middle East to rise up against their own "deep states." Such a development endangers the status quo, especially Israel's jaded interests in the Middle East. When the state serves its citizens, rather than the citizens serving the state, the member of parliament said entrenched interests are threatened.
What is occuring in Turkey is akin to arrest warrants being issued for ex-members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and intelligence services, as well as the President's National Security Adviser and the assistant director of the FBI in the United States for their roles in planning and committing "false flag" terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, including a certain incident on September 11, 2001.
WMR editor at AK Party headquarters in Ankara.
WMR has also learned of links between Ergenekon and the Greek "leftist" terrorist group November 17. The November 17 group has carried out a number of terrorist attacks against American and British targets in Greece but the connections to Ergenekon suggest that the November 17 group is a by-product of Greece's own Gladio network. On June 8, 2000, motorcycle gunmen, claimed to be members of November 17, shot and killed Brigadier Stephen Saunders, the British military attache in Athens, as he was driving to work. British intelligence verified published claims that Saunders was assassinated by Greece's version of Ergenekon, a Gladio follow-on "deep state" network called "Sheepskin." British MI-6 also discovered links between Sheepskin and Ergenekon. The Greek government maintains that Sheepskin was dismantled in 1988. However, there are indications that the Gladio networks in Europe have merely morphed into new networks that serve the interests of the United States and Israel.
There are Gladio networks and theirfollow-ons in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. In Spain, Gladio may have reared its head in the political prosecution of Spain's human rights judge, Baltasar Garzon. Garzon brought criminal charges against Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet and began an inquiry into the war crimes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. However, it was Garzon's announced plans to investigate the over 100,000 disappearances during the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco dictatorship that has earned Garzon his own criminal prosecution by the Spanish state -- the "deep state." In France, Gladio, also known as "Plan Bleu," may be at the heart of the French arson attacks that propelled Nicolas Sarkozy into the French presidency. WMR previously reported that many of the attacks were "false flag" operations carried out by Sarkozy's Interior Ministry operatives to fan anti-Islamic fervor in France.
A number of retired Turkish generals and admiral are now before the courts answering questions about their role in attempting to overthrow the AKP government, an operation officially known as the Sledgehammer ("Balyoz") Security Operation Plan. A lost of attendees at a 2003 Sledgehammer planning seminar has also been revealed. The mastermind of Sledgehammer is allegedly retired Turkish First Army chief General Cetin Dogan. Dogan is accusing the former chief of the Turkish General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok of releasing all the Sledgehammer documents. Ozkok is being praised for preventing a coup against the government and revealing the secrets of the Ergenekon network.
Other documents released in the probe of Ergenekon involve the Cage (Kafes) Operation Action Plan, a series of assassinations of prominent non-Muslims in Turkey that would be used by Ergenekon to suggest the AKP government was unable to control Muslim extremists. Prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is believed to be one of the victims of Cage. A police report has determined that Ibrahim Sahin, the National Police Department's Special Operations Unit deputy chief, was the mastermind behind the Cage operation.
Another Ergenekon action plan is titled the Action Plan to Combat [Islamic] Reactionaryism." The plan calls for assassinations masked as suicides, as well as bombings and other terrorist attacks that would influence public opinion.
Among those arrested for involvement in Ergenekon are a "Who's Who" of Turkish political and military society, including:
o Sener Eruygur, Retired Full General and Former Head of Turkish Gendarmerie
o Hursit Tolon, Retired Full General
o Veli Kücük, a retired general,
o Dogu Perincek, the chair of the Workers' Party (IP),
o Ilhan Selcuk, columnist at the Cumhuriyet newspaper,
o Kemal Alemdaroglu, the former rector of Istanbul University (IU),
o Fikret Karadag, a retired colonel,
o Kemal Kerincsiz, ultranationalist lawyer,
o Sevgi Erenerol, press spokeswoman for the "Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate,"
o Tuncay Özkan, journalist, former owner of Kanal Türk TV station, and leader of the anti-Islamist "How many are we?" movement
o Adil Serdar Saçan, former police chief of Istanbul Organized Crime Division
o Sinan Aygün, President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce
o Sami Hoştan, Susurluk scandal convict
o Ferit Ilsever, General Manager of Ulusal TV Channel
o Emin Gürses, Associate Professor at the Sakarya University.
WMR has obtained a 10-year chronology of Ergenekon activities from 1996 to 2009:
3 November 1996
A traffic accident near the small town of Susurluk, brought illegal organizations to light.
The “deep state” phenomenon has surfaced for the first time by a traffic accident near the small town of Susurluk. A police officer, a deputy and a convicted fugitive were in the same car. This accident, which is called as “Susurluk Scandal”, revealed the relations between state, politics and mafia. Civil society supported the investigation by concerted actions called “one minute of darkness for perpetual light”. However, Necmettin Erbakan, then the prime minister, declared allegations as nonsense. Despite huge public support, the investigation proved fruitless due to lack of political backing. Lack of political support was the most evident with regard to Veli Küçük. The retired brigadier general, who is now an Ergenekon detainee, refused to testify in front of the Parliamentary Investigation Commission for Susurluk.
1997
The name Ergenekon, as a clandestine organization, was first pronounced.
The name Ergenekon, as a clandestine organization, was first pronounced by Erol Mutercimler, a retired naval officer and a current detainee in the Ergenekon case. Soon after him, journalists Can Dündar and Celal Kazdağlı wrote a book entitled Ergenekon, pointing to illegal organizations within state in this name. Official recording of the word also corresponds to these dates. At 10 March 1997, Ümit Oğuztan -a current detainee in the Ergenekon case- wrote a petition for the then ongoing Susurluk Commission. In his petition, he mentioned an organization named Ergenekon, and defined this organization as the Turkish Gladio.
2001
First official document was found related with Ergenekon
Tuncay Güney, an Ergenekon suspect, and a key witness of Ergenekon probe, had been investigated due to an ordinary fraud case. During the search at Güney’s office, police found documents about the organizational structure of Ergenekon. Further research had led to some reports prepared by police and intelligence services. However no concrete action was taken.
9 November 2005
Two junior officers were caught red-handed during an illegal bombing.
At 9 November 2005, two junior officers and a PKK informant bombed the Umut Bookstore belonging to Seferi Yılmaz at the Şemdinli district of Hakkari. One person died during this attack; however perpetrators of the attack were caught by bystanders and delivered to police officers. After the public prosecutor came to place for investigation, fire was opened on the crowd and another person lost his life. The investigations showed that, the car used by the assailants belonged to Gendarmerie Forces. Searches within the car revealed a list of 105 people, three Kalashnikovs belonging to Gendarmerie, bombs and plans of various home and workplaces.
The incident grew, when Yaşar Büyükanıt, then Commander of the Army, backed these two junior officers by saying “I know them, they are good men”. Prosecutor, Ferhat Sarıkaya, expanded the investigation with the claim that the unearthed gang might have connections with high ranking officials, however, he was disbarred by the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges. Two junior officers were sentenced to 39 years. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals decided that a military court should be in charge of the investigation. Both officers were released after their first trial in the military court. Throughout the process, the government was accused by the public for not backing the case just as happened during Susurluk trials.
5 February 2006
Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon.
Father Andrea Santoro, who was a Catholic priest in the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon, was murdered by a 16 year old ultranationalist. The murderer was caught after two days with his gun.
5-11 May 2006
Cumhuriyet daily was bombed three times during May 2006.
At 5, 10 and 11 May 2006, Cumhuriyetdaily, a staunchly Kemalist newspaper, has been target of hand grenades three times. Initially, the journal accused the Islamists for being the perpetrators of the attacks, and for aiming to intimidate the Kemalist journal. A large public campaign was started, in which people were called to back the journal and the republic. (Cumhuriyet means republic in Turkish.) However, later on, Ergenekon investigation unearthed that the bombs used in these attacks belonged to the military and has the same cache number with the bombs discovered in Ümraniye, which led to the start of Ergenekon investigation. The journal itself accepted that the bombings were Ergenekon operations two years later, on 15 July 2008.
17 May 2006
Council of State had been attacked; a senior judge was shot dead.
While the political tension was rising, due to the bombings of Cumhuriyetdaily, Alparslan Arslan, who was later discovered to be the perpetrator of these bombings, had attacked the Council of State leaving a senior judge dead. Initially the attack was linked to Islamist extremists, while Alparslan Arslan, found guilty of the Council of State killing, also said he attacked the court in protest of an anti-headscarf ruling it had made. But Ergenekon investigation discovered evidence that, he was connected with Ergenekon. In 17 December 2008, both cases; the bombing of Cumhuriyet and the attack on the Council of State, were merged under the Ergenekon case.
18 January 2007
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper Agos.
Editor in Chief of Agosdaily, Hrant Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper Agos, by a 17 year old ultranationalist. The assassin, Ogün Samast, was captured the same day. Hrant Dink was sentenced by the article 301 of Turkish penal code, which punishes denigrating Turkishness. Most of the people who had been involved in filing Dink’s case, are now imprisoned due to Ergenekon case, pointing to the possible involvement of Ergenekon in this murderous plot. After the assassination, Dink’s family declared that, Hrant Dink was suspicious of Veli Küçük’s desire to kill him.
25 March 2007
Nokta journal published “Coup diaries”.
A weekly journal Nokta, published the diaries of retired Commander of Navy Özden Örnek. Diaries revealed that during 2004, top commanders in Turkish Armed Forces were plotting a coup d’etat. The mastermind of the plot was seen as Şener Eruygur, a key suspect in Ergenekon investigation. Örnek denied the diaries and claimed that he had never written them, and filed against the journal. Following week, the headquarters of Nokta was raided by the police and later on Noktaterminated itself due to increasing pressure. However, in the case of investigation, in Mart 2008, it is technically proven that diaries were taken from the personal computer of Özden Örnek. These diaries constitute the backbone of the second Ergenekon indictment, submitted on 10 March 2009.
18 April 2007
Three Christians were killed in an attack at a publishing house in Malatya.
Three months after the Dink assassination, a publishing house in Malatya was attacked and three Christians, one of whom is a German citizen were killed. Likewise in the Dink assassination, the perpetrators were ultranationalist youngsters and they were linked with some of the key Ergenekon suspects. This case was also later merged with Ergenekon on 21 November 2008.
12 June 2007
First Wave-27 hand grenades were found during a police raid to a shanty house in Ümraniye.
27 hand grenades were found during a police raid to a shanty house in Ümraniye. These bombs have the same cache number with the bombs used during the bombings of Cumhuriyet daily. Later, the investigation revealed links with these bombs and the retired officer Muzaffer Tekin. Muzaffer Tekin has links with the Council of State shooter Alparslan Arslan, and also with the retired general Veli Küçük and lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz. This started the process that led to unearthing of Ergenekon. This police raid and subsequent arrests were later called as the first wave of Ergenekon. In this first wave, the retired Captain Muzaffer Tekin, retired Junior Officers Oktay Yıldırım and Mahmut Öztürk and Bekir Öztürk, head of an ultranationalist group called Kuvva-yı Milliye, were arrested.
26 June 2007
Second Wave-Weapons and explosives were found in Eskişehir.
Police raided a house belonging to the mother of the retired Major Fikret Emek and found large amounts of weapons and explosives. Emek has been arrested. Later as the investigation deepened, writer Ergun Poyraz, retired Captain Gazi Güder and four other people got arrested.
21 January 2008
Third Wave-Veli Küçük got arrested.
31 people including retired Brigadier General Veli Küçük, retired Colonel and also head of an ultranationalist group called Kuvva-yı Milliye, Fikri Karadağ, retired Captain Mehmet Zekeriya Öztürk, lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz, Akşam columnist Güler Kömürcü, the spokesperson of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate Sevgi Erenerol, Susurluk case convict Sami Hoştan, mafia leaders Sedat Peker, Ali Yasak (known as Drej Ali) and Ümit Oğuztan got arrested. During the interrogation of the suspects, police reached to a death list which includes, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, journalist Fehmi Koru, mayor of Diyarbakır Osman Baydemir, and deputies of DTP Ahmet Türk, Sabahat Tuncel and former deputy Leyla Zana. According to the list, Orhan Pamuk was the first target and even two people were hired for the assassination.
21 February 2008
Fourth Wave-Academics got arrested.
Associate Professors Emin Gürses and Ümit Sayin, journalist Vedat Yenerer, businessman Hayrettin Ertekin and Muammer Karabulut got arrested.
21 March 2008
Fifth Wave – Doğu Perinçek and İlhan Selçuk were detained, Perinçek got arrested
13 people including Doğu Perinçek, leader of the Workers’ Party, Kemal Alemdaroğlu, former president of İstanbul University, İlhan Selçuk, chief columnist of the Cumhuriyetdaily were detained. Alemdaroğlu and Selçuk were released, while Perincek was arrested.
26 March 2008
Coup diaries were verified.
Coup diaries that had been published at the April of 2007, by Noktajournal were techically proven to be extracted from the personal computer of Özden Örnek. Alper Görmüş, chief editor of Nokta journal acquitted from the cases filed against him, but the court also ruled that there is no need for further investigation. These diaries are part of the second indictment of Ergenekon case.
13 June 2008
Taraf daily unraveled a secret meeting between Osman Paksüt and İlker Başbuğ.
Taraf daily claimed that, Osman Paksüt, Deputy President of the Constitutional Court, and İlker Başbuğ, then the Commander of Army, met on 4 March 2008, two weeks before the filing of closure case against AKP. After initial denial, both sides confirmed the meeting.
5 July 2008
Sixth Wave-Retired generals were arrested.
Police detained the former Commander of the Gendermarie General Şener Eruygur, former Commander of the 1. Army General Hurşit Tolon, Sinan Aygün, a businesman and the chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), and Mustafa Balbay, Cumhuriyet's Ankara representative. Eruygur and Tolon were arrested, while Balbay and Aygün were released, but Balbay got arrested again at 06 March 2009.
7 July 2008
“Eldiven” (Glove) coup plot was discovered.
Documents that were found in the office of Şener Eruygur, revealed a third coup plan other than the two plans that were revealed by the coup diaries. After the failure of Yellow girl and Moonlight, Eruygur seems to have lost the support of the other commanders, and according to the Eldiven document, he planned a coup himself. During the same search, it is also revealed that Eruygur filed documents about the then Chieff of Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt.
9 July 2008
American Consulate was attacked.
Three police officers and the assault were shot dead during the fight. It is found that Erkan Kargın, one of the assailants, had several phone contacts with some of the Ergenekon suspects.
9 July 2008
Özkök made an interview with the Milliyet daily; he didn’t deny the allegations at the coup diaries.
At the interview he gave to Milliyetdaily, Hilmi Özkök, former Chieff of Staff didn’t deny the allegations that, during his term some of the top commanders had been involved in a coup plot. When asked about testifying in front of the court, he said that he would think about it when the time comes. At April 2009, he secretly testified to the prosecutors of Ergenekon investigation.
14 July 2008
First indictment was presented to the court.
First indictment was presented to the 13th Branch of the Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes and the court accepted the indictment at 25th of July, thus the trial started officially. Suspects arrested after the fifth wave and the allegations related with coup diaries are not included in this indictment. Detainees between the sixth and tenth waves and the coup diaries are included in the second indictment. The first indictment is 2455 pages long and it includes many shady events in Turkey’s history like the assassination of Uğur Mumcu, a prominent journalist and the Gazi events and the recent attacks on the Cumhuriyet buildings and the attack on the Council of State.
23 July 2008
Police launched the seventh wave of arrests.
A new wave of arrests in the Ergenekon investigation has targeted senior members of the Workers' Party, and staff members of the conservative Milli Çözüm (National Solution) magazine. According to reports, police detained 26 people around the country under the direction of the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office.
14 August 2008
Retired Colonel Arif Doğan was arrested.
Police raided the home of retired colonel Arif Doğan, and found large amounts of explosives and weapons (2 kalashnikoves, 1000 bullets, 1000 empty bullets and 280 hand grenades). Doğan was arrested. Doğan has worked as the Diyarbakır chief of JİTEM before Veli Küçük. With his arrest, the Ergenekon probe has passed towards the east of Euphrates, meaning that illegal acts and organizations formed during the war on terror in the Southeastern Turkey will be investigated for the first time. In the course of investigation, it is found that Doğan had transferred one million dollars to one of his relatives in USA, while he was serving at Yalova. The source of the money is yet unidentified.
3 September 2008
Kocaeli Garrison Commander, visited the Ergenekon detainee generals, on behalf of Turkish Armed Forces.
Three days after the appointment of İlker Başbuğ as the new Chieff of Staff, Kocaeli Garrison Commander Lieut. Gen. Galip Mendi paid a visit to imprisoned generals Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon. The visit is made public by a statement posted on the website of General Staff. The statement declared that, the visit is made on behalf of the Turkish Armed Forces.
18 September 2008
Eighth wave was launched.
At the eighth wave of arrests at Ergenekon probe, acting officers are arrested for the first time. Five lieutenants and a military school student, Levent Temiz, former head of Nationalist Hearths, artist Nurseli İdiz and talent agent Seyhan Soylu are among the eleven detainees. The lieutenants are accused to be part of Headquarter Homes (Karargah Evleri), a sub branch of Ergenekon.
23 September 2008
Ninth wave was launched.
Sixteen more people were arrested including journalist Tuncay Özkan, a former police chief Adil Serdar Saçan and former mayor of Esenyurt district of Istanbul Gürbüz Çapan.
20 October 2008
Ergenekon trial began.
The trial started by the reading of the indictment.
17 Aralık 2008
Council of State attack case was merged with the Ergenekon investigation.
Supreme Court of Appeals decided that May 2006 Council of State attack case should be merged with the Ergenekon investigation. 11th Branch of the Ankara Court for Serious Crimes, which was ruling the Council of State attack case approved this decision in 19 April 2009. Finally 13th Branch of the Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes, which rules the Ergenekon case, merged the two cases.
7 January 2009
Tenth Wave-General Kılınç, Major General Şenel and former president of the Higher Education Board, Prof. Kemal Gürüz detained.
During the police raids that had been conducted simultaneously in twelve provinces around the country, 37 people were arrested. The former General-Secretary of the National Security Council (MGK) Tuncer Kilinc, retired Major General Erdal Senel, the former head of the Special Operations Unit, Ibrahim Sahin, the former president of the Higher Education Board, Prof. Kemal Gürüz, writer Yalçın Küçük, Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Dönmez who is still on duty (disappeared during the operations but surrendered five days later), retired General Kemal Yavuz are among the detainees. The operation started when the police noticed that Ibrahim Şahin ordered the assassination of the leaders of the Armenian community in Sivas.
Security teams also searched the buildings of the İSTEK Foundation and Yeditepe University owned by former Istanbul Mayor Bedrettin Dalan and the home of Sabih Kanadoğlu, honorary chief judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals. At 20 of April, large amounts of weaponry and explosives were found in the lands belonging to İSTEK Foundation.
08 January 2009
Arms caches were unearthed at various places.
Turkish police launched a series of searches after sketches were found at the home of İbrahim Şahin, who was arrested a day before. The largest cache of weaponry and explosives were found in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara. Police also found explosives in Sincan Ankara, based on the sketches found at the house of Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Dönmez, another Ergenekon detainee of tenth wave. The grenades found in Sincan were identical to the grenades that had been found in Ümraniye at 12 June 2007. Other than these two, smaller arms caches were unearthed at Ankara, Trabzon, Antalya, Sakarya and Sivas.
At 19 June 2009 military prosecutors confirmed that the sketch found at the house of Dönmez was drawn by him and filed charges against Dönmez, demanding up to 12 years in prison. Additionally, in the indictment prosecutor stated that hand grenades found in Dönmez's home had been supplied to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) by the state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE).
14 January 2009
Ergenekon fugitive, Brigadier General Levent Ersöz, was captured in Ankara.
One of the key suspects of the Ergenekon case, retired Brigadier General Levent Ersöz, who fled to Moscow when he learned he was wanted, was apprehended at an Ankara hospital yesterday. He has been wanted by police since July 2008. Later day, police found wiretapping records of former Chief of General Staff Hilmi Özkök’s phone conversations at Ersöz’s home.
15 January 2009
Interrogation of Tuncer Kılınç evoked a new debate on “Encümen-i Daniş” (Consultation Council)
After it is revealed that the Ergenekon prosecutors questioned former General-Secretary of the National Security Council (MGK) Tuncer Kılınc, a detainee of tenth wave, about Encümen-i Daniş, this led to a new public debate on whether Encümen-i Daniş is the high council of the Ergenekon or not. Encümen-i Daniş which means Consulation Council, consists of all high profile members like retired top commanders, retired bureaucrats, diplomats and former politicians. Members of the Council confirmed the bi-weekly secret meetings, but denied any link with Ergenekon.
22 January 2009
Eleventh wave was launched.
A total of 20 police officers from the Special Forces unit and army officers, who have connections with former police chief İbrahim Şahin, were detained in operations waged in 15 provinces within the scope of the 11th wave of operation Ergenekon. The operation, which was conducted 15 days after the 10th wave, covered major cities such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, as well as Turkey's southeastern provinces. Mustafa Özbek, the chairman of Turkish Metal Union, Erhan Göksel, the chairman of Verso Center of Political Research, were among the latest detainees in the operation.
27 February 2009
Voice record of Karadayı was revealed through internet.
A voice record belonging to the Former Chieff of Staff Hakkı Karadayı started circulating through internet. In this recorded speech, Karadayı unravels how he intervened in the presidential election process and also he talks about the roles he undertook during the previous coups in Turkey.
06 March 2009
Mustafa Balbay was arrested.
Cumhuriyet's Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay was arrested. Later at 16 March, documents revealed at his computer were published in a web based news portal. (tempo24.com.tr) In these documents, Balbay explains his coup plans in detail. So far, neither Balbay nor the Cumhuriyet daily where he used to work denied the diaries.
08 March 2009
Death wells were opened.
At 8 March, upon the request of the public prosecutor, acid wells claimed as death wells, were opened for investigation in the Cizre district of Sirnak. At 14 March, 22 bones and a human skull aside some clothing were found. At 23rd of March, Cemal Temizöz who served in the region during 1990-1996 was arrested at Kayseri.
10 March 2009
Second indictment was submitted.
Second indictment was submitted. The trials of this indictment will start at 20 July. This indictment, nearly 2000 pages covers the detainees from the sixth wave to ninth wave. A third indictment will be prepared for the later waves.
The indictment is composed of five chapters. The first chapter summarizes the first indictment and the second gives information about the "Ergenekon" organization. The third and the fourth chapters list activities and crimes committed by the organization. And the final chapter includes individual acts of the suspects.
13 April 2009
Twelfth Wave-University rectors were arrested.
At least 18 people, including the current Başkent University rector and three former university rectors, were detained. Mehmet Haberal current rector of Başkent University, Professor Fatih Hilmioğlu, former rector of İnönü University in the southeastern province of Malatya, Professor Ferit Bernay, former rector of Ondokuz Mayıs University in the Black Sea province of Samsun, and Professor Mustafa Yurtkuran, former rector of Uludağ University in the western province of Bursa, are among the detainees. Professor Erol Manisalı, daily Cumhuriyet columnist and retired lecturer at Istanbul University, was also detained in Istanbul.
20 April 2009
Arms cache was found in the land belonging to İSTEK Foundation.
Many weapons and bombs were unearthed in an excavation that was conducted as part of the Ergenekon probe on land that belonged to the İSTEK Foundation in Istanbul’s Poyrazköy district. The items found included 2,000 bullets, five booby traps, 10 hand grenades, 13 fog bombs, 11 light anti-tank weapons, 23 emergency flares and a number of 50-millimeter bomb fuses. The foundation said it was a protected area and a military training zone, implying that weaponry should be belonging to military. At 29 April, military disproved this statement, and also claimed that none of the weapons found belonged to the military. However, a 10-page report by the supplier Makina Kimya Enstitüsü sent to the Prosecutor’s Office showed that the weapons found in Poyrazköy were sent to the army, navy, air force, gendarmerie and special forces. Owner of the foundation, Bedrettin Dalan is an Ergenekon fugitive currently in USA.
18 May 2009
Türkan Saylan died.
Türkan Saylan, whose house had been raided during the twelfth wave, died of cancer. Her funeral at 19 May, attracted large crowds
4 June 2009
Thirteenth Wave- Army officers are arrested as part of an investigation into the ammunition found in Poyrazköy.
Twenty people, including 16 army officers on active duty, were detained in simultaneous operations conducted in five Turkish provinces. It was claimed that the detained soldiers had ties to retired major Levent Pektaş who was earlier arrested in relation to the arms cache found in Poyrazköy, Istanbul.
10 June 2009
Hundredth hearing in the Ergenekon trial was held.
Ergenekon trial which started at 20 October 2008, held its hundredth hearing in 10 June 2009. Thus hundred hearings had been held in this 233 days.
12 June 2009
Taraf daily published a military action plan targeting the ruling JDP and the Gülen community.
Taraf daily published the document of an action plan, captured in the last wave of Ergenekon. The document is prepared and signed by Colonel Dursun Çiçek, who is still on active duty. The plan is said to contain efforts to end the activities of religious movements, particularly the AKP government and the Gülen group. The plan called for the Gülen community to be declared an armed terror organization by having the police "find" artillery in the community’s houses. Other actions proposed in the plan are said to have been meant to leave the impression that the Gülen community is in cooperation with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK; in contact with institutions like the CIA and MOSSAD; and behind the Ergenekon case. The plan also reportedly includes efforts to discredit the National Education Ministry.
Few days later, at the 16th of June, JDP filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutors, and prime minister said that his party would not remain silent. Military also started an investigation, but the military prosecutors ruled at 23rd of June that the document was a forgery and there was no need for the prosecution of Dursun Çiçek.
25 June 2009
Turkish Parliament paved the way for civilian courts to try military personnel.
Turkey's parliament has passed legislation aimed at meeting European Union membership criteria to ensure military personnel are tried in civilian courts during peacetime rather than in military courts. The legislation passed on Friday requires civilian courts to try members of the armed forces who are accused of crimes including threats to national security, constitutional violations, organizing armed groups and attempts to topple the government. The change to the penal code also says civilians cannot be tried in military courts unless the country is in a state of martial law or at war.
At 26th June, İlker Başbuğ, the Chieff of Staff, made a press conference reflecting the unrest of military with regard to the debates on the action plan published by Taraf, and the legislative changes that enables the military personnel to be tried by civilian courts. Despite voting affirmatively for the legislation, secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) later applied the top court at 13 July in order to annul the law. At 23rd July, the top court accepted to deal with the change.
30 June 2009
Dursun Çiçek and eight other colonels are investigated by the Ergenekon prosecutors.
Following the military prosecutor’s ruling that there is no need for the prosecution of Colonel Dursun Çiçek, Ergenekon prosecutors started an investigation of Çiçek and eight other colonels within the scope of Ergenekon probe. Dursun Çiçek was arrested by court order the same day, but was released by a higher court a day later.
16 July 2009
Trial of Colonel Cemal Temizöz with regard to the unsolved murders started.
The most comprehensive case dealing with the unsolved murders in Turkey's southeast started with a court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır asserting a serious claim about Col. Cemal Temizöz, the head of the provincial gendarmerie forces in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri. The court alleged that Temizöz forced confessors to kill 20 people within the scope of the "fight against terrorism" when he was commissioned in Cizre town, in the southeastern province of Şırnak.
18 July 2009
Top Court Didn’t Allow Probe of Osman Paksüt
Turkey’s highest court announced that there was no need to launch an investigation of the court’s vice president, Osman Paksüt, regarding his alleged involvement with suspects in the ongoing Ergenekon probe and leaking court information. The decision constitutes a precedent in the ongoing Ergenekon case.
Discussing the case on Friday, the top court concluded that court member Osman Paksüt leaked information to the third parties on the closure case of the AKP but decided not to launch an investigation into him on grounds that the collected evidence was illegal as he had his phone tapped without court approval. The top court voted 10-1 against any investigation into Osman Paksüt.
20 July 2009
Ergenekon Case’s Second Phase started
The Istanbul High Criminal Court has begun trying 56 suspects under the second indictment of the "Ergenekon" probe. The 1909-page indictment includes accusations against 56 suspects including retired generals Hursit Tolon and Mehmet Sener Eruygur. 16 of those suspects have already been under arrest. Prosecutors demanded aggravated life imprisonment for 13 suspects of the Ergenekon probe. The court is expected to decide first whether to merge the second case with the first one in which 86 other people are already on trial for their alleged involvement in the organization. They are also accused of planning assassinations and bombings to sow chaos and overthrow the government.
20 July 2009
Third Indictment was submitted to the court.
The Ergenekon prosecutors submitted the third indictment of the Ergenekon probe to the İstanbul Higher Criminal Court, where the current hearing of Ergenekon suspects goes on. The indictment is 1454 pages and indicts 52 people 37 of whom are still under arrest. The suspects were arrested between Jan. 10, 2009 and April 17, 2009. (11th wave and later on)
27 July 2009
HSYK (The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors) and Justice Ministery reached a compromise on the appointment of Ergenekon prosecutors.
Earlier, members of HSYK demanded the reassignment of the judges and prosecutors of the ongoing Ergenekon probe, while Justice Ministry resisted this demand. This led to a three week deadlock which was finally resolved on 27 July with the decision that Ergenekon prosecutors would keep their positions, but a second name, Istanbul Vice Chief Public Prosecutor Olcay Seçkin, would also be assigned to the prosecution team. Ministry of Justice would launch an inquiry into the complaints and charges against the Ergenekon prosecutors, if sufficient evidence exists. Three week deadlock created a huge public controversy, while both HSYK and ministry accused each other for exceeding their powers. The debates were triggered when the photos of a meeting between Ali Suat Ertosun, a member of HSYK, and Engin Aydın, an Ergenekon suspect, appeared on the journals.
--------
Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga said the following about Ergenekon on February 17, 2009: "Turkish Gladio was unique. Turkey was on the Gladio coordination committee, but it was not on the political committee. The Turkish organization had a more independent structure. I can assure you that Turkey always held a special place. Turkey never allowed NATO to interfere in its internal affairs. I have no evidence but it seems that Turkish army maintained the Gladio structure in order to preserve the secular system.” On continuing the investgation of the Turkish deep state, Felice Casson, the prosecutor of Gladio in Italy. declared on April 28, 2008: "You must go to the end in the investigation. There are such significant accusations that you have to go to the end to clarify things. Otherwise this is so dangerous for democracy.”
However, there are interests in Washington, including President Obama, who want to see the Turks end their investigation of Ergenekon. Some people are getting nervous where the Ergenekon road will lead and many of them are in America's capital city and in the offices overlooking Old Jerusalem.
An omen? A marble slab (left) on the wall of the Hagia Sophia, the former basilica of the Eastern Catholic Church of Byzantium in Istanbul (formertly Constantinople) built in 360 AD. The church became a mosque after the cnquest of Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II in 1453. With President Obama playing host this week in Washington for a nuclear summit, is the natural design on the slab from over three centuries since the birth of Jesus, an omen?
Both Moscow and Grozny do not allow human rights groups or foreign journalists to visit any of the trouble spots in the North Caucasus.
