Today, the 13th High Criminal Court of Istanbul heard retired general Veli Küçük in the Ergenekon case. Küçük said “I have never made a mistake in my life, I always obeyed the laws. But I had never thought that the state could devise a plot.

Küçük was accused by Osman Yıldırım, suspect of the attack on the State Council and whose name is connected with the Susurluk conspiracy, as the person who gave the order for the bombing of the newspaper “Cumhuriyet”.

“Güney was used in this scenario”

Replying to the claim that he had not gone to the Commission for the Investigation of the Susurluk Conspiracy to give his statement, Küçük said he had actually never been invited by the commission. He also added that Fikri Sağlar, then a member of the Parliamentary commission, had already mentioned this detail in some his speeches.

According to Ntvmsnbc.com, the number one suspect of the Ergenekon, Küçük, talked for the first time. He described how he came across Susurluk and how he met Tuncay Güney.

He said Güney was chosen as a pawn in this investigation. He added that Güney's statement was forced out of him and he was used in this scenario.

Küçük said they had been trying to corner him for while and he was taken into custody in connection with this plan.

Unsolved murders

About the topic of the unsolved murders in the province of Kocaeli during his time as the gendarmerie commander in the province, he said, “There can never be an unsolved murder in my area. I will solve them. My lawyer had petitioned the authorities to find out if there had been any unsolved murders during my time. Next day, the newspapers wrote ‘the court was investigating the unsolved murders’. But they did not write that my lawyer had written a petition.”

“JİTEM is an attack on the Armed Forces”

Arguing that his work at the intelligence unit was being presented as a crime, Küçük said he had worked at the intelligence groups of the Gendarmerie Command Post. Saying this was an official unit, he added the following:

“They insisted on putting the name JİTEM, the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit, in the indictment. The Gendarmerie has never had such a unit. They are trying to give the impression as if there is a secret, an illegal organization. The intelligence groups of the Gendarmerie have never been in illegal activities. JİTEM is an attack on the Armed Forces.”

“Sedat Peker is not a gang leader”

Regarding his relationship with crime leaders such as Sedat Peker and Sami Hoştan, Küçük refused to admit them as criminal gang leaders.

Küçük said that Hoştan had informed him of the accident [Susurluk] since he had known both Hüseyin Kocadağ and Sedat Bucak. When he had called the police chief to get more information, he had found out that a person named Mehmet Özbay had been killed as well.

Since it had been heard a month before the incident that Abdullah Çatlı had been using the name “Mehmet Özbay”, he called and tipped the police chief.

Küçük also added that he was introduced to Güney through an older retired soldier and pointd out that he used to bring questionable information from time to time while stationed in the province of Giresun.

He said he thought Güney was giving all this information in order to keep his contact with him alive, but later he tried to keep him away from himself. (EÖ/TB)