The Gang Could Be The Tip of The Iceberg

A police investigation into a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces has discovered that the group was plotting to stage a coup against the government in the year 2009 and that suspects so far apprehended are only the collaborators of the real plotters in the military, Turkish newspapers reported on Friday.

Revelations emanating from the investigation thus far have shown that many of the attacks attributed to separatist or Islamist groups or seen as hate crimes against minorities were actually "inside jobs."

Gang connected to many incidents

The investigation into the gang, 33 of whose members were taken into police custody earlier this week as part of an investigation into an arms depot found in Istanbul in June of last year, has exposed solid links between an attack on the Council of State in 2006, threats and attacks against people accused of being unpatriotic and a 1996 car crash known as the Susurluk incident, which revealed links between a police chief, a convicted ultranationalist fugitive and a member of Parliament as well as links to plans of some groups in Turkey's powerful military to overthrow the government.

Meanwhile, 15 of the suspects detained on Tuesday on charges of membership in the Ergenekon terrorist organization were taken to a courthouse in Istanbul's Besiktas district under tight security on Friday, while one of them, retired Maj. Zekeriya Öztürk, was arrested.

Three of the suspects were released on Thursday by the prosecutor after their interrogation was complete, while the court released one of the suspects.

Aggregate of "patriots"

The gang is a part of a structure named Ergenekon, declared a terrorist organization by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office, an aggregation of many groups of varying sizes, many of which have in their names adjectives such as "patriotic," "national," "nationalist," "Kemalist" or "Atatürkist." Ergenekon is the name of a legend that describes how Turks came into existence.

A number of those detained in the recent raids, including Veli Küçük, Sami Hoştan, Drej Ali and Muzaffer Tekin -- who was already in jail prior to Tuesday's detentions-- have repeatedly been named in many similar investigations.

Only the tip of the iceberg?

The investigation has found that the Ergenekon phenomenon, also referred to as Turkey's "deep state," stages attacks using "behind-the-scenes" paramilitary organizations to manipulate public opinion according its own political agenda.

The Radikal daily has reported that pundits are divided on whether the recent operation will help Turkey end the actions of such unlawful groups. Optimists believe the recent police operation was a major blow to the formation, while pessimists say the individuals detained as part of the Ergenekon operation are only the visible tip of the iceberg.

How far is the military involved?

Recalling that a newsweekly had uncovered generals' plans to overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2004, most pessimists say there are still groups in the military who are pursuing coup d'état ambitions.

"Since the civilians [currently in custody] cannot stage a coup, then who was going to?" asked the Taraf daily, urging the authorities to carry on with the investigation without fear. The prosecution is currently working on finding exactly those parts of the network that would hopefully link the current suspects to the bottom of the "iceberg."

Some of the allegations against Ergenekon

The investigation has so far found that the Ergenekon organization had plotted to kill Turkey's Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and other public figures to drag Turkey into chaos to create the perfect environment for a coup -- not unlike the atmosphere of the pre-1980 period, which ended with a violent military takeover -- that was to be staged in 2009.

Evidence so far also suggests that 700 kilograms of explosives found loaded on a van in Istanbul belonged to this gang. An attack against the Association for the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), also a murky group with shadowy affiliations, in Diyarbakır was actually staged by the VKGB itself, according the investigation. The attack had then been blamed on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) organization.

There is also evidence linking the Ergenekon gang to the assassination of Necip Hablemitoglu, shot to death in 2002 after concluding that residents of the Bergama region campaigning against gold prospecting in the area were being manipulated by Germans protecting their economic interests, in a comprehensive study he conducted on the subject.

Ibrahim Ciftci, an Izmir businessman questioned over the Hablemitoglu murder as a key suspect, was later killed by a hand grenade thrown into his Alsancak office, which, according to the businessman's son, was the work of the gang to keep him silent.

Hopes for solving Dink murder

In a statement on Friday, Nusret Gürgöz, a lawyer for the co-plaintiffs in the murder trial of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, said the recent police operation into Ergenekon had given hope for finding the real forces behind the murder of Dink.

"We are very hopeful now that the Ergenekon Operation has taken place. If light is shed on the Dink murder, this could be a start for the others."

The suspects and the hierarchy of the group

A large number of documents clearly showing the hierarchical structure of the group have also been seized in the recent operations. The organization's manifesto and even organizational charts showing the hierarchy of the group, future plans and lists of agencies the organization plans to infiltrate are among the documents Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz has already been through. According to a report from the Hürriyet daily, some members of the Ergenekon network were in the past active members of Hizbullah.

The suspects detained in Tuesday's operation included Veli Küçük, a retired major general who is also the alleged founder of an illegal intelligence unit in the gendarmerie, JITEM, the existence of which is denied by officials; controversial ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who filed countless suits against Turkish writers and intellectuals who were at odds with Turkey's official policies; Fikret Karadag, a retired army colonel; Sevgi Erenerol, the press spokesperson for a group called the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate; Güler Kömürcü, a columnist for the Aksam daily; and Sami Hostan, a key figure in the Susurluk investigation. Ali Yasak, a well-known gangster linked to the figures in the Susurluk incident, was also detained in the operation.

Thirteen arrests

Öztürk's arrest was followed by the arrest of twelve others, among them Kücük, Kerincsiz, Karadag, and Erenerol, as well as Muhammad Yüce, Kahraman Sahin, Erol Ölmez, and Erkut Ersoy.

Of the 33 detained, twenty were released after giving testimony, among them Fuat Turgut, the lawyer of Dink murder suspect Yasin Hayal, and Kömürcü. 

*This article was published in Today's Zaman on 26 January. Some subheadings and an update were added by bianet.