The tenth wave of arrests in the Ergenekon investigation has led to the discovery of plans to attack the Armenian community in Sivas, central Anatolia. The young man to be used as a hitman was called Ersin Gönenci. A picture of him in front of a Turkish flag is a chilling reminder of similar pictures taken of the young hitmen of the priest Andrea Santoro in Trabzon in 2006 (Oğuzhan Akdin) and of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul in 2007 (Ogün Samast).

Products of the same mind set

According to Dink family lawyer Ergin Cinmen, these men are “the product of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis perpetuated in Turkey for years.”Cinmen argues that the murders of Dink, Santoro, as well as three Christians in Malatya in 2007, all stem from the same source as the Ergenekon organisation.

Gönenci, who has been arrested for his contacts with arrested former Police Special Operations officer İbrahim Şahin, was to be set up as an assassin of an Armenian citizen in Sivas, just as Samast had been set up as the hitman for Hrant Dink.

"Nationalist, unemployed and keen to prove himself"

The Radikal newspaper yesterday (13 January) drew attention to the similarities between all these young men under the heading “This criminal profile is well-known in Turkey.” The article likened Gönenci to Samast, “a character defining himself as nationalist, unemployed, and keen to prove himself.” It is being assumed that these young men were all guided by “older brothers” in the background.

Cinmen argues that if Gönenci has relations to the Ergenekon organisation, that the other murders should be investigated for similar relations.(EÖ/AG)