Retired General Arrested on ''Black Propaganda''
Former Commander of the 1st Field Army, retired General Hasan Iğsız has been arrested today on allegations regarding the establishment of faux web sites in order to propagate against the government.
Iğsız is among the 14 military personnel for whom the court has issued a warrant of arrest recently. Retired Colonel Fuat Selvi had surrendered to authorities yesterday and was also arrested.
The investigation into the "Internet Memorandum" was initially launched upon an e-mail sent to the prosecutors of the Ergenekon trial. It was alleged in the e-mail that the General Staff Presidency had established 42 internet sites with the aim to spread black propaganda against the government and religious congregations.
It was also written that the Information Support Department that is affiliated with the General Staff constantly observed 430 domestic and foreign internet sites. Additionally, the so-called "Internet Memorandum" was included in the e-mail.
After having completed the investigation, Special Authority Public Prosecutor Cihan Kansız sent the indictment to the 13th High Criminal Court. The indictment also requested a merger of the investigation with the trial on the "Action Plan against Reactionary Forces". Colonel Dursun Çiçek is detained defendant of the latter case under allegations of having signed the "Action Plan against Reactionary Forces".
Colonel Çiçek is alleged to have had the anti-government websites prepared. As reported by the nationwide Radikal newspaper, Çiçek sent a three-page petition to the prosecutor's office in order to correct certain parts of his statement he gave in the scope of the investigation in June. Thereupon, the prosecution summoned Çiçek again to give his revised statement.
Çiçek stated that the duty to audit the websites was his as much as it was his superiors'. He mentioned commanders Lieutenant General Mehmet Eröz, Lieutenant General İsmail Hakkı Pekin and Major General Hıfzı Çubuklu.
While General Eröz claimed in his statement that 'there were problems with the contents of the sites that he did not know about', Çiçek stated that his superiors did have knowledge about the contents. (EKN/EÜ)