Ergenekon case

The Clandestine Paramilitary Organization:

Biggest threat to the democracy in Turkey and to the US-Turkish Relations

"Ergenekon" is the name given to a clandestine, ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with ties to members of the country's military and security forces. The group is accused of terrorism in Turkey. Its agenda has variously been described as Anti-Americanist, anti-EU and isolationist.

Over a hundred people, including several generals, party officials, and a former secretary general of the National Security Council, have been detained or questioned since July 2008. Hearings began on 20 October 2008, and are expected to continue for over a year. Commentators in the Turkish press have called Ergenekon "the case of the century". According to the indictment of the trial against the organization, the group's claim to legitimacy is that it allegedly protects national interests, which the defendants believe are incompatible with the rule of the democratically elected government and are harmed by Turkey's alleged concessions to the United States and European Countries, in short, West. In Turkey, the extensions of the state—the establishment—that are considered responsible for this are referred to as the "deep state". 

Members have been indicted on charges of plotting to foment unrest, among other things by assassinating intellectuals, politicians, judges, military staff, and religious leaders, with the ultimate goal of toppling the incumbent government in a coup that was planned to take place in 2009. This follows allegations published in a news magazine, Nokta, that several abortive coups with the same intent were planned a few years ago. The proximate motive behind these false flag activities is said to be to discredit the incumbent ruling party and derail Turkey's accession process to the European Union. Several months after revealing the coup, the magazine was closed because of the military pressure. In addition, through the judiciary system the clandestine organization is trying to expand the pressure on the media with regard to the court case and trying to have journalists report against the case. Now around 4,000 journalists are facing trials or investigations due to their reports on the Ergenekon case.

Turkey has already been through four (4)"successful" military coups since democratic elections were first held in 1950. At the first coup d'état in 1960, the junta executed the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country, Adnan Menderes and two of his ministers. There were more coups in 1971, in 1980 and in 1997, with additional numerous attempted "un-successful" coups all through these years.

Ergenekon's modus operandi has been compared to Operation Gladio's Turkish branch, the Counter-Guerrilla. It has been said that the people who constitute the "deep state" are members of, or make use of, this covert organization, which was established at the beginning of the Cold War to contain communism. 

The organization was attempting to destabilize Turkey and produce support for a coup against the government. Therefore, there are many charges against the suspects of this organization. They are:

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  Membership in an armed terrorist group
  
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  Attempting to destroy the Turkish Government
  
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  Provoking people to rebel against the Government
  
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  Murder of Italian priest Father Andrea Santoro in February 2006
  
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  The attack on the State Council in 2006
  
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  The murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish Armenian journalist,  in 2007
  
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  Trying to assassinate prominent Turkish writer Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk
  
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  A shooting at the Council of State
  
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  A grenade attack on Cumhuriyet, a left-wing newspaper
  
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  Several attacks on priests in Malatya, a city of Turkey
  
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  Planning to assassinate Recep T. Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey
  

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  Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
  
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  The extreme-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C),
  
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  The Islamist organization Hizbullah,
  
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  The ultranationalist Turkish Revenge Brigades (TİT),
  
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  The Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army (TİKKO),
  
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  The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party(MLKP) and
  
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  The Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), an extreme group wishing to reinstate the Islamic Caliphate"
  

39 hand grenades,

2 detonated hand grenades,

11 kg of C-3 explosive,

1160 gr explosive blocks,

1 gas bomb,

10 fuses,

5 signal rockets,

3 smoke bombs,

21 TNT blocks,

1 re bomb,

84 capsules,

24 re cartridges,

50 bomb fuses,

35 bomb fuses of various sizes,

1 training grenade,

2 explosive pipes,

18 gr Emolite explosive,

13-centimeter long fuse for explosive capsules,

3 tubes of hydraulic acid,

3 long-range rifle,

2 rifles,

2 air rifles,

21 shotguns,

3 blank shooting revolvers,

34 cartridges,

1074 shotshells,

73 hunting shotshells,

1 silencer,

2 detonated mortar shells,

9 detonated anti-aircraft shells,

A bayonet, knives, a large number of bearings, time-controlled fuses and other material used in, making bombs, and wireless communication devices.

Another important aspect of the Ergenekon case is its Russian connection. Most of the arrested individuals has strong tie to Russia. Former Gendarmerie General Command intelligence department head Levent Ersöz who was also the alleged sales director of Rosoboronexport, a Russian arms exporter, fled the country since a search warrant has been issued for him in the Ergenekon investigation. An Interpol red bulletin was issued for him. He is currently in Russia free of movement. Alexander Dugin, a loyal supporter of Putin, is a great supporter of the Ergenekon Terrorist network. He asked necessary action to response investigation against anti-American and pro-Russian network from Putin and Medvedev. He is considering this operation as a challenge of Turkey against Russia.

Called the “Cage Operation Action Plan,” the desired result from the intimidation of Turkey’s non-Muslims and the assassination of prominent ones, was that an increase in internal and external pressure on the ruling party would ensue, leading to diminishing public support for the party.

The Cage action plan was signed by Lt. Col. Ercan Kireçtepe and was planned to be put into operation by a team of 41 members of the Naval Forces Command. It envisaged the assassination of prominent non-Muslim figures and the spreading of propaganda to increase internal and external pressure on the AK Party, leading to its demise in politics, according to the plan.

The action plan would be implemented to lend support to suspects arrested so far as part of the Ergenekon investigation, render ineffective so-called psychological warfare waged by the AK Party and its supporters (against the military), change the course of the agenda in Turkey, boost the morale of the junta within the Naval Forces Command, and win the appreciation and support of the public. The blame for each of the assassinations by the junta would be put on the AK Party.

“The Action Plan To Combat (Islamic) Reactionaryism”, which was seized in the Office of Serdar Öztürk, one of the defendants under arrest as part of the Ergenekon probe, comprises 300 pages. The action plan incorporating strategic assessments contains suicides, bombing actions and attacks, which would lead to repercussions in the public.

A 4 page part of the document, which has been allegedly prepared by Senior Colonel Dursun Çiçek working in Support Section Directorate No 3 of the Operations Department in the Office of the Chief of General Staff, was published in the daily, Taraf, on June 12, 2009.

As recent update, in the last wave of the Ergenekon terrorist organization operation, currently, 36 individuals,including three retired generals and 10 active officers of various ranks is in detention in the police facility for interrogation due to their possible link to the terrorist network. In the house of fugitive Lt. Colonel Mustafa Donmez in the city of Sakarya, countless amounts of weapons, including 73 hand grenades, numerous guns and rifles along with Kalashnikov and Kanas firearms, have been found up to this point during raids as part of the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon. In addition to this arsenal, underground arsenals were recovered with 30 types of explosive and LAWs in Ankara’s Golbasi district based on a map found in the home of İbrahim Şahin, a former police chief of SWAT department. He is accused of giving order to assassinate an Armenian community member in the city of Sivas. Law Enforcement authorities are expecting other arsenals spread all over the Turkey.

The length of the indictment was received great amount of critics but many intellectuals declared their support to investigation and requested deepen the investigation in order to get rest of the people tied up with the Ergenekon. They see the case as an important step to democratization of Turkey. 

Until now many people were taken into police custody (86 suspects by November 2008) in relation to the Ergenekon case. At the beginning 37 members of the organization were arrested, including well-known military commanders, political leaders, newspaper columnists, and academicians, some of them are;

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  Sener Eruygur, Retired Full General and Former Head of Turkish Gendarmerie
  
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  Hursit Tolon, Retired Full General
  
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  Veli Kücük, a retired general,
  
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  Dogu Perincek, the chair of the Workers’ Party (IP),
  
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  Ilhan Selcuk, columnist at the Cumhuriyet newspaper,
  
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  Kemal Alemdaroglu, the former rector of Istanbul University (IU),  
  
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  Fikret Karadag, a retired colonel,
  
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  Kemal Kerincsiz, ultranationalist lawyer,
  
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  Sevgi Erenerol, press spokeswoman for the “Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate,” 
  
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  Tuncay Özkan, journalist, former owner of Kanal Türk TV station, and leader of the anti-Islamist "How many are we?" movement
  
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  Adil Serdar Saçan, former police chief of Istanbul Organized Crime Division
  
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  Sinan Aygün, President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce
  
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  Sami Hoştan, Susurluk scandal convict
  
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  Ferit Ilsever, General Manager of Ulusal TV Channel
  
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  Emin Gürses, Associate Professor at the Sakarya University.
  

Ganser describes the shadowy network in Turkey as "Turkish Frankestein".  In Turkey the secret NATO stay-behind army was called “Counter-Guerrilla” and operated under the direction of the Special Warfare Department. According to Turkish General Talat Turhan the secret army was involved in terror, torture and coup d’états. 

Codenamed "Gladio" ('the sword'), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of "The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II" (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that "The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller." (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called 'stay-behind' armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.

To read Ganser's full article on Turkey, please find Appendix.1

From the very beginning of the Ergenekon investigation and throughout the trial process the country has been divided into two camps. On the one hand, liberal, moderate Islamists argue that Ergenekon is a criminal network that carried out most of the unsolved political murders in recent Turkish history. On the other hand, Kemalists and neonationalists tend to downplay the importance of the Ergenekon network.

No matter how the Ergenekon trial ends, it will have a direct impact on anti-American sentiment in Turkey. It is no secret that the neonationalist groups, which include the leading figures of the Ergenekon network, have promoted anti-Americanism in Turkey. Ergenekon supporters frequently organize street protests to accuse the United States of plotting against the network (Yeni Safak, April 19). One of Turkey’s major Kemalist associations, Ataturkcu Dusunce Dernegi(Ataturkist Thought Association), organized a rally last July in protest against the Ergenekon trial. Protesters accused the United States of being the main force behind the Ergenekon inquiry (July 19). The Workers Party’s youth movement,Turkiye Genclik Brilgi (Turkish Youth Union) is active in public and on the internet describing the Ergenekon investigation as “an American plot against Turkish nationalists”. On the other hand, Ergenekon supporters recently organized a protest at Silivri Prison, where the Ergenekon trial is being held, to accuse the United States of intrigue against the Kemalists (Radikal, October 20).

It was reported that a public prosecutor had questioned Erol Olmez, one of the imprisoned Ergenekon suspects, about connections with the terror attack on the American consulate in Istanbul on July 9 (Hurriyet, November 12). Allegedly, Bulent Cinar, one of the terrorists killed during the shootout in front of the U.S. Consulate, had spoken on the telephone with Olmez (Taraf, November 13). There is not enough evidence to suggest that the neonationalists in general and the Ergenekon criminal network in particular may escalate their anti-American sentiment into that level of violence against American institutions, but it is clear that the neonationalists and Ergenekon are the two major sources of anti-Americanism in Turkey. Given that the arrested Ergenekon suspects were frequently commentators on TV shows and at public events and were also the main organizers of major rallies to protest the government and American policies in Turkey and in the Middle East, one can argue that the Ergenekon arrests should reduce the intensity of public anti-Americanism in 2008.

In addition to other factors, public antipathy toward the United States may be related to the intense anti-American campaign of leading Ergenekon figures, such as Dogu Perincek, Sener Eruygur, Hurist Tolon, and Emin Gurses. Turkish opinion about the United States and the American people had become increasingly negative until 2008:

Nearly half of Turks (46%) say they have a very unfavorable view of Americans, up from just 32% a year ago. 17% have a somewhat unfavorable view of Americans. Similarly, opinions of the U.S. fell from 30% very or somewhat favorable last year to 23% in the current survey (Pew Global Attitudes Report, Turkey, June 23, 2005, www.pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/247turkey.pdf).

According to German Marshall Funds of the United States’ Transatlantic Trends findings, on a 100-point “thermometer scale,” Turkish warmth toward the United State was 20 degrees in 2006. In 2007, when large scale rallies were organized by neonationalist groups and the anti-Americanism debate was intensified, Turkish warmth toward the United States dropped to 11 degrees. In June of 2008, before the Russian invasion of Georgia, Turkish warmth toward the United States increased by three degrees to 14 degrees. While Turkish warmth toward the United States has increased slightly this year, for first time since 2006 Turkish warmth toward Russia has decreased, by three points to 18 degrees (www.transatlantictrends.org, see the polls from 2006, 2007, and 2008).

The Ergenekon inquiry could be one of the factors that have reduced the intensity of anti-Americanism on TV stations and in newspapers. The news channel SKYTV, for instance, has dropped two programs that were airing anti-American themes in almost every show. The mainstream Istanbul daily Aksam, moreover, fired one of its columnists who is known for her relationship with the Ergenekon criminal network and anti-American sentiments.

Given the fact that the Ergenekon network’s supporters are trying hard to portray the Ergenekon trial as an American plot against the neonationalists, no matter how the Ergenekon trial ends, it will affect people’s opinion toward the United States in one way or another. If the major defendants are found not guilty and released, they will appear on television, blaming not only the ruling government but also the United States for their arrests. If the court convicts the Ergenekon suspects, their supporters will try to depict the sentences as politically motivated under pressure from the ruling government and the United States.

For instance, it is understood from the statements below that the organization considers it a success of itself that the Turkish Parliament did not approve the proposal of the Government (known as March 1st Missive) to let American Soldiers to use the American Military Bases in Turkey during the Iraqi War;

CD’s seized from the Labor Party (Indictment, p. 1487)

Although in the statement above the actions are introduced as a success of the Labor Party, as can be understood from the Indictment, Labor Party and/or the people that governs the Party have an important position within the Ergenekon terrorist organization. As a result of the searches made at the Labor Party facilities as part of the investigation, lots of organizational documents on Ergenekon (the structure and operations) and classified information (secret communications, security weaknesses etc.) about the strategic departments of the state (military, intelligence, judiciary) and records on people that work in those departments containing highly private and personal information as to their political, philosophical and religious views, their ethnic origins, immoral and illegal inclinations, sexual lives, health conditions or union relations [Indictment, p. 40]) have been seized.

. . . the Labor Party is leader party, a party of devotees and the unselfish. Our Republic has been destroyed with the 50 years small America period. The only response to this heavy destruction and threat is to unite the county based on a revolutionary program. The Labor Party is the blacksmith of Ergenekon and the inheritor of the 150 years old Turkish Revolution... The Labor Party has told the peoples of this country that only snake would emerge out of the fable of E.U., the Labor Party is the only party that stands with determination against the destructional actions of the imperialists of the U.S. and the E.U. and their local servants towards the Turkish Armed Forces.

CD’s seized from the Labor Party (Indictment, p. 1487)

It is also understood from an official message sent by the National Intelligence Service to the Headquarters of the Turkish Armed Forces that the National Intelligence Service has determined the place and importance of the Labor Party within the Ergenekon terrorist organization.   In that message that is labeled “Top Secret Copy” in which “Labor Party headquarters houses (cells)” are explained; it is explicitly mentioned in the document that “the Labor Party is secretly organized within the Turkish Army”, and the structure of this organization and the fact that the military personnel that have connection with the Labor Party possess explosives in their apartments are described and the names and contact information of those military personnel are given in detail (Indictment, p. 44). The fact that the message is original and not forged has been approved by the Prosecutor’s Office. The interesting thing is that this message has also been seized during the searches in the premises of the Labor Party.

As mentioned in the Indictment, another statement concerning the “March 1st Missive” is obtained from the recorded phone conversations between the suspects captured within the framework of the investigation. In those conversations suspect Erkut ERSOY, who is mentioned in the Indictment to be the leader of the intelligence unit of the terrorist organization, explicitly argues that they have contributed to the non-passage of the missive from the Parliament.

In the phone conversation between suspect Erkut ERSOY and another person named Müfit recorded on 22ndMarch 2007, it is understood that:

. . . Erkut said that “I spare my time mostly to field actions, brother, we will spend our time in the field”, Müfit replied, “Exactly, you have started then, as to myself, I have started almost around before the start of the Gulf War, after that if the missive has not been approved even with one vote short, we also have a contribution in that, we know that it has happened before they have been deployed beforehand, after that we did all we could, there is no need to repeat the same thing over and over” and after mentioning the work and actions they have taken Erkut also said that “I mean, Yes, so far we have relayed 34 thousand messages”.

(Indictment, p. 2156)

Ergenekon Terror Organization arranged anti-American protests and rallies/parades by using its non-governmental organizations (Combatant Veteran’s Association, Association of Martyr’s Families, Ataturkist Thought Association, National Power Platform, STK Union Platform, Crescent Moon-Star Association) (Indictment, p. 1844); It is understood that such activities against the U.S., E.U., and IMF are planned by Patriot Forces Power Association /Nationalist Forces Association (VKGB) (see Suspect Aki KUTLU’s interrogative/prosecutorial statement, Indictment, p. 2426); And “that the goals and activities of VKGB operate in the same line with ERGENEKON’s secret purposes and strategies  (Indictment, p. 115).

More importantly, their anti-American approach is not limited to only influencing and directing the government’s policies, or organizing legal and illegal social demonstrations, but also extended to their activities of planning and carrying out terrorist events against American targets.  

For instance, very detailed action plans against the NATO facilities were found in the CD that was confiscated in the office and residence of Ergenekon Suspect Hayati ÖZCAN, in the frame of Ergenekon Investigation/Inquiry. And NATO is well known of its high population of American officers/officials. According to the Indictment, the following information was also found in the CD:

ID information, color copies of IDs, scanned digital versions of signatures of all officers and staff that work in the NATO base, located in Şirinyer, Izmir, as well as pictures of buildings and facilities of that place, and yet pictures of family members of some high ranking commanders.

And yet, in the same CD:

(Indictment, p. 44)

And yet, as also showed in the media, the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Sariyer City, and three police officers killings by armed terrorists were not simply done by Al-Qaeda as it was claimed, but the same terrorist organization (Ergenekon) involvement. The alleged leader of the attacking group, Erkan KARGIN, was not found to have a concrete connection with Al-Qaeda, although it was said that he had a certain fondness to it. However, it was claimed that he was frequently visited by several public officials after he returned from Afghanistan in 2007(Köroğlu/Zaman, 2008),  and more importantly, when Erkan KARGIN was killed in the attack, his cell phone was investigated and found that he contacted with Erkut ERSOY (who was detained and accused of being the leader of organization’s intelligence services) and got the directives of this attack from him (Zengin/Sabah, 2008).   

            Why Ergenekon terrorist organization would want to attack to American Consulate is clarified by an Ergenekon suspect’s wire tapping conversations. Emin GURSES, allegedly takes part in the university structure of Ergenekon, states on the phone on January 23rd, 2008: “If they get me in, they know that our people will do anything to explode the ambassadors of the U.S. and Israel” (see Indictment, p.1309).

            In conclusion, the organizational documents confiscated during Ergenekon Investigation/Inquiry, the tapes of warm conversations among suspects, and the statements of suspects are full of evidence that show the anti-American face of Ergenekon terror organization, but not limited to the examples mentioned above. The Labor Party and its leader Dogu PERINCEK’s press statements, and mass media arguments on this issue so far are also supporting this claim. The Ergenekon members’ being so anti-American is due to their perception of seeing the U.S. as a direct threat to themselves. It is estimated that depending on the degree of perception of that threat, the degree and violence level will be increased or decreased. In addition, they are very much interested in political and governmental agendas, and in order to influence these agendas they may attempt to do some provocative activities. In this regard, American targets could be chosen due to their potential to attract all the attention from all around the World.

            On the other hand, there are two reasons of why Ergenekon members could believe that America had initiated all the operations made against the Ergenekon: (1) Either Ergenekon members cannot see the World and Turkey correctly/appropriately, and don’t have the ability to do that, or (2) in order to show and exaggerate their power more than it is, they may claim that it can only be the United States of America, but not Turkey, that can do such (big) operations against such a powerful organization.  By doing that they are trying to apply one of the techniques of psychological warfare, believing that they know those techniques so well. (Indeed,) Both of these possibilities show that this organization is not as powerful as the organization tries to show.