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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/20/europe/turkey.php
86 accused in coup plot go on trial in Turkey
SILIVRI, Turkey: One of the most sensational public trials in Turkish history began Monday when a court started hearing a case against 86 people, among them retired army generals, journalists and common criminals, charged with crimes including assassinations and bomb attacks in a plot to topple the government.
The main focus of the case is an illicit ultranationalist network known as Ergenekon - the name is a reference to a central Asian Turkic legend. Prosecutors claim that members of the organization used violence in an attempt to incite chaos in society and weaken support for the government to pave the way for the fifth coup in the history of modern Turkey.
There have been some murders and other attacks, amid evidence that a broad conspiracy was at play, though how firm the evidence is remains to be seen.
The charges against the group, made public this summer in a 2,455-page indictment, include the murders of a judge, a priest, a journalist, three workers of a Christian publishing house, and the bombing of a newspaper. The group is also charged with plotting to kill public figures, including Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the governing Justice and Development party has been accused of using the case to silence critics who say his party has an Islamist agenda that undermines the secularism that is a founding principle of modern Turkey. The party says that it has moved past its Islamist roots and has a modernizing agenda that includes greater freedom of religious expression.
A powerful elite of military officers, judges and senior bureaucrats has steered the country from behind the scenes since its inception in 1923 and has overthrown the government four times. That group's violent fringe was, in effect, on trial here Monday, in what appears to be the first major effort for a public accounting of state-sponsored crime.
There are other issues besides the suspected coup involved in the case - including political assassinations, other murder plots and possible attacks on NATO sites - that make it appear broader than a struggle between the elite and the governing party, and one of the accused is a member of Justice and Development: Turhan Comez, a lawmaker who has fled Turkey.
The case has shocked Turkish society. Criticism of the military, even of former officers, is extremely rare, and the fact that Turkey is holding the trial at all is seen by some as victory for open society here.
The indictment states that network "turned our country into a mafia and terror heaven."
The investigation started last year when the police, following a telephone tip, raided an apartment in a working-class neighborhood in Istanbul and found a cache of hand grenades. The grenades had the same identifying numbers as those used in a bomb attack on the offices of a newspaper supporting the elite, Cumhuriyet.
The Turkish police later arrested several suspects, including Veli Kucuk, a retired army general, and Dogu Perincek, a political leader believed to have ties to a Kurdish separatist group that the military has been fighting for years. The police also confiscated documents that prosecutors say outlined in a PowerPoint presentation how to restructure the state.
During a raid of a nationalist group in Ankara, the police said they had found a document in a laptop computer that outlined an action plan to be taken if anyone from Justice and Development were to take the presidency. But there was no violence after a party member, Abdullah Gul, was elected president in August 2007.
Actions included what the indictment described as "shock assassinations" of the Greek and Armenian religious leaders in Turkey, as well as a prominent Jewish businessman, Ashak Alaton.
The Justice and Development party and Erdogan, its leader, were an important focus for the plotters, the authorities say.
One of the suspects, Tuncay Ozkan, a journalist and the founder of a television network, Kanalturk, was a principle organizer of anti-government rallies that drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets last year.
On Monday, a large, noisy crowd of the suspects' supporters waved flags and hurled insults outside the court, which is located on the grounds of a prison.
86 accused in coup plot go on trial in Turkey
SILIVRI, Turkey: One of the most sensational public trials in Turkish history began Monday when a court started hearing a case against 86 people, among them retired army generals, journalists and common criminals, charged with crimes including assassinations and bomb attacks in a plot to topple the government.
The main focus of the case is an illicit ultranationalist network known as Ergenekon - the name is a reference to a central Asian Turkic legend. Prosecutors claim that members of the organization used violence in an attempt to incite chaos in society and weaken support for the government to pave the way for the fifth coup in the history of modern Turkey.
There have been some murders and other attacks, amid evidence that a broad conspiracy was at play, though how firm the evidence is remains to be seen.
The charges against the group, made public this summer in a 2,455-page indictment, include the murders of a judge, a priest, a journalist, three workers of a Christian publishing house, and the bombing of a newspaper. The group is also charged with plotting to kill public figures, including Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the governing Justice and Development party has been accused of using the case to silence critics who say his party has an Islamist agenda that undermines the secularism that is a founding principle of modern Turkey. The party says that it has moved past its Islamist roots and has a modernizing agenda that includes greater freedom of religious expression.
A powerful elite of military officers, judges and senior bureaucrats has steered the country from behind the scenes since its inception in 1923 and has overthrown the government four times. That group's violent fringe was, in effect, on trial here Monday, in what appears to be the first major effort for a public accounting of state-sponsored crime.
There are other issues besides the suspected coup involved in the case - including political assassinations, other murder plots and possible attacks on NATO sites - that make it appear broader than a struggle between the elite and the governing party, and one of the accused is a member of Justice and Development: Turhan Comez, a lawmaker who has fled Turkey.
The case has shocked Turkish society. Criticism of the military, even of former officers, is extremely rare, and the fact that Turkey is holding the trial at all is seen by some as victory for open society here.
The indictment states that network "turned our country into a mafia and terror heaven."
The investigation started last year when the police, following a telephone tip, raided an apartment in a working-class neighborhood in Istanbul and found a cache of hand grenades. The grenades had the same identifying numbers as those used in a bomb attack on the offices of a newspaper supporting the elite, Cumhuriyet.
The Turkish police later arrested several suspects, including Veli Kucuk, a retired army general, and Dogu Perincek, a political leader believed to have ties to a Kurdish separatist group that the military has been fighting for years. The police also confiscated documents that prosecutors say outlined in a PowerPoint presentation how to restructure the state.
During a raid of a nationalist group in Ankara, the police said they had found a document in a laptop computer that outlined an action plan to be taken if anyone from Justice and Development were to take the presidency. But there was no violence after a party member, Abdullah Gul, was elected president in August 2007.
Actions included what the indictment described as "shock assassinations" of the Greek and Armenian religious leaders in Turkey, as well as a prominent Jewish businessman, Ashak Alaton.
The Justice and Development party and Erdogan, its leader, were an important focus for the plotters, the authorities say.
One of the suspects, Tuncay Ozkan, a journalist and the founder of a television network, Kanalturk, was a principle organizer of anti-government rallies that drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets last year.
On Monday, a large, noisy crowd of the suspects' supporters waved flags and hurled insults outside the court, which is located on the grounds of a prison.
