Council of State probe to start anew, rules Ergenekon court

The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is hearing the Ergenekon case and now the Council of State trial since the two were merged, has ruled for a new investigation to be launched. On Thursday, the court requested security footage recorded between May 3 and 17, 2006 -- the day of the attack -- from cameras of the Council of State, regardless of the claim that the cameras of the Council of State were not working at the time.

The court demanded footage from the Oyak Defense and Security Company, which operates the cameras, as well as footage from security cameras of nearby buildings. The court also requested the phone records of Alparslan Arslan, the hit man in the shooting, before the date of the attack from the Telecommunications Administration. The court also ruled to query the Selvi Hotel and other lodging facilities in Ankara's Ulus district to find out whether any of the Council of State suspects checked in between May 15 and 17, 2006. The court requested hard copies of the client records of the hotels' computers.

The court also sought a report on the 1996 Susurluk affair -- a car crash that had first revealed shady links between state officials and the mafia world, indicating the existence of a long-standing illegal formation inside the state -- from former Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz, as earlier evidence suggests that some of the Susurluk suspects could be among the masterminds of the Council of State shootings. Earlier, it had been claimed that former Prime Minister Yılmaz holds the only full copy of a report prepared by a parliamentary commission investigating the Susurluk affair at the time.

Mehmet Elkatmış, who headed the Susurluk commission, commented on this to Today's Zaman, saying: “This is an official report by the Prime Ministry's Inspection Council. This report should have gone into the state archives. Yes, a copy of this report might have been sent to Mr. Mesut Yılmaz, but the original should absolutely have been in the state repository. This is a scandal, and this cannot be accepted. The public as a whole knows that there is important information regarding many unresolved murders in that report.”

Elkatmış recalled an incident during the time when the Susurluk affair was being investigated. He said the Gendarmerie General Command had submitted a statement to the parliamentary commission investigating the Susurluk incident denying the existence of JİTEM, an illegal and clandestine unit inside the gendarmerie force. “The disappearance of the report shows that shady gangs are still at work here. There is such a thing as JİTEM, and it needs to be investigated; this is why we have stated that in our report.” He stated the gendarmerie had made a false statement to a parliamentary investigation commission, which he described as one of the country's highest institutions. “And those who have made that false statement should also be questioned. A thorough investigation into JİTEM would solve many cases, as JİTEM is implicated in nearly all of the unresolved murders in the Southeast,” he noted.

Fikri Sağlar, who was a member of the Susurluk commission, agreed, saying, “The fact that such an important report cannot be found in state repositories is the greatest evidence that gangs inside the state are still continuing their existence.” He said he believed this structure was responsible for impeding the transfer of this document to the court. He recalled that some sections of the report had never been made public. “A copy of the same report was given to coalition partners Bülent Ecevit and Hüsamettin Cindoruk. But sections that supposedly include ‘state secrets' are still a mystery. If this report doesn't make it to the Ergenekon court, this would be a major obstacle in the way of revealing the link between Susurluk and Ergenekon,” Sağlar said, reiterating his earlier assertion that the disappearance of the report can be seen as proof of this link.

The court also contacted the General Directorate of Highways, inquiring about the times and dates Arslan's automobile traveled on toll bridges and highways. The court also called for an investigation into the ownership of his automobile, including its former owner or owners. The court also requested that the İstanbul Bar Association assign a new lawyer to defend Council of State suspect Osman Yıldırım, as he has testified against some of the Ergenekon suspects. Yıldırım's current lawyer also represents a number of Ergenekon suspects.

The trial was adjourned until Sept. 28.