The trial of 151 defendants detained as part of an operation launched in July 2008 to bring down the Anafor gang, of which 43 are currently under arrest, started in İzmir on Monday. During Monday's hearing, suspected group leader Ahmet Tekin Baykal testified to the court regarding allegations made against him, including claims he has ties to Ergenekon.
Baykal said he has no links with the Ergenekon terrorist organization and that he is not acquainted with suspected Ergenekon leader Veli Küçük. “What kind of a relationship can I have with an organization that planned to assassinate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and that plotted coups?” he told the court.
In late August a request to combine the trial of members of the Anafor gang, currently being heard by the İzmir 8th High Criminal Court, with the trial of Ergenekon on the grounds that Baykal formed a criminal organization upon an order from Küçük, was rejected. The court cited the staggering volume of paperwork and evidence so far compiled in the first Ergenekon trial, which includes 46 suspects, the Anafor suspects' questioning by court not yet having been completed and the high number of victims, plaintiffs and suspects in the Anafor trial as the reasons behind the rejection.
Sami Hoştan, who is also an Ergenekon suspect, is charged with leading an armed terrorist organization in the Anafor trial.
