7 December 2009 / TANJU ÖZKAYA, İSTANBUL
There has been no progress in the Ergenekon probe in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) in the past eight months, and the current government of Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu is attempting to quiet down the ongoing Ergenekon investigation in the country, former Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer claimed in an interview with Today’s Zaman. Soyer charged that the KKTC Interior Ministry must demand the necessary evidence from Turkey to fully investigate the case. However, the ministry does nothing, and instead attempts to block the investigation, which also involves former President Rauf Denktaş and incumbent Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu.
The Ergenekon investigation in Cyprus began after Soyer filed a request last March with the Chief Prosecutor’s Office requesting an investigation into allegations against Denktaş and Eroğlu in the second indictment in Turkey’s Ergenekon trial. The prosecution claims that Ergenekon was behind more than 50 unsolved attacks and assassinations between 1989 and 2004 against members of the Republican Turks Party (CTP). Now in the opposition following the elections earlier this year, Soyer said they always fight to keep the Ergenekon investigation on the agenda, yet some circles try to thwart their efforts. In 2004, a large amount of C-4 type explosives was discovered in northern Cyprus inside a car that was determined to belong to a noncommissioned military officer. Nothing came out of the investigation into the officer, who was serving in the Special Forces Command.
“Courts in northern Cyprus are too independent. The only problem is that we cannot continue the investigation,” Soyer added. The Ergenekon indictment’s section on Cyprus also claims that Eroğlu has granted citizenship to several people who have been arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation.
