Lt. Col. Mustafa Dönmez, who surrendered to military authorities on Jan. 12, 2009 following a search of his home earlier in the month that turned up hand grenades, Kalashnikovs and various other arms, appeared before a military court yesterday. The court, headed by Maj. Cemil Çelik, handed down a four-year sentence to Dönmez, who was also discharged from the military.
A large cache of ammunition and weapons was found buried underground in Ankara’s Zir Valley during excavations carried out based on a map found in Dönmez’s house in Sakarya. The weapons found there were registered to the TSK, according to a report from Turkey’s sole weapons manufacturer, the state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE).
Dönmez, considered a key suspect in the ongoing Ergenekon investigation, fled from the police when they first attempted to detain him. He later pledged that he would turn himself in to security forces. Dönmez has always maintained that he is a victim of a conspiracy and denied that the ammunition and weapons found in the valley belonged to the TSK. He wants the court to find and examine the fingerprints of the police officers who participated in the excavations in the valley.
He also accused the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) of being part of the conspiracy targeting him. In his testimony Dönmez claimed that he had never “touched” a weapon in his life. “I am a person of intellectual pursuits. I even see those who cut down trees as murderers. How can I ever have anything to do with weapons and ammunition?” he said.
