MİT executives face serious accusations, trial process uncertain

İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Fikret Seçen on Wednesday said National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, his predecessor Emre Taner and MİT Deputy Undersecretary Afet Güneş were summoned to testify in the ongoing investigation into the KCK. Reports said that MİT agents inside the KCK might have had a hand in the group's crimes.

Contributing to the uncertainty of the possible trial process, MİT appealed on Thursday the İstanbul prosecutor's move to summon Fidan to testify in the probe, saying the prosecutor needs the permission of the Prime Ministry to do so.

Amidst controversy whether the three were going to comply with the call or not, MİT appealed the prosecutor's move on Thursday. MİT said in a brief statement that the prosecutor's office should have asked the permission of the prime minister for such a move.

Meanwhile, Fidan on Thursday met with President Abdullah Gül at the Çankaya presidential palace.

Government and opposition politicians continued to comment on the developments. In a comment he made on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said law enforcers should be able to distinguish a terrorist from someone who is not a terrorist. Responding to questions from the press in Parliament on the recent developments in the KCK investigation, Bozdağ said infiltrating terrorist groups was one of MİT's duties. “In judicial investigations and examinations, meticulously sorting out who performed their duty along this line and, while enforcing the law, distinguishing a terrorist from someone who isn't a terrorist, is a duty that lies with those who are performing their judicial duties.”

He expressed his opinion that accusing individuals who put their own lives at stake while serving their county of collaborating with the terrorist organization was wrong, and said he failed to understand the judicial logic behind the investigation. Bozdağ said a healthy evaluation could be made later in light of evidence that will come out, but noted that as far as the information at hand is concerned, no crime was committed.

An opposition politician, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Erdoğan Toprak used the opportunity to criticize the government. He said the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) had attempted to take over Turkey’s judicial institutions, but that its move backfired. “The important thing is not to take over public agencies and hold them under one’s custody, but managing those agencies properly. The scales the AK Party tampered with are now weighing down on party itself,” he said.

Toprak accused the AK Party of filling Turkey’s long-rooted institutions and agencies with its “own people,” which has resulted in several conflicts at the macro and micro level. “This is what we are seeing today,” he said.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also commented on the KCK investigation, accusing the government of creating needless tension in the country. He said he wanted to “make a sincere appeal from the heart” to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and said: “Please, do not create tension. Do not create an arena for conflict, don’t divide people along religious lines.”

“One day they summon the MİT undersecretary, the other day the chief of General Staff is arrested,” he said, referring to the recent arrest of retired Gen. İlker Başbuğ, Turkey’s former chief of the military. “We have tensions with our neighbors; our citizens have no peace left. We are not being governed well. Our people do not deserve this administration.” He said a new shock hits Turkey every day, and ordinary people were disturbed by these incidents.

Meanwhile, on Thursday former intelligence officials offered harsh criticism of the way Fidan was summoned at a conference in İstanbul, an official they said has the trust of the prime minister and government officials. They added that Fidan being summoned without the knowledge of the prime minister, his deputy and the chief public prosecutor is completely unlawful.

Speaking at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), former MİT Deputy Undersecretary Cevat Öneş said this situation needs more careful assessment and stated that the procedure of summoning Fidan is not bound to any legal system. He added that this development shows how important the need for Turkey’s democratization is, criticizing the political opposition for exploiting the situation. Öneş said the fact that the opposition failed to handle the issue as a fundamental matter and has instead exploited it for domestic purposes is very meaningful.

What is behind the probe?

The Bugün daily reported on Thursday that a number of documents found during the investigation were the reason for the prosecutor to summon the three intelligence officers to testify. Bugün claimed that according to the documents the KCK was actually founded under MİT oversight. Some orders for some of the KCK’s attacks were given from sources inside the MİT to the terrorists, Bugün claimed.

The newspaper said the investigation into the three MİT executives was launched on Jan. 13, 2012, by the İstanbul Prosecutor’s Office after 21 people were detained as part of the probe into the “PKK/KCK terrorist organization.” Thirty-nine organizations, including the Diyarbakır head office of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), were searched during the raids on Jan. 12. Twelve voice recordings -- which Bugün said appear to be a continuation of the controversial Oslo talks -- between the MİT delegation and senior administrators of the terrorist organization were found there. Other evidence, including six handwritten letters by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and 19 other documents, including orders from Öcalan, also serve as proof for the accusations the three MİT executives will face, Bugün claimed.

Bugün says that, based on the documents found at the BDP building, the prosecutors now suspect the MİT delegation -- apart from gathering intelligence and acquiring information -- in fact served to facilitate running the organization. The formation of the KCK was initiated and completed under the oversight of MİT, according to Bugün’s report. Promises made by MİT to the PKK also served to facilitate the formation of the KCK. MİT, the documents indicate, also failed to act to stop planned attacks by the PKK. It even helped the terrorists to relay orders for attacks to PKK bases in northern Iraq and in rural areas in Turkey. The prosecutors, Bugün claims, suspect that MİT executives and its agents went beyond gathering intelligence and worked against the unity of the Turkish state and the constitutional order. Another document found at the BDP building indicates that MİT promised constitutional amendments to allow for an autonomous Kurdistan in Turkey’s Southeast and having the PKK serve as the police force in this Kurdistan. It even allowed for peacekeepers from the UN or NATO to be stationed in the region.

Yonca Poyraz Doğan contributed to the report from İstanbul.