Prosecutors are now investigating whether Ergenekon is connected to a terrorist bombing that occurred in İstanbul’s Güngören district in late July, killing 18 people, and an armed attack at the US Consulate General in the first week of July that left three police officers dead. Three more people were detained in the Ergenekon investigation late Thursday evening. Currently, 86 people are being indicted over alleged links to Ergenekon with 50 of them already in custody. The suspected gang members will begin appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face accusations that include “membership in an armed terrorist group,” “attempting to destroy the government,” “inciting people to rebel against the Republic of Turkey” and other similar crimes.
Thursday’s detentions came after a police raid was launched following an anonymous call. The police seized military ammunition that included 280 hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs, a large number of guns and a thousand bullets from the home of retired Col. Arif Doğan, said to be one of the founders of JİTEM -- an intelligence unit in the gendarmerie whose existence is officially denied.
In addition to Doğan, two other suspects were also taken into custody.
The Ergenekon investigation, which exposed a powerful ultranationalist crime network with the ultimate purpose of overthrowing the government, began with an arms depot discovery in an Ümraniye shanty house in İstanbul slightly over a year ago.
The prosecutor’s office also issued an arrest warrant yesterday for retired Gen. Levent Ersöz and former Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Turan Çömez. The two have long been suspected of membership in Ergenekon. They both are believed to be abroad.
Doğan accused of human smuggling
An anonymous former member of the intelligence unit JİTEM has claimed that Doğan led groups organizing illegal fuel and human smuggling during the years he served in the terror-stricken Southeast.
The source also claimed that Doğan was linked to the murder of Cem Ersever, a former army major who was mysteriously killed in 1993. His archive and confessions on JİTEM’s activities in the Southeast were later found during a raid on the home of Veli Küçük, another retired general currently arrested on charges of Ergenekon leadership.
The same source said Doğan was still under the protection of various groups within the state. He also claimed that Doğan received a commission from the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for allowing the terrorist group to smuggle fuel into the Southeast.
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