So far only the Cumhuriyet newspaper, which was subject to a hand grenade attack believed to have been organized by Ergenekon in 2007, and Turkey Human Rights Foundation (THİV) head Şebnem Korur Fincancı have been granted co-plaintiff status in the case. However, hundreds of people from the Southeast have applied so far, stating they have been affected by Ergenekon. In the ‘90s, thousands in the Kurdish-dominated Southeast and some eastern cities disappeared or were brutally killed by an illegal secret intelligence unit inside the gendarmerie set up to fight terrorism called JİTEM, believed to be the most important armed mechanism of the organization. Several retired generals and former army members of various ranks are currently jailed as Ergenekon suspects, mainly due to their roles in establishing and structuring JİTEM and giving orders for extra-judicial operations against area people.
Applications from families of JİTEM victims have either been overturned or gone completely unanswered so far in the case. When some retired army officers believed to have been crucial to JİTEM’s organization and activities during their tenure in the Southeast, including retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, retired Gen. Veli Küçük, retired Col. Hasan Atilla Uğur, retired Col. Msutafa Levent Göktaş and retired Col. Arif Doğan, were apprehended in the investigation, hundreds from the region applied to be added as co-plaintiffs to the case, hoping this might finally be their chance to hold the killers of their loved ones legally accountable. These included the families of former Kurdish politicians Serdar Tanış and Ebubekir Deniz, who disappeared in 2001 after being taken to a Silopi gendarmerie post. The families of Tanış and Deniz have accused Ersöz of being responsible for their relatives’ deaths from the start of the investigation. The families also applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which ruled in 2005 that there was a violation of articles on the right to life, prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to liberty and security and the right to an effective remedy. The court also found that Turkey violated two other articles with its sloppy investigation into the disappearances and by failing to supply the ECtHR all the required documents. Turkey was fined 172,000 euros, to be paid to the families as compensation. The family also applied to the İstanbul 13th Court for co-plaintiff status, but they have not received an answer from the court.
Tahir Elçi, a lawyer for families of three other JİTEM victims, has also requested that a case being heard by a Diyarbakır court against 11 individuals who worked for JİTEM be merged with the Ergenekon trial. The three men were tortured and killed in 1989 after being taken to a JİTEM post in Silopi. Retired Col. Doğan was the commander of the post.
Other applications to the court for co-plaintiff status have come from Pervin Buldan, a Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy whose husband, Savaş Buldan, was killed in 1994. Documented information regarding his murder as well as that of Kurdish businessman Behçet Cantürk in the same year was found during an operation into Ergenekon in 2008 in the home of Ergenekon suspect Hikmet Çiçek. However, Pervin Buldan has not yet had any success in her struggle.
Former Human Rights Association (İHD) President Akın Birdal, who was the target of an armed attack in 1998 associated with Ergenekon’s activities, also asked for co-plaintiff status. DTP officials have also applied, as the investigators have now foiled Ergenekon plans to assassinate DTP leader Ahmet Türk and the party’s Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir. So far, none of these individuals’ petitions have been accepted. Dicle Anter, son of Musa Anter, who was executed by JİTEM in 1992; Şükran Aydın, wife of Vedat Aydın, head of the now-defunct Kurdish party DEP’s Diyarbakır branch; Cihan Sincar, spouse of Mehmet Sincar, a deputy killed by JİTEM have also applied. These applications were rejected by the court.
The sons of Kadir Keremoğlu, a 75-year-old man who was allegedly thrown out of a helicopter by JİTEM, also applied to the court in 2008. So far, nothing has come from the petition. Other agencies that have applied for co-plaintiff status include the İzmir branch of the Contemporary Jurists’ Association (ÇHD), various DEP deputies, the Diyarbakır Bar Association and the Jurists’ Association. However, none of these applications have been accepted.
According to Elçi, the court’s reluctance to grant co-plaintiff status has negatively affected people’s confidence in the judicial process. According to him, if co-plaintiff status is more readily granted to applicants, the process might change and public support for the trial could possibly soar.
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