Ergenekon Defendant Yıldırım: "I Organised Cumhuriyet Bombing"

Osman Yıldırım, originally a suspect and then convict in the State Council attack, is now a detained defendant in the Ergenekon trial, as the two cases have been merged.

At yesterday's hearing (25 August), Yıldırım said that he had committed up to 500 crimes up to today.

No regrets about bombing

He admitted having organised the bombing of the Cumhuriyet newspaper in 2006 and said he did not regret it:

"It was a job that came to me, and I accepted it. I had young men bomb the Cumhuriyet newspaper. Because I was suspicious, I tried to find out the reason for it."

Speaking at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, Yıldırım said that he took part in 12 murders in 1982, but was not put on trial or sentenced because he was underage.

"In 1989 I went to prison for four years for a murder. I was released in 1993. Between 1993 and 1994 I did not commit any crimes. In 1994 I was arrested for the assasination of a mafia leader and went to Bayrampaşa prison. I am supposed to have been in prison during daytime but out  at night committing crimes. This is slander. I was sentenced by the Eyüp 1st High Criminal Court in 1994. Would a court hide some of my crimes and try me for others? If there had been other crimes, I would have been tried for them."

"Not involved" in State Council attack

After admitting to organising the bombing of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, he spoke about the State Council attack, in which one judge was killed and others injured:

"In the night of 17 May 2006, at around 2 am, I watched TV and saw that this dervish of unity (referring to Alparslan Arslan) had carried out an attack on the State Council. I found out about it after everyone else did. I was automatically punished for the attack and was denied two previously granted conditional releases. I don't want to be a fake perpetrator of an attack against the state of the Turkish Republic."

"Whichever honourless person organised this attack will have to come to court and say 'We want Osman Yıldırım to take responsibility for it.' Or the court will have to say, 'Osman Yıldırım, confess to this attack, sacrifice yourself for the state.' [...] If my fatherland tells me to confess to it, I will."

Defendant Esen demands release

Another defendant, Süleyman Esen, said that he condemned the attacks on the newspaper and the State Council. He claimed that he had become involved in the case when State Council suspect Alparslan Arslan implicated him in a statement 45 days after the attack: "I did not give Alparslan Arslan any bombs. I had no knowledge of the attack. I have been in prison for 38 months for a crime I did not commit. I demand to be released." (EZÖ/AG)