Third Search after Alleged Assassination Plot

Prosecutors searched the Mobilization Regional Presidency which is related to the Special Forces Command for the duration of 27 hours under surveillance of a judge.

The search is part of an investigation that was launched after 2 military officers had been caught in the street where Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç is living. Both officers were on duty in the Mobilization Regional Presidency and allegedly worked out an assassination plot against the deputy prime minister.

The prosecutors entered the Mobilization Regional Presidency on the night of 26 December at 9.30 pm in order to search locked up and sealed sections which they had not been able to search before. When the soldiers did not give permission to the police, the prosecutors conducted the search themselves. The military refused the photocopy of certain documents due to "classification", so the prosecutors registered those ones for the record.

The search was initiated by prosecutor Şemsettin Özcan and later on joined by prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili and the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court member Kadir Kayhan.

During the first search carried out on 25 December the prosecutors were not able to enter a section named the "cosmic room". Hereupon, judge Kayhan decided to lock up and seal that section.

Custody of 8 soldiers extended

8 soldiers were arrested as a result of the first search; their custody was extended after the second search.

The first search was carried out in the night of 25 December.

In an announcement on the previous day, the General Staff did not give any particulars about the identity of these soldiers or whether the 2 recently arrested officers had bought a place in the street of Arınç. However, in an earlier announcement, the General Staff had declared that the 2 officers were living in that region and that they were following a soldier who allegedly leaked information".

Erdoğan met with Başbuğ

A few hours after the announcement of the General Staff, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had an unscheduled meeting with Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ and Land Forces Commander Işık Koşaner.

As declared by the Prime Ministry, Erdoğan "obtained information on internal and external security issues" from the soldiers.

Assassination plans

Colonel Erkan Y.B. and Major İbrahim C. were arrested on 19 December in the street of Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç's home in the Çukurambar district of Ankara. When they were stopped by the police, one of the soldiers tried to swallow a piece of paper. Nevertheless, the police got hold of the paper and it turned out to be a plan of Arınç's private home.

As reported by Sabah newspaper, Bülent Arınç had been tailed since March 2009. Colonel Erkan Y.B. was carrying a fake press card in his own name, identifying him as a "journalist". Both military officers had rented 25 cars at different times from car rentals in the region under flase identities. None of the hired cars was equipped with a vehicle tracking system to retrace the cars' whereabouts.  The police emphasized that both military officers probably have connections to Muzaffer Tekin who is tried in both the State Council Attack case and the Ergenekon trial.

After Colonel Erkan Y.B. and Major İbrahim C. had been taken into custody, the prosecutor's office released them because they belong to the Central Command inspecition unit and on the basis that "flight risk did not exist". (TK/VK)