Court Will Hear Alleged "Founder of JITEM"

The Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court decided to take the statement of retired Colonel Arif Doğan in the scope of the Ergenekon trial. Eregekon defendant Doğan had claimed to have established JITEM, the clandestine intelligence and counterterrorism service of the Turkish gendarmerie.

The Ergenekon organization is a clandestine terrorist organization nested within the state and the military and charged with various crimes staged for the ultimate purpose of triggering a military coup.

The trial at the Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court is concerned with the second indictment of the Ergenekon case. Un-detained defendant Doğan did not attend the latest hearing on 27 September due to health reasons. The court decided to submit a writ to the Istanbul Public Prosecution in order to investigate Doğan's health condition and to determine whether he can give a statement.

As reported by the Ntvmsnbc.com website, President Judge Köksal Şengün decreed for an intermission during the defence speech of detained defendant Mehmet Ali Çelebi in order to announce a number of decisions taken by the court board. Accordingly, the court is going to obtain the complete raw material for news made about Arif Doğan in Habertürk and Taraf newspaper.

The court refrained from the previous decision related to taking demands and requests on the last day of the weeks the hearings are held and thus followed the criticism that had been voiced on the decision by the defendants and their lawyers. Instead, the court board ruled to accept their requests on the last day of each week the hearings are held.

In a newspaper interview, Doğan had said that he set up JITEM himself and that the clandestine service included about 10,000 staff members whom he entirely trusted. He said that he supplied most of them with weapons. Drawing attention to his health problems he wanted the judges to take his statement.

Arif Doğan

Arif Doğan was born in 1945 in Kırıkhan in the south-eastern province of Hatay. He was appointed to the Trabzon Intelligence Commandership in 1971. In 1983, when he was at the Gendarmerie General Commandership, he established the Intelligence Group Commandership and chaired it for seven years.

He became a deputy candidate of the True Path Party (DYP) in 1998 but did not win the election. Doğan's name was mentioned in the context of a scandal because of a forged report at the Gümüşsuyu Military Prison in 1995. (EÖ/VK)