Third Ergenekon Indictment Accepted

The Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court has accepted the 1,454-page third indictment in the Ergenekon investigation, penned by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution.

The text contains accusations against 52 people, 37 of them in detention. Just like in the first two indictments, one accusation is that of attempting to overthrow the government.

The first hearing of the case will be on 7 September.

The indictment is concerned with operations carried out between 10 January and 14 April 2009.

Kanadoğlu and Dalan not included

Sabih Kanadoğlu, a former Chief Public Prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Appeals, and Bedrettin Dalan, former mayor of Metropolitan Istanbul and director of the ISTEK education foundation, have not been included in the indictment. Investigations into Dalan's affairs continue.

A total of 202 defendants

With the recent merge of the case of the State Council attack (with eight defendants) with the first Ergenekon trial, the total number of defendants in the Ergenekon trials is 202. There are 86 defendants in the first case and 56 in the second.

Among the defendants in the third indictment are Prof. Dr. Mehmet Haberal, founder and rector of Başkent University, and owner of Başkent Hospital and Kanal B TV station, Prof. Dr. Fatih Hilmioğlu, former rector of Malatya University, Prof. Dr. Ferit Bernay, former rector of 19 May University, Prof. Dr. Erol Manisalı, a lawyer at Istanbul University, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yurtkuran, former rector of Uludağ University and vice president of the Ataturkist Thought Association (ADD), Prof. Dr. Osman Metin Öztürk, a retired major and rector of Giresun University, writer Yalçın Küçük, İbrahim Şahin, convicted in the Susurluk case and former Special Operations Police Deputy Chief, Mustafa Özbek, the president of the Türk Metal İş metal workers' trade union, Levent Göktaş, a retired naval major, General Erdal Şenel, a former General Staff Chief Legal Consultant, retired General Tuncel Kılınç, a former general secretary of the State Security Council, Kemal Gürüz, former president of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Squadron Commander Officer Taylan Özgür Kırmızı and Ünal İnanç, journalist and president of the Security Reporters' Association.

Among those mentioned as victims in the indictment are Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan and Minas Durmazgüler from the Sivas Armenian congregation. It is also allegd that plans had been made to assassinate Ali Balkız, president of the Alevi Bektashi Federation and lawyer Kazım Genç, president of the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Assocation.

52 defendants

The full list of defendants in the third indictment is:

Mehmet Haberal, Yalçın Küçük, Halil Kemal Gürüz, Mustafa Koç, Ersin Gönenci, Oğuz Bulut, İbrahim Şahin, Mustafa Özbek, Mustafa Levent Göktaş, Rıza Ferit Bernay, Taylan Özgür Kırmızı, Mustafa Abbas Yurtkuran, Ünal İnanç, Muhterem Bağcı, Hüdayi Ünlüer, Fatih Hilmioğlu, İlhan Bulayır, Zerrar Atik, Fahri Kepek, İlyas Çınar, Oğuzhan Sağıroğlu, Erdal Şahin, Engin Aydın, Erbay Çolakoğlu, Cengiz Köylü, Cihandar Hasanhanoğlu, Muhammed Sarıkaya, Fatma Cengiz, Yaşar Oğuz Şahin, Muhittin Erdal Şenel, Mehmet Koral, Tunçer Kılınç Münür Kemal Yavuz, Hasan Ataman Yıldırım, Hüseyin Vural, Mustafa Dönmez, Murat Eke, Cihan Arık, Ali Oktay Şahbaz, Onur Özdemir, Emre Baltacı, Melih Yüksel, Servet Kaynak, Fahri Süslü, Kemalettin Balcı, Bülent Güngördü, Murat Çavdar, Mehmet Dalagan, Ayhan Atabek, Kenan Temur, Erol Manisa and Mustafa Hüseyin Buzoğlu. (EÖ/AG)