Yesterday, 24 August, was the 104th hearing of the first Ergenekon trial. The case of the State Council attack in Ankara on 17 May 2006 has been merged with the Ergenekon trial.
32 defendants, 27 of them detained, were at the hearing, among them lawyer Alparslan Arslan, who had previously been convicted of having carried out the State Council attack, and Osman Yıldırım, also convicted for his part in the attack. Retired general Veli Küçük, a suspected leader of the Ergenekon organisation, was also present.
Arslan later left the hearing, claiming illness.
Yıldırım was in the court room with Ergenekon defendants for the first time. When asked where his lawyer was, he said, "People are too scared to be my lawyer. I don't have one and don't want one."
Father questions role of Ergenekon
Arslan's father İdris Arslan made the following statement in court:
"I first heard about it all as the Danıştay attack. I did not know anything about the attacks on the Cumhuriyet newspaper. I did some research and found that things were different. I think the Ergenekon organisation is involved in this. I wonder, was he (the son) drugged? Experts talk about directing someone's mind. Hüseyin Görüm says that Alparslan spent a night at a factory. I wonder, did that factory belong to Ergenekon? When he was sleeping there, did they do anything to him? As a father, I am of course suspicious of everything."
The father also spoke of his suspicion that his son may not have carried out the attack but have been tricked into believing he did.
With the merging of the State Council attack case, the first Ergenekon trial now has 94 defendants.
"Alliance of AKP and PKK"
Ferit İlsever, member of the Workers' Party (İP) and former broadcasting director at Ulusal TV, is an undetained suspect. He said:
"Those who accuse me and (İP party leader) Doğu Perinçek of meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in the indictment now put all of Öcalan's utterances onto the front pages. The waves of Ergenekon arrests have worn out the Turkish Armed Forces, and have oppressed the people, particularly universities, the judiciary and all state organs. At this point, an alliance of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the PKK has put the 'Kurdish initiative' onto the agenda."
Meanwhile, journalist İlhan Selçuk of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, an undetained suspect in the Ergenekon case, has left the intensive care unit where he had been taken. His lawyers handed the court a report which says that Selçuk suffered a brain embolism and would have to undergo treatment. (EZÖ/AG)
