Second Ergenekon coup trial kicks off in Turkey

21/07/2009

Two former senior Turkish generals and 54 other people charged in connection with an alleged coup plot went on trial Monday, as prosecutors investigating the shadowy Ergenekon group filed yet another indictment, naming 52 new suspects.

(Zaman, The Times, Independent - 21/07/09; Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA, Bloomberg, BBC, Euronews, Deutsche Welle - 20/07/09; FT - 19/07/09)

Turkish soldiers march outside the court building in Silivri, near Istanbul, on Monday (July 20th) at the start of the second Ergenekon trial. [Getty Images]

The trial of 56 Turks accused of involvement in an alleged plot to oust the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) government opened at the Istanbul Criminal Court on Monday (July 20th).

Prosecutors have accused retired generals Mehmet Sener Eruygur and Hursit Tolon, the highest-ranking military officials charged in the case, of being the leaders of the group. It allegedly planned a string of bombing attacks and assassinations of high-profile public figures to wreak havoc in the country and trigger an army takeover.

The AFP cited the more than 1,900-page indictment as saying that Eruygur, a former Gendarmerie commander, and Tolon, a former army chief, "began implementing the coup plans they drew up in 2003-2004 while in office and continued their activities after they retired".

The two generals, both in their late 60s, were arrested a year ago.

Eruygur was described as the head of the secularist Ataturkist Thought Association and one of the key organisers of mass anti-AKP rallies held ahead of the July 2007 elections. He was released from custody about ten weeks after his detention due to poor health. He did not attend Monday's hearing, which focused mainly on procedural issues, before the trial was adjourned until August 6th.

Prior to his arrest, Tolon was reportedly often seen at forums organised by ultranationalists. He was released from custody in February, also because of health problems, but appeared at the new custom-built courtroom at the Silivri prison complex, about 90km west of Istanbul on Monday, and answered questions from the four-judge panel.

Aside from being accused of setting up and leading a terrorist organisation, the pair also faces a host of other charges, including attempts to destroy the government and parliament, or block their work, and to provoke armed rebellion against the government.

The group has been linked to several notorious attacks, such as those on the headquarters of Cumhuriyet daily and the Council of State, and is suspected of masterminding plots to kill Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Other prominent figures among the 56 named in the second Ergenekon indictment include Adil Serdar Sacan, a former head of the anti-smuggling and organised crime department, former Esenyurt mayor Gurbuz Capan, retired generals Arif Dogan and Hasan Atilla Ugur, as well as senior journalists Tuncay Ozkan and Mustafa Balbay.

The trial is expected to drag on for months. According to the AP, judges may decide to merge the second indictment with the first one, which named another 86 people as alleged members of Ergenekon. The trial against that group began in October.

Meanwhile, prosecutors conducting the investigation into the clandestine network submitted Monday a third indictment. The 1,454-page document contains charges against 52 new suspects, of whom 37 have already been arrested. A starting date for their trial is expected to be announced after the indictment is approved by court.

The investigation into the shadowy group launched in June 2007, after police discovered a cache of weapons in the Istanbul home of a retired military officer.

Turkey's powerful and staunchly secular military, which has been suspicious of the Islamist-rooted AKP ever since it came to power in 2003, has denied any link to Ergenekon and has co-operated with the investigation.