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Turkish deep state and Cyprus
07.07.2011
On Wednesday I told you how the Turkish Revenge Brigade (TİT) threatened Baskın Oran and others. I also said that I share Oran's conclusion that there is a direct link between the Ergenekon process and the reactivation of this old fascist cell, which was responsible for bloody attacks and assassinations in Turkey in the past.
I said that I shared Oran's way of thinking in linking TİT's new threats and the fact that the “Ergenekon cases were not probing deeply in the right direction.” I received some inquires from my readers, who asked what exactly I meant by this “right direction.”
The Ergenekon cases, unfortunately, focus too much on alleged coup attempts against this government and the prosecutors turn a blind eye to many individual crimes that are somehow connected to this gang.
I have tried to explain some of them before in this column. I mentioned crimes committed against Kurds and non-Muslim in Turkey and their possible connections with the Ergenekon gang. These links are not being followed properly.
Today I would like to tell you about other possible crime links that are connected to the Ergenekon gang and that are, unfortunately, not being investigated at all.
While Oran was being threatened, an attempted murder occurred in northern Cyprus. Mustafa Yalçın, an ultra-nationalist Turkish citizen from Turkey attempted to kill Şener Levent, editor-in-chief of the Africa newspaper, which had previously been bombed and attacked. The attacker said he wanted to kill the editor because of his newspaper's anti-Turkey and anti-Turkish Cyprus stance.
Was it a coincidence that the threats by TİT in Turkey and the attacks in Cyprus started simultaneously? Maybe.
When Ergenekon suspects carried out an armed attack to kill judges in the Council of State in 2006, at exactly the same time explosives were planted in the car of Ali Osman Tabak, a columnist of the Africa newspaper in Cyprus. Was this timing a coincidence? Maybe.
When Kutlu Adalı, a well-known dissident with regard to the status quo in Cyprus, was killed in 1996, the Turkish Gladio's (Ergenekon) hitman, Abdullah Çatlı, was on the island. Was this a coincidence, I don't think so.
There are many interesting facts I think; and none of them were a coincidence. Did you know that many Ergenekon suspect are citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) as well as citizens of Turkey?
From the Ergenekon files, we know that Ergenekon suspects were in northern Cyprus before the Annan plan was voted on. They of course tried to convince Turkish Cypriots to reject the Annan plan. While on the island, Turkish Cypriot leader [Mehmet Ali] Talat's home and the Kıbrıs daily were bombed. Ergenekon suspect and retired Adm. Özden Örnek's diaries clearly show how they worked against the Annan plan in Cyprus.
Let's read from Örnek's diaries together:
“Feb. 5, 2004, Thursday. To ensure that everyone in Cyprus takes to the streets in protest of the Annan plan and to trigger similar anti-government incidents in the motherland in support of these protests…
Feb. 28, 2004, Saturday. We met with the force commanders at our home at 2 p.m. Our aim was to discuss the Cyprus issue and evaluate numerous private and confidential letters [former Turkish Cypriot President Rauf] Denktaş had sent to us. … As a reaction to the government, rallies both in Cyprus and in the motherland and meetings at a national level will kick off on March 3.”
I can show you many other connections: TİT's hitman, Ergenekon suspect Semih Tufan Günaltay, who tried to kill Akın Birdal, former president of the Human Rights Association, was a KKTC citizen.
As stated by its founder, İsmail Tansu, the Turkish Resistance Organization in Cyprus was directly created by the Special Warfare Center (former Ergenekon extension) in Ankara.
This list can be extended for many other incidents and links between Cyprus and Ergenekon. In spite of all these clear connections, though, Ergenekon prosecutors unfortunately failed to investigate any of Ergenekon's activities in Cyprus. When I say “deepening Ergenekon investigation,” I mean following all these links and others.
Unless we follow these links, we will never know if there are connections between, for example, the threats Oran received and the attempted assassination of the editor-in-chief of the Africa newspaper in Cyprus.
And, as long as we are unable to identify these possible connections, we always risk leaving fertile ground to clandestine criminal networks like Ergenekon. I really wish our prosecutors had followed every possible link to bring down these organizations with blood on their hands.
