MİT denies direct link to Ergenekon key figure
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 28, 2008 00:00
ANKARA - An unknown link between the Turkish intelligence agency and a key witness to the Ergenekon case, who is currently in Canada, sheds new light on to the investigation.
Güney, a suspected MİT agent, is said to have infiltrated the Gendarmerie’s intelligence unit, a report says.
A classified document that reveals a secret relation between the key figure of the ongoing Ergenekon case, Tuncay Güney, and National Intelligence Organization, or MİT has brought a new dimension to the clandestine web of ties.
According to the document published by the daily Sabah Wednesday, Güney, codenamed İpek, was claimed to be a MİT agent who infiltrated the Gendarmeries intelligence unit, JİTEM, and met prominent members of the Ergenekon gang, such as retired Colonel Veli Küçük. Güney also served on the MİT’s Counter Terror Unit, CTU, and Iranian desk, Sabah reported.
In an immediate response to the publication, MİT denied the claims, while admitting the document itself did belong to them. "Tuncay Güney attracted our attention with his suspicious activities during that period, and we worked on him. Güney is not a registered intelligence source," MİT’s answer read.
One-hour discussion with PM
In the meantime, MİT Undersecretary Emre Taner met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday, a day after the secret document appeared in the media, the Anatolia news agency reported. Content of the one-hour meeting was not disclosed.
A large portion of the Ergenekon indictment is based on six sacks of documents discovered in Güney’s house and workplace. The documents are titled "project for Ergenekon new structure management and development, lobby, National Media, Joint Commune Initiative." The names of dozens of people arrested under the Ergenekon investigation are mentioned in documents.
"CTU, whose foundation and operations were dubious, was expelled from the organizational chart with its agents in 1997," maintained MİT, and stated it would take legal action against the news report, as the publication of any MİT document is prohibited. MİT thus implied that Güney might have worked with Mehmet Eymür, former head of CTU, a sub-unit of MİT, founded in 1996 against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
The reference to expel the CTU in the MİT statement is proof of an internal dispute in the organization, according to prominent journalists who are familiar with the internal mechanisms of the MİT. İsmet Berkan, editor-in-chief of daily Radikal argued ambiguity over Güney’s role in MİT reveals a new face in the Ergenekon case. "I prefer to label this phase as the internal showdown of Ergenekon," Berkan wrote in his column yesterday.
Meanwhile, Enis Berberoğlu, Ankara Representative of daily Hürriyet, pointed to the timing of the publication, "An experienced intelligence officer argued that some people were trying to spur MİT to continue with the new operations and detentions or at least were waiting for new documents that could complete the second Ergenekon case indictment currently under preparation."
Eymür denies connection
Meanwhile, Mehmet Eymür, who left MİT after the CTU was closed down, denied any personal knowledge of the Güney affair, speaking to daily Hürriyet. "I do not understand why MİT is keeping silent on Güney’s claims that he is working with them but instead points its finger at me. I do not know whether he works for MİT or not. I wrote about Güney years ago, without giving his name, as one of people with ’double professions.’ Places Güney go are not for ordinary people. Güney argues that he passed information to my men. I have been in Ankara since 1975 and do not know why he used my name," Eymür said. However, Eymür recently wrote on Güney on his Web site "atin.org", making clear that Güney successfully infiltrated the Ergenekon gang.
Güney is a purported or actual rabbi in Canada, and he is a suspect at large in the Ergenekon trial.
The Ergenekon case started after the discovery of 27 hand grenades June 12, 2007, in a shanty house in Istanbul's Ümraniye district, belonging to another retired noncommissioned officer. The grenades were found to be the same as those used in the attacks on daily Cumhuriyet's Istanbul offices in 2006.
There are 86 defendants in the case, including retired generals, politicians, academics, and journalists.
A classified document that reveals a secret relation between the key figure of the ongoing Ergenekon case, Tuncay Güney, and National Intelligence Organization, or MİT has brought a new dimension to the clandestine web of ties.
According to the document published by the daily Sabah Wednesday, Güney, codenamed İpek, was claimed to be a MİT agent who infiltrated the Gendarmeries intelligence unit, JİTEM, and met prominent members of the Ergenekon gang, such as retired Colonel Veli Küçük. Güney also served on the MİT’s Counter Terror Unit, CTU, and Iranian desk, Sabah reported.
In an immediate response to the publication, MİT denied the claims, while admitting the document itself did belong to them. "Tuncay Güney attracted our attention with his suspicious activities during that period, and we worked on him. Güney is not a registered intelligence source," MİT’s answer read.
One-hour discussion with PM
In the meantime, MİT Undersecretary Emre Taner met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday, a day after the secret document appeared in the media, the Anatolia news agency reported. Content of the one-hour meeting was not disclosed.
A large portion of the Ergenekon indictment is based on six sacks of documents discovered in Güney’s house and workplace. The documents are titled "project for Ergenekon new structure management and development, lobby, National Media, Joint Commune Initiative." The names of dozens of people arrested under the Ergenekon investigation are mentioned in documents.
"CTU, whose foundation and operations were dubious, was expelled from the organizational chart with its agents in 1997," maintained MİT, and stated it would take legal action against the news report, as the publication of any MİT document is prohibited. MİT thus implied that Güney might have worked with Mehmet Eymür, former head of CTU, a sub-unit of MİT, founded in 1996 against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
The reference to expel the CTU in the MİT statement is proof of an internal dispute in the organization, according to prominent journalists who are familiar with the internal mechanisms of the MİT. İsmet Berkan, editor-in-chief of daily Radikal argued ambiguity over Güney’s role in MİT reveals a new face in the Ergenekon case. "I prefer to label this phase as the internal showdown of Ergenekon," Berkan wrote in his column yesterday.
Meanwhile, Enis Berberoğlu, Ankara Representative of daily Hürriyet, pointed to the timing of the publication, "An experienced intelligence officer argued that some people were trying to spur MİT to continue with the new operations and detentions or at least were waiting for new documents that could complete the second Ergenekon case indictment currently under preparation."
Eymür denies connection
Meanwhile, Mehmet Eymür, who left MİT after the CTU was closed down, denied any personal knowledge of the Güney affair, speaking to daily Hürriyet. "I do not understand why MİT is keeping silent on Güney’s claims that he is working with them but instead points its finger at me. I do not know whether he works for MİT or not. I wrote about Güney years ago, without giving his name, as one of people with ’double professions.’ Places Güney go are not for ordinary people. Güney argues that he passed information to my men. I have been in Ankara since 1975 and do not know why he used my name," Eymür said. However, Eymür recently wrote on Güney on his Web site "atin.org", making clear that Güney successfully infiltrated the Ergenekon gang.
Güney is a purported or actual rabbi in Canada, and he is a suspect at large in the Ergenekon trial.
The Ergenekon case started after the discovery of 27 hand grenades June 12, 2007, in a shanty house in Istanbul's Ümraniye district, belonging to another retired noncommissioned officer. The grenades were found to be the same as those used in the attacks on daily Cumhuriyet's Istanbul offices in 2006.
There are 86 defendants in the case, including retired generals, politicians, academics, and journalists.