Military launches own probe of weapons cache
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 14, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - The military has announced it had launched a probe into the weapons stack discovered at the house of Lt. Col. Mustafa Dönmez, now held in a military prison after his surrender Monday.
Police unearthed a second weapons cache in the Ergenekon investigation in the garden of a desolate house in Ankara’s Yenikent district late Monday. Thirty Grenades, booby traps, hundreds of G3 rifle bullets were hidden inside a well, marked on sketches found at Dönmez’s house last week.
Dönmez is wanted by police in the Ergenekon investigation. He has also been charged by the military for taking ammunition and weapons outside the garrison.
The General Staff held a surprise six-hour meeting last Wednesday, after the detention of former National Security Council general secretary, retired Gen. Tuncer Kılınç, and retired Maj. Gen. Erdal Şenel in the Ergenekon case. Chief of Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt visited President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the next day, "to share his opinions and assessments" on the Ergenekon case. Kılınç and Şenel were released Sunday.
The General Staff said the investigation started last Friday, two days after 22 grenades, four pistols and an AK-47 rifle with hundreds of bullets were discovered in Dönmez’s house in Sakarya.
Police are recording the serial numbers of the weapons unearthed in Yenikent to track their origins. The ammunition and its packages bear no signs of being worn out, leading to comments that they were only recently buried underground.
Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said yesterday that the serial numbers of weapons found in Yenikent had not been erased and may match with the registers of state-owned arms producer the Machinery and Chemical Industry Institution, or the MKEK. "The weapons might have been made by MKEK," Gönül said.
"If the judges demand it, the defense ministry can provide information on the origin of the ammunition and on its destination, " Gönül said. "Serial numbers of bombs discovered earlier were erased. We trust the records of the MKEK."
The court may demand the origin of the weapons directly from the MKEK that can answer without informing the ministry, Gönül added. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said a new stack of weapons may be uncovered.
Police found 10 hand grenades and two light anti-tank weapons, plastic explosives, TNT, along with hundreds of 9 millimeter bullets in a digging site in the Gölbaşı area of Ankara last Friday. The site was marked on sketches found at the house of İbrahim Şahin, a former head of the police’s Special Operations Unit. Explosives were wrapped in newspapers dated July 2004.
The Ergenekon investigation started after the discovery of 27 hand grenades in a shanty house of a retired non-commissioned officer in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul in June 2007. Ergenekon suspects have been charged with using terror to incite a military coup and to overthrow the government.
Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, denied it had nurtured any institutional links with İbrahim Şahin, a key Ergenekon suspect undergoing trial, who claimed that the military offered him the top position in a new state organization to fight terrorism.
MİT says no info from Şahin
Şahin also said he had told "a friend" at the MİT on the Aktütün raid about the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in October, that left 17 soldiers dead. MİT said it had received no information from Şahin regarding the Aktütün raid. "Şahin communicated his hearsay on developments in the Southeast via ’a social relationship,’ to his counterparts. It is well known that all types of information is conveyed to MİT through various channels," read the MİT statement. The military earlier denied it had offered a position in the new counter-terror structure to Şahin, who headed the police’s anti-terror unit in the 1990s. Şahin spent six months in prison in 1997, after his relationship with the mafia was revealed. He was convicted of leading a criminal gang with other members of the special operations unit, but was pardoned in 2002 due to bad health. Şahin was arrested during the latest Ergenekon detention wave last Wednesday. A search of Şahin’s house revealed nine Glock pistols, the type of pistols used in assassinations.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors, or HSYK, met yesterday with Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin. Şahin’s attendance was unexpected, as it coincided with the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday. Şahin, following the meeting, said Ergenekon was not on the agenda of his meeting with HSYK and denied Ergenekon raids had been improperly carried out. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said he had ordered the police and Ankara governor to start an inquiry into the detentions in the Ergenekon case to see if they had been properly conducted. "I published a decree in early December to call for great attention to be paid to secrecy of the investigation and legal rights of the detained," he said.
Dönmez is wanted by police in the Ergenekon investigation. He has also been charged by the military for taking ammunition and weapons outside the garrison.
The General Staff held a surprise six-hour meeting last Wednesday, after the detention of former National Security Council general secretary, retired Gen. Tuncer Kılınç, and retired Maj. Gen. Erdal Şenel in the Ergenekon case. Chief of Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt visited President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the next day, "to share his opinions and assessments" on the Ergenekon case. Kılınç and Şenel were released Sunday.
The General Staff said the investigation started last Friday, two days after 22 grenades, four pistols and an AK-47 rifle with hundreds of bullets were discovered in Dönmez’s house in Sakarya.
Police are recording the serial numbers of the weapons unearthed in Yenikent to track their origins. The ammunition and its packages bear no signs of being worn out, leading to comments that they were only recently buried underground.
Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said yesterday that the serial numbers of weapons found in Yenikent had not been erased and may match with the registers of state-owned arms producer the Machinery and Chemical Industry Institution, or the MKEK. "The weapons might have been made by MKEK," Gönül said.
"If the judges demand it, the defense ministry can provide information on the origin of the ammunition and on its destination, " Gönül said. "Serial numbers of bombs discovered earlier were erased. We trust the records of the MKEK."
The court may demand the origin of the weapons directly from the MKEK that can answer without informing the ministry, Gönül added. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said a new stack of weapons may be uncovered.
Police found 10 hand grenades and two light anti-tank weapons, plastic explosives, TNT, along with hundreds of 9 millimeter bullets in a digging site in the Gölbaşı area of Ankara last Friday. The site was marked on sketches found at the house of İbrahim Şahin, a former head of the police’s Special Operations Unit. Explosives were wrapped in newspapers dated July 2004.
The Ergenekon investigation started after the discovery of 27 hand grenades in a shanty house of a retired non-commissioned officer in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul in June 2007. Ergenekon suspects have been charged with using terror to incite a military coup and to overthrow the government.
Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, denied it had nurtured any institutional links with İbrahim Şahin, a key Ergenekon suspect undergoing trial, who claimed that the military offered him the top position in a new state organization to fight terrorism.
MİT says no info from Şahin
Şahin also said he had told "a friend" at the MİT on the Aktütün raid about the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in October, that left 17 soldiers dead. MİT said it had received no information from Şahin regarding the Aktütün raid. "Şahin communicated his hearsay on developments in the Southeast via ’a social relationship,’ to his counterparts. It is well known that all types of information is conveyed to MİT through various channels," read the MİT statement. The military earlier denied it had offered a position in the new counter-terror structure to Şahin, who headed the police’s anti-terror unit in the 1990s. Şahin spent six months in prison in 1997, after his relationship with the mafia was revealed. He was convicted of leading a criminal gang with other members of the special operations unit, but was pardoned in 2002 due to bad health. Şahin was arrested during the latest Ergenekon detention wave last Wednesday. A search of Şahin’s house revealed nine Glock pistols, the type of pistols used in assassinations.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors, or HSYK, met yesterday with Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin. Şahin’s attendance was unexpected, as it coincided with the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday. Şahin, following the meeting, said Ergenekon was not on the agenda of his meeting with HSYK and denied Ergenekon raids had been improperly carried out. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said he had ordered the police and Ankara governor to start an inquiry into the detentions in the Ergenekon case to see if they had been properly conducted. "I published a decree in early December to call for great attention to be paid to secrecy of the investigation and legal rights of the detained," he said.