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Fifth suspect jailed over Council of State attack
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Police spokesman Çalışkan says 19 people have been taken into custody, of whom five were under arrest, as part of the investigation into the shooting at the Council of State on May 17
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
A fifth suspect was jailed on Thursday as part of the continuing probe into a deadly armed attack on the Council of State by an alleged Islamist gunman.
The May 17 shooting left political tensions running high in Ankara with accusations that religion-influenced policies followed by the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had emboldened Islamic extremists.
A judge who questioned the suspect, Erhan Timuroğlu, decided he should be held pending trial, Anatolia news agency reported.
Timuroğlu is believed to be the one of four people who hurled hand grenades at the Istanbul office of the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper earlier this month, along with the Council of State gunman, 29-year-old lawyer Alparslan Arslan, and two other people who were jailed over the weekend.
Another suspect, who allegedly accompanied Arslan in Ankara on the day of the court shooting, has also been detained.
Timuroğlu was charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, an offense carrying a possible life sentence, as well as use of explosives and breaches of the law on firearms, Anatolia reported.
The four others face similar charges.
The prosecution will detail the accusations when it draws up its indictment in the coming days.
Arslan shouted "I'm a soldier of Allah" as he burst into Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, killing a senior judge and wounding four others.
He said he wanted to "punish" the judges for rulings upholding a ban on the Islamic headscarf in public institutions and universities in Muslim-majority but strictly secular Turkey, according to court officials.
The unprecedented attack sparked mass pro-secular protests and triggered accusations against the government that its opposition to the headscarf ban and vocal criticism of court rulings had given encouragement to extremists.
Erdoğan retorted that the attack was "a great conspiracy" to discredit his government, which the secularist establishment, including the influential army, suspects of seeking to reinforce the role of Islam in politics and daily life.
Officials have said the police are investigating whether the attack on the court was masterminded by Arslan or whether it was instigated by others.
19 in custody:
Police spokesman İsmail Çalışkan said on Friday the investigation into the attack at the Council of State was continuing and that they had taken 19 people into custody, with five of them charged.
He said the five people charged were also involved in the attacks against Cumhuriyet daily.
When asked if the gang was an organized terrorist group, he said that according to the definition of terrorism specified in the law the gang was a terrorist group. He said they had found no links between the suspects and any religious orders.
He also said they were trying to locate more suspects and would issue international arrest warrants if they had already fled the country.
Key figure being questioned:
Retired army Captain Muzaffer Tekin, who has links with both Arslan and many individuals who were part of the Susurluk scandal, was taken to the prosecutor's office on Friday for interrogation.
Tekin, who is suspected of being the leader of the gang that orchestrated the attack on the court, is reported to have had close relations with former Special Forces chief İbrahim Şahin and retired Major Gen. Veli Küçük, both of whom were key names in the Susurluk scandal.
Investigations have also revealed close links between those who are currently in police custody and various ultranationalist organizations and gangs. Tekin was placed in police custody at a hospital where he was recuperating from self-inflicted wounds.
He is believed to have guided Arslan, the gunman who shot the judges. Arslan was also involved in the bombing of Cumhuriyet daily. Arslan told police he had met with Tekin a few times but that they were not close. “He is not involved. The attack was just a reaction on my part.”
The Susurluk scandal revealed that security officials were involved in illegal operations with right-wing mafia and politicians. Reports said gangs operating within the state or with loose links to it took the law into their own hands and committed a series of crimes. Such gangs are referred to as being part of the “deep state.” The matter came to a head when a gang leader, a politician and a police chief were involved in a traffic accident on Nov. 3, 1996.
Şahin was imprisoned for involvement in the Susurluk scandal, and Küçük was only saved from prosecution because the Office of the Chief of General Staff refused to allow charges against him to proceed. Newspapers printed photos of Tekin with Şahin, as the latter was being released early from prison in 2002 for health reasons.
Gav*According to Hye -Tert Erhan Timuroğlu confessed having "plans to kill The Istanbul Armenians if they didn't get caught"
http://www.hyetert.com/haber3.asp?Al...=21236&DilId=1
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Police spokesman Çalışkan says 19 people have been taken into custody, of whom five were under arrest, as part of the investigation into the shooting at the Council of State on May 17
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
A fifth suspect was jailed on Thursday as part of the continuing probe into a deadly armed attack on the Council of State by an alleged Islamist gunman.
The May 17 shooting left political tensions running high in Ankara with accusations that religion-influenced policies followed by the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had emboldened Islamic extremists.
A judge who questioned the suspect, Erhan Timuroğlu, decided he should be held pending trial, Anatolia news agency reported.
Timuroğlu is believed to be the one of four people who hurled hand grenades at the Istanbul office of the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper earlier this month, along with the Council of State gunman, 29-year-old lawyer Alparslan Arslan, and two other people who were jailed over the weekend.
Another suspect, who allegedly accompanied Arslan in Ankara on the day of the court shooting, has also been detained.
Timuroğlu was charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, an offense carrying a possible life sentence, as well as use of explosives and breaches of the law on firearms, Anatolia reported.
The four others face similar charges.
The prosecution will detail the accusations when it draws up its indictment in the coming days.
Arslan shouted "I'm a soldier of Allah" as he burst into Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, killing a senior judge and wounding four others.
He said he wanted to "punish" the judges for rulings upholding a ban on the Islamic headscarf in public institutions and universities in Muslim-majority but strictly secular Turkey, according to court officials.
The unprecedented attack sparked mass pro-secular protests and triggered accusations against the government that its opposition to the headscarf ban and vocal criticism of court rulings had given encouragement to extremists.
Erdoğan retorted that the attack was "a great conspiracy" to discredit his government, which the secularist establishment, including the influential army, suspects of seeking to reinforce the role of Islam in politics and daily life.
Officials have said the police are investigating whether the attack on the court was masterminded by Arslan or whether it was instigated by others.
19 in custody:
Police spokesman İsmail Çalışkan said on Friday the investigation into the attack at the Council of State was continuing and that they had taken 19 people into custody, with five of them charged.
He said the five people charged were also involved in the attacks against Cumhuriyet daily.
When asked if the gang was an organized terrorist group, he said that according to the definition of terrorism specified in the law the gang was a terrorist group. He said they had found no links between the suspects and any religious orders.
He also said they were trying to locate more suspects and would issue international arrest warrants if they had already fled the country.
Key figure being questioned:
Retired army Captain Muzaffer Tekin, who has links with both Arslan and many individuals who were part of the Susurluk scandal, was taken to the prosecutor's office on Friday for interrogation.
Tekin, who is suspected of being the leader of the gang that orchestrated the attack on the court, is reported to have had close relations with former Special Forces chief İbrahim Şahin and retired Major Gen. Veli Küçük, both of whom were key names in the Susurluk scandal.
Investigations have also revealed close links between those who are currently in police custody and various ultranationalist organizations and gangs. Tekin was placed in police custody at a hospital where he was recuperating from self-inflicted wounds.
He is believed to have guided Arslan, the gunman who shot the judges. Arslan was also involved in the bombing of Cumhuriyet daily. Arslan told police he had met with Tekin a few times but that they were not close. “He is not involved. The attack was just a reaction on my part.”
The Susurluk scandal revealed that security officials were involved in illegal operations with right-wing mafia and politicians. Reports said gangs operating within the state or with loose links to it took the law into their own hands and committed a series of crimes. Such gangs are referred to as being part of the “deep state.” The matter came to a head when a gang leader, a politician and a police chief were involved in a traffic accident on Nov. 3, 1996.
Şahin was imprisoned for involvement in the Susurluk scandal, and Küçük was only saved from prosecution because the Office of the Chief of General Staff refused to allow charges against him to proceed. Newspapers printed photos of Tekin with Şahin, as the latter was being released early from prison in 2002 for health reasons.
Gav*According to Hye -Tert Erhan Timuroğlu confessed having "plans to kill The Istanbul Armenians if they didn't get caught"
http://www.hyetert.com/haber3.asp?Al...=21236&DilId=1
ogu Perincek held a news conference and claimed that he warned authoritys before hand and they stood idle .He says these assasins were trained by Moussad in Bulgaria.
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