ISTANBUL - An indictment regarding "Ergenekon" investigation accuses 86 people of being members of an armed terrorist organization.
A criminal court in Istanbul accepted on Friday the indictment regarding "Ergenekon" investigation and set the date of the first hearing as October 20th, 2008.
An alleged criminal network that came to be known as "Ergenekon" was revealed after police seized hand grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12th, 2007. Several Turkish figures, including retired senior army officers, were detained and sent to prison within the scope of the investigation.
Prosecutors indict 86 people of being a member of an armed terrorist organization, aiding and abetting the terrorist organization, attempting to topple the government by using force, inciting people to armed rebellion against the government, acquiring and hurling explosives, inciting people to use explosives particularly hurling explosives on the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and staging an armed attack against the Council of State, accessing classified documents regarding state security and recording personal data, provoking military disobedience and inciting people to hatred and enmity.
Forty-seven people were detained within the scope of "Ergenekon" probe carried out by prosecutors Zekeriya Oz, Mehmet Ali Pekguzel and Nihat Taskin. Among them are retired generals or officers including Veli Kucuk, Mehmet Fikri Karadag, Fikret Emek and Muzaffer Tekin; Workers' Party (IP) chairman Dogu Perincek and the secretary general of the party; journalists and writers.
Kuddisi Okkir, a businessman who was also sent to prison within the scope of the investigation, died at hospital where he was having treatment for his health problems. Ayse Asuman Ozdemir was also released from prison due to her health problems.
At the beginning of July, Sener Eruygur, chairman of Kemalist Thought Association; retired general Hursit Tolon; Sinan Aygun, the chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce; retired officers Hasan Atilla Ugur, Osman Gurbuz, Barbaros Hayrettin Altintas, Ibrahim Ozcan, Birol Basaran, Durmus Ali Ozoglu and Kemal Aydin were arrested.
Later, Aygun and Altintas were released upon an objection by their lawyers.
Also, Mustafa Balbay, the representative of Cumhuriyet newspaper in Ankara; Ufuk Buyukcelebi, the editor-in-chief of the "Halka ve Olaylara Tercuman" newspaper; Tunc Akkoc, the deputy chairman of Workers' Party Youth Branch; professor Ercument Ovali; author Erol Mutercimler; and Adnan Turkkan, a former chairman of the Turkish Youth Union; were released.
An additional indictment may be prepared regarding the suspects who are under an investigation, legal authorities said.
(BRC-AY)
(GEN)