ANKARA - Ankara State Security Court (DGM) started on Thursday hearing the lawsuit which was filed against 15 representatives of some German foundations action in Turkey.
Konrad Adenauer Foundation Representative Wulf Schonbohm and his aide Dirk Trondle; Heinrich Boll Foundation Representative Figen Fatma Ugur; Frederich Ebert Foundation Representative Hans Schumaher; Orient Institute Chairman Claus Schoenig and his aides Astrid Menz and Borte Sagaster; FIAN organization former Chairman Petra Sauerland; Istanbul Bar former Chairman Yucel Sayman; Oktay Konyar representing Bergama villagers; and Lawyer Senih Ozay from Izmir Bar were in attendance at the first hearing of the lawsuit.
The court delegation appointed two translators to assist suspects.
Earlier, Ankara DGM Chief Prosecutor's Office, under an investigation into five German foundations in Turkey, filed a lawsuit against 15 representatives of these foundations on charges of ''forming a secret alliance against Turkey's unity and secular republic regime''.
The indictment says, ''when activities of German foundations in Turkey are investigated, serious traces of a legal spying activity will be seen. The foundations are the most influential and most reliable tools of German foreign policy. In places in which classical diplomacy does not have any influence, these foundations carry out activities and penetrate all important fields of politics and society.''
The indictment dated October 21, 2002 which was prepared by former Ankara DGM Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel who was appointed as the Ankara Prosecutor, imprisonment terms from 8 up to 15 years are sought for the suspects under the Turkish Penal Code's Article 171 on forming a ''secret alliance against the state''.
The book entitled ''German Foundations and Bergama File'' written by Associate Prof. Dr. Necip Hablemitoglu from the Ankara University who was killed in an armed attack last week, was submitted to the court as an evidence.