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  • ISTANBUL: Secret Witness Says Ergenekon Suspect Had Role In Okkan As

    SECRET WITNESS SAYS ERGENEKON SUSPECT HAD ROLE IN OKKAN ASSASSINATION

    Today's Zaman
    July 31 2012
    Turkey

    A secret witness who on Tuesday testified in court as part of a probe
    into Ergenekon said retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, a key Ergenekon suspect
    currently in jail, had played a role in the 2001 assassination of
    Police Chief Gaffar Okkan.

    Okkan was killed along with five police officers who were guarding
    him on Jan. 24, 2001, in Diyarbakır. The assassination was attributed
    to the Turkish Hizbullah, a religious extremist group.

    The secret witness, codenamed İlkadım, or "first step," testified
    to the Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is hearing the case
    of Ergenekon, a shadowy crime network that has alleged links within
    the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government. The
    212th hearing of the trial was held on Tuesday.

    The secret witness, who said he served as a village guard in
    Å~^ırnak's Silopi district in 1993 where he witnessed many incidents,
    said he met with Ersöz when Ersöz was a commander in Å~^ırnak and
    that he had a role in Okkan's assassination.

    "Ersöz once called for a secret assignment. He sent us to [Mardin's]
    Nusaybin with military officers. A group of seven dressed in peshmerga
    clothes and carrying arms came to us. They were fully equipped. We
    went to Diyarbakır with them," he said.

    The secret witness noted that those officers stood near a mosque
    while he waited at a gas station in Diyarbakır.

    "I did not see Okkan's vehicle coming or the clash. There was the
    sound of explosion first and then gunshots. The clash lasted for five
    to six minutes. We just brought them in a vehicle [the people wearing
    peshmerga clothes]. I did not hear what they were talking about," he
    said. The secret witness said he learned about Okkan's assassination
    the next day.

    "Following Okkan's killing, Ersöz became the regional commander of
    Diyarbakır. Okkan knew the region very well. That's why they took
    his life," he said.

    İlkadım also claimed that jailed Ergenekon suspect retired
    Maj. Mehmet Zekeriya Ozturk masterminded the killing of six people
    in Å~^ırnak when he was commander there.

    He said Ozturk ordered military officers to bring six people to him
    following a clash with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
    that resulted in the killing of several Turkish soldiers.

    The secret witness said the six people, including a village guard of
    Armenian origin, were killed at the order of Ozturk and that their
    bodies were never found. The victims were described as PKK members,
    he added.


    From: Baghdasarian
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