Ertugrul Mavioglu, Dogan News Agency
Former Major Fikret Emek, who was detained as part the Ergenekon probe after incriminating documents together with some bombs, bullets and explosives were seized from his mother’s house, said keeping records of people was one of the "routine tasks" of the Turkish Special Forces, a branch of the Land Forces Command.
Emek, alleged to have been a member of the military wing of the Ergenekon gang, is also a retired staff member of the Turkish Special Forces. The records, or "blacklists," seized in his mother’s house included names of hundreds of residents of Istanbul who were described as members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), DHKP/C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front), extreme leftists, Süleymanci (member of a religious congregation called Süleymancilar) or Naksibendi (member of a Sufi order called Naksibendi). However, he reportedly said in his statement at the Security Directorate that the records were prepared by units working under his official assignment and was one of the Turkish Special Forces’ routine tasks.
Emek’s replied to questions asked of him at the Security Directorate about the records referred to in the Ergenekon indictment, saying the following:
"He said the documents shown to him were prepared in line with information acquired by intelligence units on terrorist organization PKK, DHKP/C, TIKKO (Turkish Workers Peasants Liberation Party), Naksibendi and other similar groups of organizations, and were part of his tasks during his office at the special forces. Additionally, he said the documents shown to him were reports prepared by units under his official assignment and was one of their routine tasks."
Emek reportedly said in his statement that he took the records — which had been kept while he was still in office — with him after he retired. Emek served in the Special Forces from 1986 to 2004.
According to press reports, three blacklists, two of which are made up of seven pages each and one of which had been written on 10 pages, cover all food factories, furniture stores, groceries, and barber shops in all neighborhoods of Istanbul. The records kept by intelligence units not only categorize people as members of this and that group but also various nongovernmental organizations and/or institutions as backers of organizations such as DHKP/C, Dev-Yol, PKK, MLKP (Marxist-Lenninist Liberation Party) and TIKKO, or religious groups such as Süleymancilar, Kadiriler, Nurcular, Milli Görüsçüler or Naksibendiler.
Kurds blacklisted too
Some of the records seized at Emek’s house include lists of a number of companies that belong to Kurdish businessmen. According to a document included in file No. 19 of the Ergenekon indictment, a file that was prepared by the intelligence units serving in the special forces’ command that was titled "sponsors of the PKK terrorist organization" includes a list of 164 private companies. That such a list was seized at the house of a person detained under the Ergenekon probe gave rise to suspicions that the main aim was not simply limited to gathering intelligence.
One of the documents seized at the house of Ergenekon detainee Emek, also known as "Major Samil," includes information about an organization called the "New Kurdistan Movement." The document, with a note marked "confidential" attached to it, reportedly describes the New Kurdistan Movement — whose name is unheard of by the public — as "an organization that seems to be more dangerous than the PKK."
In the document, the intelligence units that serve in the special forces also describe the New Kurdistan Movement as "an organization whose members are also the accomplices of PKK and HADEP." According to a scheme that is reportedly provided in an appendix to the document, two well-known deputies from central right parties serve as president and deputy president of the alleged "New Kurdistan Movement."
(c) 2005 Dogan Daily News Inc. www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
