Cyprus operations of Ergenekon organization spark debate

From Sunday's Zaman :

The operations of Ergenekon in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) came into the spotlight last week when Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer filed a request with the KKTC's chief prosecutor's office demanding an investigation into allegations against former KKTC President Rauf Denktaş and former Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu, leader of the KKTC's main opposition National Unity Party (UBP).

In a speech he made after filing the complaint, Prime Minister Soyer said he was shocked to read a report on Ergenekon's concealed intervention in the 1998 elections on the island. Soyer has demanded an investigation into the alleged links between the organization and politicians in Cyprus.

A new indictment against Ergenekon also provides evidence indicating that the KKTC, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq are the three regions, outside of Turkey, where the organization was most active.

The prosecution claims that Ergenekon was behind more than 50 unsolved attacks and assassinations, between the years 1989 and 2004, against members of the Republican Turks Party (CTP), led for many years by current President Mehmet Ali Talat. The CTP is known to favor reaching a settlement with the Greek administration in the south to end the current impasse on the divided island.

According to the indictment, Eroğlu granted Turkish Cypriot citizenship to Ergenekon suspect Semih Tufan Gülaltay and retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin. The prosecution also has evidence that retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, who was captured after spending months on the run, had plans to flee to the KKTC. Ergün Poyraz, another Ergenekon suspect, completed his military service in Cyprus.

The July 6, 1996 assassination of Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı, who criticized Cyprus' Civil Defense Organization in his columns, is also suspected to have been committed by Ergenekon. Adalı's wife, İlkay, has long asserted that her husband's killing was ordered by Gen. Galip Mendi, who currently heads the Kocaeli Garrison. Mendi was head of the KKTC Civil Defense Organization in 1996 and is known to have visited retired generals Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon after the two were jailed as prime suspects in the Ergenekon case.