April 2, 2011

Confessions of secret witness behind latest Ergenekon wave

Today's Zaman

The confessions of a secret witness, referred to as “Deniz Uygar,” are reported to be behind the latest operation in the Ergenekon investigation into suspected links with the 2007 Zirve Publishing House murders, in which three people who sold Christian literature were killed.

On Wednesday police searched the homes and offices of several theology professors as part of the operation. According to news reports in some Turkish newspapers, the operation followed the confessions of Uygar, who testified to civilian prosecutors earlier this month. Uygar was a former agent who pretended to convert to Christianity and received regular payments from JİTEM, an illegal network inside the gendarmerie that is believed to have been responsible for thousands of unsolved murders in eastern and southeastern Turkey in the 1990s.

The secret witness reportedly told prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon investigation that he was ordered to write books and give conferences about missionary activities in Turkey by military superiors. He also noted that some theology professors contributed to the military’s anti-missionary activities. The witness also provided the names of those professors to the prosecutors, according to news reports.