SIX MORE DETAINED IN TURKEY’S ERGENEKON INVESTIGATION (JUNE 1, 2010)

Six more people were detained Tuesday in the ongoing Ergenekon investigation, including a former justice minister and the deputy leader of a political party.Police raided addresses in Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya, detaining former Justice Minister Seyfi Oktay, who held the post in the mid-1990s, as well as lawyer Mehmet Cengiz, deputy leader of the Workers’ Party, or İP. İP leader Doğu Perinçek has been in prison pending trail for more than a year as a part of Ergenekon investigation.

RETIRED GENERAL TESTIFIES IN ERGENEKON (JUNE 2, 2010)

Retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, an Ergenekon suspect from the second indictment, testified to the court from a hospital via teleconference Wednesday.“It is the nature of the profession of career soldiers that inferiors do not have the right to either fail to implement orders, arguing that they are against regulations, or to ask for written orders,” said Ersöz. He said he did not make the comments to blame superiors, but to demonstrate the limits on his authority and duty.

TURKEY’S ERGENEKON CHIEF JUDGE ANSWERS BRIBERY, SEDUCTION CLAIMS (JUNE 9, 2010)

Following claims of promises of promotion and sexual enticement in return for dropping the Ergenekon case, the trial’s chief judge faced reporters Wednesday, saying he had not received such offers.

The claims had been made in the press that a group with ties to the ultranationalist Workers’ Party, or İP, was allegedly trying to change the course of the case in their favor by bribing Chief Judge Köksal Şengün with promises of promotion to a seat at the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, or HSYK.

TURKEY’S ‘CAGE PLAN’ HEARINGS BEGIN (JUNE 15, 2010)

The first hearing of the trial for an alleged organization accused of plotting to carry out the “Operation: Cage” action plan is set to begin on June, 15^th in Istanbul.

The “Cage” is an alleged plan to terrorize the non-Muslim population of Turkey in order to motivate foreign circles to put pressure on the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, working in direct contact with the alleged Ergenekon gang.

AGOS INTERVENES TO HELP UNLOCK TURKEY’S ‘CAGE’ (JUNE 15, 2010)

The bilingual weekly newspaper Agos was accepted Tuesday as a party to the “Cage” trial, which deals with an alleged plot suspected of being linked to the assassination of its editor in chief, Hrant Dink.