Pledges to Trace Back Gladio Unconvincing

Saglar: "To open the Susurluk file means challenging the system. Neither Erdogan nor Baykal have such a concern". Birdal: "Agar and the National Security Council should be put on the agenda... Without Susurluk and its continuation unveiled, there can't be democratization".

BIA News Center

25/05/2006 Tolga KORKUT

BIA (Ankara) - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pledge that the government "will open all shelved files even if it is the Susurluk one" after the recent attack on Turkey's Council of State has been challenged by former Parliament Susurluk Investigation Commission member Fikri Saglar who told Bianet in an exclusive interview that "if he does this, he will go into history. But he doesn't have the strength to do it".

Bianet also interviewed former Human Rights Association chairman Akın Birdal who said that without Susurluk and organisations that are its continuation unveiled, there could be no democratization in the society.

Both Saglar and Birdal were active in their respective roles during the aftermath of what has come to be known as the "Susurluk Scandal" sparked off by a road accident near the northwest Turkish town of Susurluk in 1996 that revealed an intricate and illegal relationship between the government, politicians, security forces and organised crime.

Although a subsequent investigation and trial led to several convictions, it is widely accepted that the more controversial links of Susurluk were never properly investigated

"If the Prime Minister believes in his own words," Birdal told Bianet, "and if he wants to end the debate and get results from a possible early/extraordinary election, he should do what he says. This needs courage and determination. Because extrajudicial organisations in Turkey are institutionalised".

Saglar: Investigating Susurluk is changing the system

Saglar, who was one of the key members of a special commission in the Parliament tasked to investigate the Susurluk incident and relevant links says that to re-open the file comes to the same meaning as changing the regime in Turkey.

"The file known as the Susurluk file is related to the system. Because of this Erdogan does not have the strength. The only thing he has his mind set on is changing the secular democratic republic to moderate Islam. As for Deniz Baykal, when he remembered that the soldiers are also in the Susurluk file, he said nonsense. Much too distant from what the opposition should be doing. They have no concern in changing the system" Saglar said.

He added that in order to get any conclusive result on the Susurluk file, "it must be accepted that the Turkish Republic is a State of Law... Because it will mean a struggle against the system".

As for the system or regime, Saglar described it as "a system that has gone outside of the law, that is intent on shelving democracy, that believes sovereignty belongs not to the people but to the military structure".

Birdal: Agar and NSC should be taken on the agenda

Possible connections between the armed attack on Turkey's State Council during which one judge was killed and four others were wounded surfaced after relations were uncovered linking one of the suspects, retired officer Muzaffer Tekin, to retired general Veli Kucuk who was named in the Susurluk File.

Kucuk, who was a Brigadier General during the period where the Susurluk relations flourished, had refused to testify before the Parliament Investigation Commission on Susurluk.

But there are two other links in the Susurluk folder that have so far, in the last connection with the State Council attack, not been mentioned.

Mehmet Agar, politician-turned-policeman who not only chairs the True Path Party in the following years but serves directly in all operations as Turkey's National Police Chief in the Susurluk buildup. And the highest level security organ in the Turkish system: The National Security Council (NCS) which journalist Ismet Berkan identified as the supreme structure "that authorised the irregular war gang that was revealed with Susurluk".

On Kuuk and Agar, Saglar said "Both of them were in the operations. One of them from JITEM (Gendarme Intelligence) and the other as the Police General Director" and argued that Agar's becoming chairman of the True Path Party (DYP) "does not erase from history what he has done."

"They were both in the system and in the file. What should really be asked is why they [Kucuk and Agar] were not captured. If you are going to get a result on Susurluk they should be brought on the agenda".

Birdal, on the other hand, argued that "No one is immune" and said the Susurluk incident was bound to be discussed. "What happened was developments that almost rewarded those who participated in extrajudicial organisations rather than punishing them." He said that so long as there was no punishment, those involved in such acts were finding courage.

Everyone has a responsibility

Saglar says that with the Susurluk file now on the agenda again "the real duty falls on the people".

"In practice the duty is with the legislative organ, the justice. But it is essential the people own up to this. Otherwise the judges will be scared, so will the legislative."

Birdal adds that, "everyone who has had no relationship with such structures has a duty. Because the judiciary, the executive organs, the security forces, everyone should look into Susurluk and this should be unveiled."

Birdal believes the relations that have been revealed with regard to the State Council attack are not dissimilar to those related to Susurluk.

"What we have here is extrajudicial organisation, attacking, terrorising democratic institutions" he says. "The dysfunctional state of democratic institutions is feeding other institutions... Both the organisation and what they want to achieve is the same. The only thing that changes is the actors." (TK/II/YE)