Assassination attempt against Turkish PM : secret witness

ISTANBUL

A statement from a secret witness alleging that an assassination attempt was set up against Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2004-2005 has stirred up the Ergenekon trial, daily Milliyet reported.

The 248th trial in the ongoing Ergenekon case opened in İstanbul with the statements of "Secret witness Selçuk," who claimed that defendants Arif Doğan, Veli Küçük, Levent Ersöz and Muzaffer Tekin were involved in an attempt to assassinate Erdoğan by planting C4 explosives in his car.
 
He claimed that a Lieutenant Colonel had requested the help of a carwash attendant near Erdoğan's home for the assassination attempt, but added that the worker did not want to get involved.

The witness said he was in charge between 1991 and 1999 as an intelligence officer in the gendarmerie, adding that during this time Ersöz and Küçük had connections with Russian military intelligence services.

"They were sending narcotic substances abroad and they were claiming to be patriots," he said.

Küçük's daughter, acting as his lawyer, fainted in the court following these allegations.