Court asks for details on Susurluk case

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

An Istanbul court overseeing the ongoing Ergenekon trial requested yesterday the disclosure of phone records pertaining to the bombing of the daily Cumhuriyet in May 2006 as well as detailed information regarding the Susurluk case of 1996.

The court delegation specifically asked for all records from base stations owned by Turkey’s three cell phone operators, Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea, in vicinity of the Pınar Housing Complex in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district, where the hand grenades hurled at the daily Cumhuriyet’s offices had allegedly been handed over.

The delegation further decided to issue a request from a court in the northwestern province of Balıkesir for the Susurluk case files to be handed over to them.

Another request will also be issued to an Istanbul court to obtain further details about the fate of other trials held in connection with the Susurluk case.

The Susurluk trials were launched in wake of a traffic accident that occurred in the town of Susurluk in Balıkesir in 1996, which brought the close relationship between the government, security forces and organized crime to the public’s attention.

The ongoing Ergenekon probe purportedly represents a deeper stab taken at illegal and covert cliques operating within the state than the Susurluk trials of 1996, which had revealed only the tip of the iceberg, according to certain claims.