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Ergenekon plotted to have ErdoÄŸan declared medically unfit

18 February 2010 00:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. New allegations have surfaced implicating Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government, in a scheme to declare Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan medically unfit to rule the country, not unlike a similar plot by the group against former Prime Minister BÃ¼lent Ecevit, who passed away in 2006, APA reports quoting todayszaman.com web-page.
The accusations are based on a document found on the computer of YalÃ§Ä±n KÃ¼Ã§Ã¼k, one of the suspects. The document, titled â€œThe Epileptic Country,â€ talks about ErdoÄŸan and makes some suggestions of ways to eliminate him from the political scene. The document found on KÃ¼Ã§Ã¼kâ€™s computer shows that Ergenekon actually attempted to confine ErdoÄŸan to his bed, in an open reference to the plot against Ecevit.
The third Ergenekon indictment suggests that the document was written by KÃ¼Ã§Ã¼k himself and that the suggestion to get rid of ErdoÄŸan, â€œjust like Ecevit before him,â€ was also his idea. There are notes in the documents urging the implementers of the plan to â€œmake sure a gendarmerie guard stays on watch so he cannot flee the hospital like Ecevit.â€ The document says that a bedridden and ailing prime minister would be â€œto the benefit of the country.â€ In the lengthy document, KÃ¼Ã§Ã¼k offered a scenario where the prime minister would become sick and be sent to BaÅŸkent University Rector Mehmet Haberalâ€™s hospital. â€œI believe Haberal will not let him get out of his hands this time,â€ KÃ¼Ã§Ã¼k wrote.
Last week, the Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court ruled to examine all documents related to Ecevitâ€™s stay at BaÅŸkent University Hospital in Ankara as part of the investigation into Ergenekon. The court is now focused on claims that the BaÅŸkent University Hospital staff was involved in plans to draft a phony medical report for Ecevit. The claims were first raised by Democratic Left Party (DSP) officials in 2002. Following the emergence of these claims, Ecevit was immediately rushed to the GÃ¼lhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA) by his wife, RahÅŸan Ecevit. The former prime minister died in 2006. Haberal, the rector of BaÅŸkent University, was detained last year as part of the Ergenekon probe. He was also Ecevitâ€™s doctor at the hospital. The court has requested medical documents from the time when Ecevit was in Haberalâ€™s hospital.