http://www.thenewanatolian.com/opinion-8140.html
Military should display more concern over gangs Ilnur Cevik [EMAIL PROTECTED] June 2006 Once the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were labeled the guardian angels of Turkish democracy and the secular system. The military would even launch military coups to "save" democracy and put the country back on track. Now we all hope those days are over and with the European Union membership process well on its way the military is taking the utmost care not to be dragged back into domestic politics. Let us hope the mature and sensitive position displayed by Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok will be repeated by Gen. Yasar Buyukanit if and when he becomes the new chief of staff after August. In recent weeks there have been frequent attempts to drag the military into domestic politics and transform it into an adversary of the government. This is very unhealthy and dangerous for our country. However we also observe that there's a gradual increase in reports about the existence of right-wing gangs which also include several serving or retired military personnel. At one point we felt this could be a part of a smear campaign against the military but after some time we observed the gangs being caught and were shocked to learn the revelations of the suspects who were actually plotting to kill people and create serious disturbances. There was a gang that was uncovered in Bursa. Then there were others. The latest is the capture of the so-called *Atabeyler gang which includes three military people, two serving non-commissioned officers and a former Air Force pilot. The suspects were caught along with civilians last week and had TSK-issue explosives and professional assassination guns. They also had an assassination list which included prominent figures. If they'd carried out a wave of assassinations and terrorist incidents they would have really made quite an impact in aiding the current ongoing sinister campaign to destabilize the government. Then, of course, we would have heard the same old story about the government's incompetence in capturing the culprits and preventing terrorist incidents in the heart of our cities. But it seems internal civilian security intelligence is working well these days and has foiled a plot. However it's disturbing that there are so many military people and so much army hardware involved is such plots. The military has always been extremely sensitive to extremists and activists within its ranks. The fact that it weeds out Islamist activists within its ranks and throws them out of the army every year in their dozens shows the military has the means to identify and probe into activists. Now we feel it should use its intelligence assets and resources to look into these gangs and also prevent such plots. It shouldn't allow its explosives and hardware to fall into criminal hands. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
