Probe launched into 600 prison guards for FETÖ links
Police intelligence and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) have launched an investigation into 600 Silivri prison guards for links with the Gülenist Terror Cult (FETÖ).
During the first stage of the investigation, officials discovered 43 guards with links to FETÖ, all of whom were detained yesterday. With 1,540 guards currently working in Silivri prison, which has a capacity for 15,000 prisoners, every month since 2008 has seen more than 100 guards hired, a period which saw the Ergenekon, Sledgehammer (Balyoz) and Oda TV cases. These cases were plotted by Gülenist prosecutors, judges and police officers. FETÖ infiltration since then turned the prison into a strategic location for the terrorist group, and further infiltration in the Silivri Courthouse by clerks linked to the group. Complaints regarding alleged abuse of prisoners and their families at the hands of these guards were reported at the time to the Turkish media, and recorded in a 2013-dated report from the prison's sub-Commission of the Parliament's Human Rights Commission. The report read, "Internal physical and bodily examinations which were conducted on [prison] visitors qualify as harassment. Discriminative practices were implemented towards several prisoners."
FETÖ is accused of trying to shift blame for murders conducted by the group onto others, including Ergenekon, a fictional gang of generals, journalists and several other prominent figures, who were imprisoned following a trial conducted by Gülenist prosecutors. All the defendants in the Ergenekon case were released years later after investigations revealed that the evidence in the cases for which they were imprisoned by prosecutors and judges close to the movement was forged or altered.
During the first stage of the investigation, officials discovered 43 guards with links to FETÖ, all of whom were detained yesterday. With 1,540 guards currently working in Silivri prison, which has a capacity for 15,000 prisoners, every month since 2008 has seen more than 100 guards hired, a period which saw the Ergenekon, Sledgehammer (Balyoz) and Oda TV cases. These cases were plotted by Gülenist prosecutors, judges and police officers. FETÖ infiltration since then turned the prison into a strategic location for the terrorist group, and further infiltration in the Silivri Courthouse by clerks linked to the group. Complaints regarding alleged abuse of prisoners and their families at the hands of these guards were reported at the time to the Turkish media, and recorded in a 2013-dated report from the prison's sub-Commission of the Parliament's Human Rights Commission. The report read, "Internal physical and bodily examinations which were conducted on [prison] visitors qualify as harassment. Discriminative practices were implemented towards several prisoners."
FETÖ is accused of trying to shift blame for murders conducted by the group onto others, including Ergenekon, a fictional gang of generals, journalists and several other prominent figures, who were imprisoned following a trial conducted by Gülenist prosecutors. All the defendants in the Ergenekon case were released years later after investigations revealed that the evidence in the cases for which they were imprisoned by prosecutors and judges close to the movement was forged or altered.