Turkish soldier commits suicide over Ergenekon case

A Turkish soldier has reportedly committed suicide in Karabuk province in the Black Sea region of Turkey as the probe into the Ergenekon underground terrorist organization continues.

Erdem Acar — a member of the gendarmerie unit in Karabuk province — ended his life on Sunday when he shot himself at his home in the Emek neighborhood in the Safranbolu district of Karabuk, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Another soldier recently committed suicide.

Lt. Ibrahim Unal Sarioglu was found dead inside his home on March 12. Sarioglu served at the military post in Ankara's Polatli district and is survived by wife and a 4-year-old son.

Two cases have been pressed so far in Turkey as part of a thorough investigation into the clandestine Ergenekon group. Turkish police launched a probe into the shady network on June 12, 2007 after a house full of ammunition and weapons was discovered in Istanbul's Umraniye district.

In the Ergenekon case, charges have been filed against more than 200 people accused of seeking to establish an unlawful organization to provoke a series of events that would pave the way for a military coup in Turkey.

The Ergenekon group has been indicted for at least two violent attacks — the bombing of a secularist newspaper in 2006 and an attack on a court in the same year in which a judge was killed. Prosecutors argue that the network plotted assassinations and political unrest to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

However, many believe that the Ergenekon investigation is a government plot to suppress the opposition.

The controversial case has raised tension in the political arena and deepened the rift between Turkey's secularists and the ruling government.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121003§ionid=351020204.