Defendants demand quashing of Ergenekon coup plot case at Turkey's top court

Turkey?s Supreme Court of Appeals held the first appeals hearing in the Ergenekon coup plot case on Oct. 6, months after the Chief Prosecutor?s Office asked for a reversal of the rulings in the case. 

At the first hearing, the chief judge of the court pledged to offer a wide opportunity for the presentation of defenses, while suspects demanded the quashing of the controversial and long-running case. 

Former Chief of General Staff Gen. ?lker Ba?bu?; former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief and now Republican People?s Party (CHP) deputy Mustafa Balbay; and Levent Ersöz, a retired general and suspected member of J?TEM, an alleged intelligence unit of the gendarmerie, were among the suspects who attended the first hearing on Oct. 6.

?The law has been violated every day in this case. That?s why I ask for the quashing of the case on its merits,? said Do?u Perinçek, one of the defendants and the leader of the Homeland Party. 

?In line with America?s plans, the ?F Organization? committed this crime,? Perinçek said, describing the Ergenekon case as ?the biggest crime committed against the Republic.? By saying the ?F Organization? he was apparently referring to followers of the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who he accuses of manipulating the case.

Balbay also demanded that the case be thrown out. ?We want to say, ?There are judges in Ankara.? In spite of everything, the legal experiences of this country cannot tolerate such an outrageous file,? he said.

Adnan Türkkan, another defendant, said he was included in the case simply because he was the founding leader of the Youth Union of Turkey (TGB).

?Zekeriya Öz interrogated me when I was taken into custody. Now, he is outside Turkey as an outlaw. So I...