Court Assassination Suspects Jailed

Lawyer Alpaslan Arslan who gunned down members of Turkey's Council of State 2nd Chamber leaving one dead and four wounded last Wednesday was arrested by the Ankara 11th Criminal Court on Monday together with suspects Ismail Sagir, Osman Yildirim and Tekin Irsi who are accused with participation in the attack.

The group of four suspects appeared before the court's on-duty judge following their interrogation at the prosecutor's office and, according to a report by the Anatolian Agency, were placed under arrest for "attempt to change the constitutional order", "attempt to commit murder and participation in offences". "possession and use of explosives" and violation of the 6136 Fire Arms Law.

Five other suspects identified as Sinan B., Saim O., Mehmet A., Orhan K. and Nusret A were released after their statements were taken by the prosecutor.

Following the court's arrest order, the suspects were taken by officers of the police counter-terrorism branch to the Ulucanlar prison where based on a recent instruction sent by the Ankara Republic Prosecutor's Office that terrorist and organised crime suspects should only be held in F-type prisons, authorities refused to accept the group.

Talks held between authorities led to the four suspects then being transferred to the Sincan F-type prison.

Muzaffer Tekin Interrogated

Former military officer Muzaffer Tekin who allegedly solicited the attack and was caught at a hospital after a suicide attempt with a knife stab wound in his chest, was interrogated first in hospital.

Tekin refuted allegations raised against him and said among those named in relation to the attack he only knew lawyer Alpaslan. A special team picked the suspect up from hospital after his initial questioning and he was transferred to Ankara where his interrogation is scheduled to continue.

While it was reported that another man identified as Erhan Timuroglu wanted in relation to the shooting gave himself up to the para-military gendarme forces in Istanbul on Sunday night, Mahmut Ozturk, the owner of the villa Tekin hid in while on the run and another person detained during the investigation were also sent to Ankara where the detailed investigation is being conducted.

Ayfer Ozdemir Discharged

Meanwhile, Council of State 2nd Chamber member Ayfer Ozdemir who was wounded in the arm during last week's gun attack was discharged from hospital and in her first statement to the press lashed out at "enemies of the Republic".

"Those enemies of the republic" she said, "should never attempt to show me as being on their side. The bullet they shot did not kill me, but this would kill me".

Ozdemir, in the State Council's 2nd chamber controversial vote barring a nursery school teacher from heading a school due to her headscarf, had challenged the vote. Freshly out of hospital she said her dissenting vote did not mean she supported headscarves but was based on her knowledge of law and her own conscience.

Erdogan: We are approaching the end

In a statement related to the fast pace investigation that has led to detentions and arrests, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "the rings of the chain are being identified one by one and we are approaching the end" praising the police and Turkish intelligence for their successful work.

"Up until this day there has never been operations that have produced results such as these" Erdogan said, adding that their target was to see the investigation concluded successfully. (EO/II/YE)