Documents and equipment seized during the investigation into Ergenekon -- which has now turned into an indictment against nearly 50 people who will be brought to court in late October of this year -- reveal that the group had a complicated electronic system of compiling lists and categories of a large number of people, mainly businessmen, journalists and members of the military.

Evidence collected by the police during the more than yearlong investigation, which started last summer when a house full of explosives was discovered in İstanbul, also shows that the group was not thrifty when it came to communications and surveillance expenses. Bills and invoices found during the searches on Ergenekon-related houses and offices show in detail the quality, brand and prices of electronic equipment used to wiretap phones and bug buildings, as well as surveillance vehicles that the group used to follow and track people. The evidence so far has been included in the 534th evidence folder of the nearly 2,500 page indictment against the group.

Turkey was shaken by a number of bugging scandals in late May and early June of this year. In a recording posted on YouTube, Lt. Col. Onur Dirik -- the controversial commander of the Dağlıca battalion ambushed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the night of Oct. 21, 2007 -- admitted responsibility in the fatal mishap, which left 12 people dead. Another recording, also posted on YouTube, had the voice of former Higher Education Board (YÖK) Chairman Erdoğan Teziç giving a speech about the possibility of “President Abdullah Gül” falling victim to a “traffic accident.” Teziç, who in the recording appears to be speaking in a friendly environment amidst apparently highly trusted individuals, also makes insulting remarks about a Cabinet minister and threatens then Chief of General Staff. Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt. Similar voice recordings of soldiers and bureaucrats, including Adm. Kadir Sağdıç, Gen. Münir Erten and a former prosecutor on various gang crimes, were also broadcast on YouTube, revealing information that these people would not have voiced publicly.

The evidence collected during the Ergenekon investigation is mostly from the gang’s monitoring work in 2003. Computer data seized in the home of Ergenekon suspect Feridun Refik Nuhoğlu describes in detail plans to build a vehicle equipped with cutting-edge surveillance technology. Other documents show the expenditures made on the endeavor. A presentation found on Nuhoğlu’s computer, for example, shows the cost of his intelligence gathering plan -- which includes the purchase of two minibuses and a yacht -- to be $413,000. A list of people and organizations to be monitored include the Eko food company, the Albayrak comany, the companies of Uzan, Koç and Sabancı Holdings, the Kayalar Group, retail chains Tansaş and Migros and a controversial professor of medicine, Nurettin Sertçelik.

‘Special Bureau Intelligence Group’

Ergenekon has extensive experience in monitoring people. According to his recent testimony and statements from a press interview in 2006, Ergenekon suspect Erkut Ersoy -- founder of an organization called the Special Bureau Intelligence Group -- the criminal network had a spy “on every single street.” According to Ersoy’s testimony and other evidence gathered by prosecutors in the case, the group worked for Ergenekon suspect retired Col. Fikri Karadağ, who is also the head of a shadowy civil society group, Kuvvayi Milliye Derneği (National Forces Association). In his testimony to the police in January of this year following his detention, Ersoy, who faces charges of “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “recording personal data illegally,” said his intelligence bureau was only a mailing group, restricted to 1,100 people.

However, in an interview with Tempo weekly magazine in 2006, Ersoy said 756 people from a variety of fields, including students, doctors, housewives and lawyers, worked with his bureau. He said his organization was similar to the “White Forces,” a special unit made up of civilian staff under the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) Special War Department. Ersoy said his group also included members of the General Staff, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and police officers on its staff. He stated that they reported suspicious individuals or vehicles to the relevant authorities.

TODAYSZAMAN