MURDER IN ANATOLIA - European Stability Initiative - ESI

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Sevgi Erenerol is the spokesperson of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, an institution with a long
history of ultra-nationalist activism which is not recognised by any other church. The “church” run by
her family and without congregation was always intensely hostile towards all other Christians,
including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. In recent years the Turkish Orthodox church became a
meeting place for many ultranationalists who were later charged with being part of the Ergenekon
terrorist network. Together with Ergun Poyraz (see below) Sevgi Erenerol set up the ultra-nationalist
Ayasofya Dernegi (Hagia Sophia Association) in October 2006. She spoke often at conferences
warning that “missionary activities in Turkey are aiming at more than religious goals.” Erenerol also
briefed senior military about the “missionary threat” in 2006. She was arrested in January 2008 as a
member of the alleged Ergenekon network.
Kemal Kerincsiz was Ergun Poyraz‟ lawyer and head of the ultranationalist Great Union of Jurists
(Buyuk Hukukcular Birligi) since its foundation in April 2006. He instigated most Article 301 Penal
Code trials for denigrating Turkishness, filing charges against Orhan Pamuk (Nobel Prize laureate
2006), writer Elif Safak, Hrant Dink and others. He also organized demonstrations against the
Ecumenical Patriarchate and Turkish Armenians together with others accused of forming the
Ergenekon network: Veli Kucuk, Muzaffer Tekin and Sevgi Erenerol (all: see above). He also led the
legal campaign against two Turkish Protestant converts, who were arrested in October 2006, charged
with slandering Turkishness and then stood trial for almost four years. Kerincsiz was arrested in
January 2008 and charged with being part of the Ergenekon terror network.
Tuncer Kilinc is a retired general. He was the Secretary General of the National Security Council
(NSC) from August 2001 until 2003. In 2001 a report prepared for the NSC warned that the real goal
of missionary activities was the “division of Turkey”. Kilinc made the same claim many times in
public. In a speech in 2002 he accused the EU of being “a Christian Club, a neo-colonialist force,
determined to divide Turkey.” He also attended meetings in the Turkish Orthodox Church. Sevgi
Erenerol (see above) also visited Kilinc in Ankara. In January 2009 he was charged in the third
Ergenekon indictment with maintaining links to members of Ergenekon and providing confidential
documents to Ergun Poyraz, the author (see below).
Ergun Poyraz is an ultranationalist writer who published “Six Months among the Missionaries” in
2001. An anti-Christian, anti-AKP and anti-EU bestselling author, he was arrested in 2007 for his
links to the alleged Ergenekon network accused of plotting to undermine the government. Many
confidential military documents were found in his house. During a search of the Workers‟ Party office
in Izmir a document was found indicating that he was also paid by JITEM.
The lawyers of the victims’ families
Cengiz Dogan
A whole team of distinguished human rights lawyers has been following the Malatya court case on
behalf of the victims‟ families. Two of the most visible and outspoken are Orhan Kemal Cengiz and
Erdal Dogan. Cengiz, who is based in Ankara, is the legal advisor of the Protestant Association, a
columnist and one of the founders of Amnesty International in Turkey. In 2003, he set up the Human
Rights Agenda Association (HRAA). Erdal Dogan, an Istanbul-based lawyer, had defended Hrant
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