[LINK] "Wild tales from a Turkish whistleblower"

[rfmcdonald]

Surprisingly, Toronto seems to have been caught up, at least as a bit player, in Turkey's alleged Ergenekon conspiracy.

north Toronto office tower, Tuncay Guney extends a delicate hand and introduces himself: "You are now talking to the most famous agent in the world."

Speaking through a translator, his tone is sardonic. But he lays out a pretty fair case.

The 36-year-old Turkish refugee claimant and former journalist goes on to describe meetings with Hezbollah chieftains and U.S. senators, a near escape from Turkish intelligence in the company of an Iranian general, close friendships with Kurdish rebel leaders and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani.

"James Bond has nothing on me," Guney said. He's joking again. Sort of.

It's a fantastical tale from the slight, bespectacled man, a former Muslim who now wears the garb of an Orthodox Jew.

But Guney is not taken lightly in his home country. He is the lynchpin in a sprawling trial accusing dozens of prominent Turks of plotting to overthrow their government. Many in Turkey see the trial as the result of a power struggle between the secular military and the pro-Islamist government of the ruling AK Party.

According to Turkish prosecutors, the labyrinthine ultranationalist cabal, code-named `Ergenekon', backed political assassinations and deadly terrorist attacks.

All the threads lead back to information provided eight years ago by Guney. He continues to launch verbal bombs from Toronto, appearing regularly via satellite on Turkish television .

This week, Turkish court officials released a list of 37 questions they want Guney to answer about Ergenekon. Did they conspire with separatist Kurdish rebels? Who did they kill? What is their relationship to international drug gangs?

"I am the `black box' of Ergenekon," Guney said, referencing one of his nicknames in the Turkish press. "They cannot solve anything until they reach me."

His standing among fellow expatriates is less lofty.

"Speaking as a member of the community, we are embarrassed that he lives in Canada among us," said Lale Eskicioglu, executive director of the Ottawa-based Council of Turkish Canadians. "Because of him, many innocent people have been interrogated. He has caused a lot of hell in Turkey."

Guney's rise from obscure journalist to renowned whistleblower began in 2001. That year, he was arrested for attempting to sell a stolen car. Over nine days of interrogation, Guney told police he had uncovered a wide-ranging plot to unbalance the Turkish state.

Guney claims he was tortured during questioning. "I told myself, I would get my revenge some day."

Police searched Guney's apartment, uncovering six batches of documents, some marked `Top Secret'. The papers laid out a portion of the conspiracy, naming as members some of Turkey's most prominent citizens.

"He got so much information that he cannot have gotten it by himself," said Ergun Babahan, a former editor of the Turkish newspaper, Sabah. "Someone gave it to him."

Despite a travel ban, Guney was mysteriously able to flee Turkey for the United States. "He went from Turkey to New York and then Toronto. That is not so easy to do," said Babahan. "I believe he has some sort of protection."

Different factions in Turkey have variously accused Guney of working for American and Iranian intelligence; Islamist interests and Ergenekon-linked secret police units. He denies all of it. He took off his black, broad-brimmed hat and skullcap before being photographed for this article because he feared it would bolster accusations that he works for Israel's Mossad.

Guney's files lay dormant until 2007, by which time the AK Party had won power. Then a raid on the house of a former military official turned up explosives that were later linked to an attack at a Turkish newspaper.

The arms seizure pulled the first thread that unravelled the alleged Ergenekon plot. As police investigated, they found Guney had already provided a road map of Ergenekon. Involving high-ranking military officials, businesspeople, gangsters and journalists, the conspiracy appeared to unmask what the Turks call the "deep state" – the real power hidden behind governments.

The Ergenekon plotters stand accused of a dizzying variety of crimes, all aimed at unhinging the government and prompting a military-backed coup.