A common objection to the investigation into the clandestine organization "Ergenekon" is that the group does not have the wherewithal to carry out large-scale militant acts. This section aims to clarify what is known about the munitions presented as evidence. This is also of relevance to linking acts allegedly carried out by the organization, as it has been alleged that weapons of the same type and serial number were found in several locations. Debate has focused in particular on the grenades, which can be uniquely identified by the fuse type (Turkish: fünye grubu) and batch number (Turkish: kafile numarası).[1]
According to police officials, "HGR DM 41" indicates German origin, SPLITTER denotes a fragmentation grenade, "COMP-B" means composition B, "LOS" indicates European production up to NATO standards, while the number following "FMP" indicates the batch.[2]
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One of the two grenades recovered in Akhisar, Manisa had the serial number HGR DM 41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP 24. Another grenade from Eyüp, İstanbul had the serial number HGR DM 41 COMP-B LOS FMR-24.[2]
One of the ten grenades had the serial number HGR DM 41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP 16.[2]
Two grenades used in the Şemdinli incident on 9 November 2005 were found to bear the serial number HGR DM 41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP 134.[4]
Alparslan bombed the offices of the newspaper Cumhuriyet in May 2006. The grenades did not go off in his first two attempts; he succeeded on his third. The NATO standard, Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu (MKE) model 44 grenades had the following serial numbers:[1]
The part before the slash denotes the fuse type, while the part after it denotes the batch number. For example, the batch number of the first entry means 'batch 91, December 1977'. The army bought 8800 such grenades from the MKE in 1978.[5]
The serial numbers of some of the 27 grenades found in Ümraniye are:[4]
These grenades are registered to the Hasdal barracks in Istanbul.[6]
The recovered materiel included 11 kg of C-3, a telescopic rifle, a Kalashnikov, a shotgun, M-16 shells, 12 grenades (10 from the MKE), smoke bombs, 12 210g TNT setups, 6 500g TNT moulds, a 1.5 kg TNT mould, a 1 kg demolition block, ignition munitions. This is sufficient to flatten a twelve-floor reinforced concrete structure, with each floor over 400 m2.[7] The grenades have serial number TAPA M204 A2/KF-MKE-91 12-77, matching the ones from the Cumhuriyet attack.[8][1]
With the help of a tip-off on 3 December 2008,[9] the Trabzon police found nine grenades of the same batch number as those in Ümraniye. In nearby Yomra, the police seized a gun and eight 7.65 mm bullets for it, a Kalashnikov rifle and three chargers, a total of 420 7.62 mm Kalashnikov bullets and a grenade. In the city, eight grenades were found; seven hidden inside a washing machine, and another in an oven. Trabzon governor Nuri Okutan said that none of the suspects were public officials or members of the military.[10] The serial numbers of the Trabzon grenades are:[4]
The grenades in Ümraniye had also been found following a tip-off in Trabzon. However, the former tip-off was to the gendarmerie rather than the police.[9]
22 grenades, over 100 bullets, 1 Kalashnikov, and 4 pistols were found in Dönmez's vacation house in Sakarya.[8]
Three drawings and 9 unlicensed Glock pistols were found in the home of special forces police chief İbrahim Şahin. The drawings led to the excavation of 8000 bullets (mostly Uzi), 2 light-weight anti-tank weapons, 1 kg of plastic explosives, 10 hand grenades whose serial numbers had been removed and 10 smoke bombs. The recovered weapons were determined to be buried in July 2008 (the month generals Eruygur and Tolon were detained). They are reported to be different from the ones that were entrusted to Şahin's department and went missing after Susurluk scandal.[11]
During excavations in Poyrazköy in Beykoz district, Istanbul that lasted from 21 to 28 April 2009 arms including 21 LAW arms, 14 hand grenades and 450 grams explosives were found.[12] The discovery resulted in a separate court case known as the Poyrazköy case.
On 19 November 2009 the General Directorate for Security informed the prosecutor's office in Erzurum that the munition found at the Çatalarmut Dam in Erzincan Province could be related to 30 incidents. The bombs found at Çatalarmut Dam numbered HGR DM41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP-134 were from the same series as one of the hand grenades numbered HGR DM41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP-134 used in the Şemdinli bombing.[13] The bomb found in Çatalarmut numbered MKE MOD45 MKE-1-18 08-89 and the one thrown at Akkoyunlu Police Station in Istanbul Ümraniye on 22 November 2000 belonged to the same tag group. The same could be said for one of three hand grenades that on 30 January 2006 killed the police officer Cenk İce working in a clinic in Eşrefpaşa (Izmir).[13] The bomb found in Çatalarmut numbered HGR DM41 SPLITTER COMP-B LOS FMP-19 belonged to the same group as the hand grenade found on 20 March 2000 in the house of the PKK militant Seyfettin Işık in Mardin province Midyat district.[13] Of the five hand grenades found on 20 May 2004 during the search of a house belonging to the PKK in Adana province İncirlik district had the same table number as the ones found in Çatalarmut (HGR Z DM72 LOS FMP-19).[13]
İlhan Cihaner, former prosecutor in Erzincan, who was elected deputy for the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the election of 12 June 2011 for Denizli province but also prime suspect in the "Erzincan-Ergenekon-trial" alleged that the six hand grenades found at the lake had been taken from an investigation he was running before his arrest. These arms presumably had been distributed to villagers after the Maraş and Sivas massacre by the counter-guerrilla to be used in a civil war.[14]