February 2, 2010 - 14:49 AMT
U.S. Embassy in Ankara denies links to Ergenekon


The United States Embassy in Ankara said the U.S. has no involvement with a probe in Turkey over an alleged criminal network that came to be known as Ergenekon.

A spokesperson for the Embassy described the allegation as "ridiculous" in a written statement on Monday, saying that the embassy could not comment on an ongoing case in a Turkish court.

A national newspaper in Turkey has said part of an indictment in the Ergenekon probe alleged a car registered on the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul had entered a military zone to take photographs in Poyrazkoy district, the scene of an excavation which unearthed weapons and explosives last April.

The spokesperson said they had no record of a Consulate vehicle being present at the site on April 7, 2009, Anatolian News Agency reported.

The Ergenekon case in Turkey has been investigating a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces and accused of being behind a number of unsolved murders of journalists, academics, public-opinion leaders and writers.