Veli Küçük (born 9 May 1944)

Today's Zaman ''Today's Zaman'' (Zaman is Turkish for 'time' or 'age') was an English-language daily newspaper based in Turkey. Established on 17 January 2007, it was the English-language edition of the Turkish daily '' Zaman.'' ''Today's Zaman'' included dom ...

, 16 June 2009
Ultranationalist Ergenekon suspect is of Armenian origin, magazine reveals
/ref> is a retired Turkish brigadier-general. He is thought to be the founder of the

JİTEM Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı (abbr. ''JİTEM'' or ''JİT''; English: "Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization") is the intelligence department of ...

intelligence arm of the

Turkish Gendarmerie The Gendarmerie General Command () is the national gendarmerie force of the Republic of Turkey. It is a service branch of the Turkish Ministry of Interior responsible for the maintenance of the public order in areas that fall outside the jurisdi ...

, and is accused by the Turkish government of being the head of the Ergenekon organization, based on testimony by Tuncay Güney. He was arrested in January 2008, and on 5 August 2013, sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

Career

Küçük graduated from the

Turkish Military Academy The Turkish Military Academy () or as it is known historically and popularly Harbiye is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defense University (Turkey), National Defence University. It is located in the cent ...

in 1965. He was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1996, and retired on 30 August 2000. Küçük is thought to be the founder of the

intelligence arm of the

Susurluk

Küçük is said to be the last person to have spoken to Abdullah Çatlı before his death in the 1996

Susurluk car crash The Susurluk car crash was a car crash that took place on 3 November 1996 in the small town of Susurluk, in Turkey's Balıkesir Province. It resulted in the deaths of three of the passengers: Abdullah Çatlı, a former ultra-rightist militant wa ...

, and to have communicated extensively with Çatlı, Drej Ali and

Sami Hoştan Sami Hoştan (1 July 1947 – 11 May 2015), also known as Arnavut Sami ''Sami the Albanian'', was a Turkish suspect in the Ergenekon trials. He was a former partner of casino king Ömer Lütfü Topal; he was acquitted of Topal's murder in 2 ...

Ergenekon

Küçük was accused by the Turkish government of being the head of the Ergenekon organisation, based on testimony by Tuncay Güney. Hurriyet Daily News, 15 January 2009
Key testimony handed to defense
/ref> He was arrested in January 2008.

, 17 December 2008
Cross examination silences retired Gen. Veli Küçük
/ref> Cem Ersever's archive was found in Küçük's house.

, 13 August 2008
Ergenekon indictment reopens gendarmerie major’s murder case
At first, Küçük is said to have close links with Alparslan Arslan, the shooter in the 2006

Turkish Council of State shooting The Turkish Council of State shooting occurred on 17 May 2006. Alparslan Arslan entered the building of Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court, in Ankara and shot five judges, killing judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin. Arslan was se ...

based on a photograph in Sweden. Later on, it turned out that the man next to Küçük was not Arslan, but an Azerbaijani citizen named Mehmed Mehmedov. Moreover, Arslan said that he never went to Sweden and his father confirmed it. During the Ergenekon trials both Muzaffer Tekin and Oktay Yıldırım kissed Küçük's hand in court, as a traditional sign of respect. On 5 August 2013 he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with another 99 years. He was released on 11 March 2014 by the 4th High Criminal Court. On 21 April 2016, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation overturned the decision of the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Cour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucuk, Veli 1944 births Living people People from Gölpazarı Turkish generals Turkish Military Academy alumni Susurluk scandal People convicted in the Ergenekon trials Inmates of Silivri Prison