A former chief of general staff testified secretly to prosecutors conducting the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow the government, the Milliyet daily reported yesterday.

According to the report, Ergenekon prosecutors Zekeriya Öz and Fikret Seçen secretly traveled to İzmir, where former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök resides. He was at the helm of the military when some retired generals who are currently jailed as Ergenekon suspects were also serving. Özkök testified in an eight-hour session last Friday in a room at the İzmir courthouse.The report explained that Özkök mainly had to answer questions regarding a coup d'etat plot allegedly led by retired Gen. Tener Eruygur, who was released pending trial in the investigation after a head injury, that has also made its way into the second indictment in the Ergenekon investigation. The former head of the military refused to comment on the content of his testimony.According to the report, the chief prosecutor conducting the investigation, Öz, first traveled to the city of Bursa to visit his family, so as to avoid attracting media attention by leaving İstanbul. At the same time, another prosecutor on the investigation, Seçen, flew to İzmir. Öz then traveled to İzmir from Bursa, where he got together with Özkök and Seçen early in the morning last Friday. Özkök made a statement in the afternoon yesterday, saying he did in fact testify to the prosecutors. Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, he said he was expecting the prosecutors to call him as a witness. “I will fulfill my duty as a witness,” he said, but added that he would not be commenting on the nature of the questions he had been asked. Özkök said he was ready to testifyIn an interview with Milliyet last July, Özkök had neither confirmed nor denied claims that certain senior army generals were planning to engineer coups against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. In that interview with Fikret Bila, Ankara bureau chief of the Milliyet newspaper, Özkök said he could neither confirm nor confute that senior army generals plotted three coup attempts codenamed Sarıkız (blonde girl), Ayışığı (moonlight) and Eldiven (glove). “I can neither say there were or weren't coup plans. In other words, I can neither confirm nor deny them. This is all I can say,” he told the daily. An investigation into Ergenekon -- a neo-nationalist organization with former senior army generals, journalists and businessmen among its members that sought to stage a coup against the governing AK Party government -- has revealed that Turkey escaped three potential coups d'état in 2004. Asked what he thinks about a diary detailing failed coup plans against the government that allegedly belonged to retired Adm. Özden Örnek, Özkök recalled that Örnek had insisted that the diary didn't belong to him. “While one party [referring to Alper Görmüş, the editor-in-chief of closed newsweekly Nokta, which published parts of the diary] says the diary belongs to Örnek, the admiral says it doesn't. I think we should trust Adm. Örnek,” stated Özkök.  28 April 2009, TuesdayTODAY'S ZAMAN  İSTANBUL