Istanbul Armenian Apostolic Church Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan was just one of several prominent figures in Turkey targeted for assassination by the group Ergenekon in an attempt to destabilize the country according a lead prosecutor in the case.

As reported in yesterday’s Today’s Zaman, prosecutor Ali Pekgüzel presented his final opinion to an Istanbul Court, arguing that the terrorist group had sought to create disorder in Turkey through seventeen subversive plans and thus lead to a coup d’etat.

One of the plans, according to the prosecutor, was to murder prominent figures in the country and lay the blame on the ruling Justice and development Party (AKP).

In addition to Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, others marked for assassination were  the former chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya; former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt; world-renowned writer Orhan Pamuk; Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir; Kurdish lawmakers Sebahat Tuncel and Ahmet Türk; Federation of Alevi-Bektaşi Associations (ABF) head Ali Balkız.

Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel is seeking life imprisonment for 64 defendants and up to 15 years for 96 others.

The defendants include Turkish officials, retired military officers, journalists and scholars.