Prosecutor demands 9 life sentences for death well colonel

The indictment in the investigation into human remains found in wells in Şırnak's Silopi and Cizre districts demands that Temizöz be charged with establishing an organization with the aim of committing criminal acts and inciting murder.

According to the indictment, Temizöz set up a group in Cizre after becoming a company commander. The group made extensive use of state power to detain people, interrogate them and kill them. The indictment, which deals with 55 unsolved murder cases, demands life sentences without the possibility parole for the suspects.

Outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) informant Abdülkadir Aygan, who was involved in the activities of the illegal gendarmerie unit JİTEM for years and who currently lives abroad, had informed the media that a number of murders were committed in the Southeast in 1992 and 1994 by unknown perpetrators and that most of the bodies were dumped in wells belonging to the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) in Silopi. Following Aygan's comments, families of the missing persons in southeastern Turkey filed criminal complaints with the prosecutor's office. The first excavations were done at wells owned by BOTAŞ in Silopi and additional excavations were conducted in Cizre's Kuştepe village.

7 suspects, 6 in custody

Former Cizre Mayor Atak and Temizöz were both taken into custody as part of the investigation and later arrested. The Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor's Office completed the investigation and prepared a 104-page indictment in which Temizöz, Atak, PKK informants Adem Yakin, Hıdır Altuğ and Abdulhakim Güven, Atak's son Temer Atak and brother Kukel Atak, who was released pending trial, are identified as suspects.

The indictment states that 55 unidentified murders were committed in Cizre between 1993 and 1997. Of these murders, 48 were committed between 1993 and 1995 and seven in 1996 and 1997.

The indictment holds the suspects responsible for the killings of 20 people: Ramazan Elçi, Ramazan Uykur, Abdullah Efelti, İbrahim Adak, Mehmet Gürri Özer, İbrahim Danış, Abdurrahman Afşar, Abdurrahman Akyol, İhsan Arslan, Beşir Bayar, Abdurrezak Binzet, İzzet Padır, Abdullah Özdemir, Mustafa Aydın, Süleyman Gasyak, Abdulaziz Gasyak, Ömer Candoruk, Yahya Akman, Abdulhamit Düdük and one man of foreign descent. The suspects face one to nine life sentences without the possibility of parole for committing murder, establishing an organization with the aim of criminal acts and inciting murder.

Executed after interrogation

The indictment contains important allegations and explanations about the “dark period” in Cizre based on information released by two secret witnesses, codenamed “ballpoint pen” and “streetlight.”

According to the indictment, after Temizöz was assigned to Cizre in 1993, he established a group of guards, informants and sergeants. In the name of the “struggling against terrorism” the group began engaging in illegal activities. They took people they believed were assisting the PKK or people with whom they had personal problems into custody, and some of these people were killed after they were questioned. Temizöz's codename within the group was “Metin.” The identification documents of those killed were handed over to Temizöz so the victims could not be identified and the cases would be considered “unidentified murders.” The group committed these murders while utilizing state resources.

How were the murders committed?

Explaining that the statements of the secret witnesses are reliable, the indictment stated that both suspects provided similar explanations. According to the indictment, the suspects explained that those who were killed were first taken into custody, arrested by the same people and then placed in a white Renault model car. They were then all killed in the same place with a Kalashnikov or a gun and buried under eight or 10 centimeters of soil. They also explained that ID cards were removed from the people after they were killed. The indictment explained that the statements of the secret witnesses were reliable because only someone who was involved with the incidents would be able to know such details.