Death well trial to start this Friday in Diyarbakır

The trial is the culmination of an investigation that was launched when wells excavated in the city of Silopi were found to contain human remains, believed to be bones of individuals who were victims of killings of an illegal organization inside the gendarmerie in the '90s, known as JİTEM.

The other suspects in the case are Atağ's son Temer Atağ, a former member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and later a state informant, Adem Yakın and other informants Fırat Altın, Hıdır Altuğ and Kukel Altuğ.

The suspects are being accused of murder, forming an organization to commit a crime and inciting murder. The prosecution demands nine consecutive life sentences for Temizöz, seven life sentences for Atağ and Yakın, two life sentences for Temer Atağ, three for Fırat Altın and life for Kukel Atağ; all without the possibility of parole.

The trial is seen as an important first step in what might lead to illuminating thousands of disappearances and unresolved murders in the 1990s. The indictment, which was accepted by the Diyarbakır 6th Higher Criminal Court, claims that Temizöz formed a death squad comprised of special sergeants, village guards and ex-PKK members working as informants in Cizre, where he was assigned by the military in June 1993. The prosecution claims that the group committed hundreds of murders of Kurds in the area under the guise of “anti-terrorism” efforts. Adem Yakın, Fırat Altın, Hıdır Altuğ and special sergeants using the code names Yavuz, Tuna, Cabbar and Selim Hoca were members of this death squad, according to the indictment. Temizöz gave the orders and instructions himself to the members of the death squad. The prosecution also says identity documents belonging to those killed by the team were delivered to Temizöz.

The suspects are being accused of murdering 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 a foreign national male.

The truth about JİTEM

JİTEM, whose existence has been officially denied, is thought to be an instrumental arm of the terrorist Ergenekon organization, which is charged with plotting against the government.

Many informants and witnesses as well as ex-JİTEM members have testified on its atrocious crimes. A first hand account had come from Maj. Cem Ersever, who left the army after a gendarmerie commander, Gen. Eşref Bitlis, was killed in a suspicious plane crash.

Ersever, in a confession made to the press after he left the gendarmerie in 1993, provided accounts of JİTEM's activities. Ersever's confessions were later compiled in a number of books by author Soner Yalçın. Before his assassination, the major also said he was in charge of JİTEM's operations in the southeast.

Ersever's body was found in Ankara on Nov. 4, 1993. His girlfriend and right-hand man had also been killed, and personal records he had compiled on JITEM activities had disappeared.

Abdülkadir Aygan, a former member-turned-informant of the PKK, has claimed that he had witnessed Col. Abdülkerim Kırca -- an alleged JİTEM commander who killed himself earlier this year -- kill three men with a gun in the southeastern city of Silopi. Aygan claimed Kırca had personally killed Necati Aydın, Mehmet Aydın and Ramazan Keskin -- members of the Diyarbakır branch of a professional healthcare workers' union -- on the Silvan-Diyarbakır highway.

In a report prepared by the Prime Ministry on the 1996 Susurluk affair, Kutlu Savaş, the author of the report, referred to Col. Abdülkerim Kırca as the "planner and executor" of most of the incidents committed by shady networks in the military. The Susurluk affair was the first of many incidents in Turkey that confirmed the Turkish public's long-held suspicions of a "deep state." Evidence proving the existence of JİTEM has been more than ample. Savaş wrote that JİTEM was under the control of the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Security Army Corps. "Even though the Gendarmerie General Command denies this, the existence of JİTEM cannot be denied. Perhaps JİTEM was destroyed and eliminated at some point with its personnel and records being sent to different places. But many of the officers who worked in JİTEM are alive," Savaş's report said.