A four-page letter that was sent to French intelligence by Karataş, who died of cancer in a Netherlands hospital in 2008, has revealed the existence of a secret agreement paving the way for his release on Jan. 26, 1995 -- four months after he was caught and jailed, on Sept. 9, 1994. In the letter, Karataş asked French authorities for his release while threatening to order terrorist activities in France if he was kept in prison. French intelligence met with him at the La Sante Prison and told him he would be released if he pledged not to carry out terrorist activities in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. An agreement was signed with Karataş, and he was released.
Karataş is believed to have ordered the murder of Özdemir Sabancı, a second-generation member of one of Turkey’s most powerful business empires and owner of the country’s second-largest industrial and financial conglomerate, in 1996, a year after his release.
Three DHKP/C members, Fehriye Erdal, İsmail Akkol and Mustafa Duyar, were arrested in the murder case. Erdal managed to flee to Belgium, where she has been sentenced to prison for terrorism-related charges but remains at large. Akkol is also on the run. Duyar, who turned himself in that same year, was killed in prison in 1999. A prosecutor is now reopening the case after finding another letter from Erdal to Karataş.
In recent months, investigators have gained access to documents archived by the DHKP/C. Forensic examinations established that the letter sent to French authorities was indeed penned by Karataş. The original copy of the agreement is reportedly in the hands of Belgian authorities, while Turkish authorities have a photocopy of it, Sabah reported.
