Col. Berk Erden from the Southern Sea Base Command in İzmir reportedly shot himself at his house. An investigation has been launched into the incident by the military prosecutor’s office, while his body was taken to the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) for an autopsy.
While Erden reportedly committed suicide due to some problems in his private life, the exact reason behind his death will be determined after the investigation is completed. Erden was the seventh naval officer to die in a suspicious suicide or accident over the past seven years.
Several members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have recently died in suspicious suicides, brought back into the spotlight late last year after Lt. Col. Ali Tatar was found dead in his İstanbul home. Tatar, a naval officer, reportedly shot himself in the head. The lieutenant colonel’s alleged suicide was found to be suspicious, particularly due to his suspected links to Ergenekon, a clandestine network accused of plotting to overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.
Retired Col. Belgütay Varımlı also reportedly killed himself by jumping off the balcony of his apartment in İstanbul’s Kadıköy district on Nov. 20 of last year. Varımlı’s suicide aroused suspicion because he was known to be a devout Muslim and would not have condoned the idea of killing oneself since suicide is one of the biggest sins in Islam.
Capt. Olgun Vural also died in a suspicious suicide. An autopsy of Vural, who was found dead in his house on March 24, 2009, showed that the bullet’s entry wound was smaller than the exit wound. The finding strengthened suspicions that the captain may have been shot in the back by someone else.
A private, Mesut Y., in the central province of Konya also reportedly shot himself in the head yesterday while he was on guard duty. He was immediately taken to the Konya Meram Research and Teaching Hospital where he later died. An investigation has been launched into the death.
