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BDP demands investigation into TSK suicides
In the motion, submitted to the Parliamentary Presidency yesterday, the deputy also notes that despite the high suicide rate, neither the TSK nor the government has made any effort to shed light on the cases. The motion says maltreatment, insults, verbal abuse, beating and other potentially harmful acts may have played a role in the suicides of military personnel, indicating that superiors could be at fault.
The motion notes there have been 1,248 reported cases of attempted and completed suicide in the TSK between 1991 and 2001, adding that 815 of these cases resulted in death. The motion says the cases of suicide and suspicious deaths reported as suicides witnessed in the past year should show the gravity of the situation. The motion also says there is a general and legitimate doubt over whether some of the reported suicides were actually suicides. “The opinion that the TSK is covering up certain incidents is gaining ground among the public. The fact that most of the military personnel who are reported to have killed themselves are of Kurdish origin, and statements from families of alleged suicide victims that they do not find the TSK statements on the alleged suicides convincing give way to suspicions that there is ethnic discrimination in the military and even cases where executions are covered up as suicides.”
Lieutenant dead in apparent suicide A Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) lieutenant has been found dead in his home in Ankara’s Polatlı district in what investigators say appears to be a suicide. Lt. Ünal Sarıoğlu had been serving in Polatlı’s Artillery and Missile School’s Show and Maneuver Squadron. He was found dead in his home in the Şentepe district and appeared to have killed himself with a handgun. The death follows a long list of suicides by military officers in recent months, some of which are considered suspicious due to ongoing political controversies involving those individuals, with some observers speculating over whether the suicides were actually homicides. Investigators are looking into possible reasons that may have prompted Sarıoğlu’s suicide. Recently, a female physician lieutenant who worked at GATA committed suicide in her home in Ankara. Ankara Today’s Zaman |
The motion also demanded an investigation into some suspicious deaths in 2009. The names and death dates of the specific cases Özçelik wants investigated are as follows: Edip Yaman on Jan. 11, 2009, Burhan Güzelaydın on Jan. 29; Muhammed Türkan on Feb. 5; Seyfettin Berkin on March 6; Adil Şipal on April 4; Mustafa Bozdoğan on June 12; Davut Yıldırım on July 20; Sait Özdemir on July 7; Ramazan Oruç on Aug. 26; Ahmet Solgun on Sept. 14; and Hüsamettin Kasım on Sept. 18. The motion also included the town of birth of the privates and officers killed to highlight the point that most of them are from the Kurdish-dominated Southeast.
Ergenekon suicides
The motion also noted that seven officers and a special operations commander who were mentioned as suspects in the Ergenekon investigation had killed themselves last year. These were retired Col. Birol Atakan, Lt. Col. Nursel Gedik, retired Col. Abdülkerim Kırca, Special Forces Unit President Behçet Oktay, Capt. Olgun Vural, Lt. Col. Tanju Ünal, retired Col. Ali Bergütay Varımlı and Lt. Col. Ali Tatar.
The motion noted that the fact these high-ranking officers were said to have been connected to Ergenekon and that they had served in highly sensitive operations as well as statements from families contradicting those of the TSK also raised doubts and merited a thorough investigation.
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