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Witness wanted bribe to retract testimony, recording reveals
The wiretap transcript was made public on Monday during a hearing of Temizöz’s trial at the Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court.
The prosecution read a passage from a phone conversation between Binzet and a man identified as Nihat. In the conversation, the witness says he will withdraw his testimony if they give him TL 25,000. The conversation is dated July 2, 2009, and goes as follows:
Nihat: “The TL 25,000 issue. Please reduce your demand by TL 10,000.”
Binzet: “No, I will not.”
Nihat: “OK. TL 25,000 is ready. Retract your testimony. We will pay you TL 500 monthly.”
Binzet: “I do not agree. Give me the whole sum at once. I will tell them [the prosecution] that I was suffering from depression for four years, and all my testimony was imaginary. Tell Kamil not to pick on me. Otherwise, I will tell everyone about the rape issue.”
Binzet was probably referring to Kamil Atağ, former Cizre mayor. Atağ is also among the defendants on trial.
The key witness has changed his testimony many times, withdrawing some of his earlier statements and denying others. Lawyers for some defendants have alleged that “somebody” is making Binzet memorize what to say in court in his jail cell.
Col. Temizöz is also accused of establishing an organization with the aim of criminal acts and inciting murder.
Binzet, however, said the phone conversation was fabricated, adding he would never change his testimony for money. He also said he received monetary offers to testify against the defendants and added that Human Rights Association Diyarbakır branch Chairman Muharrem Erbey deposited money into his bank account once or twice.
Meanwhile Temizöz defended himself, saying that the trial was nothing but political revenge.
“There is a bipolar settling of accounts over me. I believe the court will serve this motivation if it refuses to release me from prison,” he said, and filed a criminal complaint against the prosecutors overseeing the probe.
Temizöz was arrested in March based on the testimony of a number of secret witnesses detailing five separate incidents of murder allegedly committed by Temizöz and another colonel between 1993 and 1997.
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