Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz has reopened the cases of five businessmen, including Behçet Cantürk, who was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, and his driver, Recep Kuzucu.
Cantürk was kidnapped by men in police uniforms on Jan. 14, 1994. The bodies were found in a park in Sapanca the next day. Attorney Yusuf Ekinci, who was allegedly close to Cantürk, was also found dead in Ankara on Feb. 25, 1994.
Prosecutor Öz re-launched the investigation based on testimony from a witness who goes by the code name Poyraz (Northern Wind) due to safety concerns. Poyraz in his testimony last year claimed that Sedat Peker, a mafia gang leader also implicated in Ergenekon, ordered the death of Tolga Atalay, who was killed in Muğla. In his testimony, Poyraz claimed that Atalay called him shortly before his death and said: “Peker acted together with Veli Küçük -- they did many things. All of the bodies dumped at the Sapanca crossroads were the work of our organization. One of those killed was Cantürk. They used me, and now they have decided to do me in.” Poyraz said Atalay was killed by Peker in the Datça district of Muğla after speaking against his boss, apparently under the influence of alcohol.
The second murder case in the death triangle involved Savaş Buldan, who was kidnapped along with his friends Adnan Yıldırım and Hacı Karay in İstanbul on June 2, 1994. The bodies of the victims were found in Bolu on June 4. Savaş Buldan was the husband of Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy Fatma Buldan.
On March 27, 1994, Fevzi Aslan, a car dealer in İstanbul, and his nephew, Salih Aslan, were detained by men who identified themselves as police officers. They were found dead in Sakarya the next day. Ballistics tests revealed that the gun used in the murder of Cantürk and was the same gun that killed Fevzi and Salih Aslan. On Feb. 4, 2007, a male body was found in Hendek, which has still not been identified. Other people killed in the death triangle include Enis Karaduman, Mustafa Çapar and Ekrem Çaylan.
