Prosecutor removed from KCK case, questions abound over MİT-KCK ties

İstanbul Specially Authorized Prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya was removed from the case by İstanbul Specially Authorized Deputy Public Prosecutor Fikret Seçen. In initial comments on the chief prosecutor's move, Sarıkaya said he respects the decision. Speaking outside the court in İstanbul after his removal, Sarıkaya said: "This is the chief prosecutor's prerogative. ... There is nothing that can be done. We did our duty," he said.

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Turan Çolakkadı explained the reasons behind Sarıkaya's removal in remarks to the Sabah daily on Sunday and said the prosecutor was withdrawn from the KCK case on the grounds that he violated the confidentiality of the investigation and hid information from his superiors.

“Both me and Fikret Seçen learned about the developments from the press,” said Çolakkadı, adding that this attitude of Sarıkaya runs contrary to a regulation that needs to be obeyed by all prosecutors and deputy chief prosecutors.

At the heart of the current investigation is the suspected collaboration between the KCK and some MİT officials, who infiltrated the KCK, to gather intelligence about the activities of the organization but allegedly ended up involved in some illegal acts and attacks masterminded by the KCK.

Reports in the media claim that according to documents in the case file, the KCK was actually founded under MİT oversight. It has also been alleged that orders for some of the KCK's attacks were given from sources inside MİT. In addition, a meeting MİT officials held in Oslo with representatives of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) last year is also under investigation. The contacts came to light last year through recordings posted on the Internet.

Two new prosecutors have been assigned to the case after Sarıkaya's removal. Sarıkaya was overseeing the probe into the KCK with Bilal Bayraktar. With two new prosecutors assigned to replace Sarıkaya, three prosecutors are now involved in the case.

Last week Sarıkaya summoned MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, his predecessor Emre Taner, MİT Deputy Undersecretary Afet Güneş and two MİT officials, Yaşar Yıldırım and Hüseyin Kuzuoğlu to testify in the ongoing investigation into the KCK, which Turkish prosecutors say is a group that controls the PKK and other affiliated groups. MİT appealed the prosecutor's move to summon Fidan to testify on Thursday, arguing the prosecutor's office should have asked permission from the prime minister, but prosecutor Sarıkaya rejected the appeal on Friday.

The prosecutor also requested that the Ankara Prosecutor's Office hear Fidan's testimony and obtained warrants for Güneş, Taner and two MİT officials, Yıldırım and Kuzuoğlu. The prosecutor requested warrants from the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Friday, and the court accepted the prosecutor's request.

Media reports said on Sunday that Ankara Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hüseyin Görüşen called Fidan after receiving Sarıkaya's request on Saturday and invited him to the prosecutor's office to testify. In response, Fidan said he would come to the prosecutor's office at an “appropriate time.”

Moreover, according to a report published by the Taraf daily on Friday, Kuzuoğlu and Yıldırım were among the officials who have conducted negotiations with Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem since 2010.

Furthermore, on Friday the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) presented a draft law to Parliament according to which specially authorized prosecutors have to receive permission from the prime minister when taking legal action against MİT officials.

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay criticized the summons on Saturday, saying public officials could not be accused for simply carrying out their duties.

"This is how the government sees it. The people in question are carrying out their public duty at great sacrifice to themselves. Therefore, to be accused and summoned like this in the public eye is wrong," he said.

"It is wrong to summon a MİT director in this way who is directly linked to the prime minister without the prime minister's permission and knowledge," he said.

Atalay said he hoped the parliamentary bill presented on Friday by the ruling AK Party aimed at blocking the summons would be passed next week.

Questions waiting for an answer

As a three-year-long KCK probe has yet to come to a conclusion, the unanticipated summoning of some former and active MİT officials as part of the probe opened Pandora's Box, leaving many questions unanswered and making the case even murkier.

Reports in the media claim that some individuals arrested in KCK operations recently were MİT agents. Some of these agents, the prosecution suspects, might have crossed the line and collaborated with the KCK in some of its criminal acts.

There is now a heated debate in the media over the names of those who were summoned, but the kind of charges directed against some MİT officials are not given much attention.

According to the police reports, some MİT members were involved in 50 incidents in İstanbul alone over the past three years. For instance, the assailant who last year attacked the residences of the prosecutors of the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer cases in İstanbul's Başakşehir district was an MİT agent. In another case, a MİT agent delivered two Kalashnikov rifles to Abdullah Uçmak, a hit man who shot singer İbrahim Tatlıses last year. A six-page-long letter written by the PKK leader last summer was taken to the executive body of the KCK allegedly by MİT agents. The letter included an order from Öcalan for new terrorist attacks and 13 soldiers were killed in a PKK attack in Diyarbakır's Silvan district following Öcalan's order.

In what way should prosecutors or police officers act when they face a complicated situation in which some security officials are involved in crimes? If executive MİT officials knew that some MİT members were involve in unlawful acts, what did they do about it, are some of the questions waiting for an answer now.

The other critical question that needs an answer is the speedy growth of the KCK in Turkey's southeast in a short time in recent years.

Nearly 12 voice recording tapes and 19 letters that were seized as part of a recent operation into the KCK leadership last month revealed that MİT scandalously did not inform the police or military even if it gathered intelligence that the PKK would attack some military targets. To make matters worse, MİT members engaged in acts to sabotage the operations of security forces against PKK units in the region.