Turkey’s unsolved murders: from Susurluk to Ergenekon’s acid wells

Kurdish researchers argue that the number of unresolved murders in Turkey exceeds 20,000. Considering that 33,000 died during Turkey’s fight against terrorism, they believe this is a realistic figure because many unresolved murders stemmed from this combat; however, the number sharply declines to 550 if we only look at applications handled by the European Court of Human Rights as an authoritative indicator.

Sadık Avundukluoğlu, the former chair of the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the unresolved murders, says the figure advanced by the Kurdish intellectuals is an exaggeration, adding that the number of applications before the European Court of Human Rights gives a more accurate figure. Stressing that every death in connection with arms and drug smuggling in the Southeast is attributed to the state, Avundukluoğlu further said: “The Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] has tried to put the blame for the people it killed on the state.

Giving a figure without taking this into consideration is not meaningful.”

Prosecutors are looking into claims about death wells located in the Southeast in which hundreds of bodies of southeastern citizens killed by the Ergenekon organization on suspicion that they might be affiliated with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party .

Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) President Sinan Aygün was one of the people held in custody in connection with the Ergenekon investigation; he was released after being interrogated; however, no legal action was taken with respect to $3.5 million euros found in his safe. What makes Aygün more interesting is a report issued by the ATO in 2005 on the unresolved murders in Turkey. The report said that about 588,000 perpetrators of unresolved murders are freely living among us. The report further argued that the harmonization laws enacted to facilitate the EU membership bid eroded the police’s authority and ability to deal with criminal cases and offenses.

According to the report, the number of unresolved murders was 68,000 in 2000, 91,000 in 2001, 85,000 in 2002, 113,000 in 2003 and 129,000 in 2004. The report argued that the figure would most probably reach 200,000 by the end of 2005. The report was based on police data. ATO asserted that 29 out of 100 criminal cases remained unresolved in 2002, adding that it rose to 35 in 2003 and to 37 in 2004.

The report was published at a time when the Ayışığı and Sarıkız coup attempts would have been staged. Data published by the Forensic Registration and Statistics Unit of the Justice Ministry show that the report was actually an exaggeration. ATO had published similarly exaggerated reports during the same period. For this reason, a number of intellectuals held that ATO’s actual goal was to undermine the EU membership process.

Reports published by the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) with respect to the unresolved murders confirm the arguments put forth by the Kurdish researchers; however, neither the official archives nor the Kurdish intellectuals’ reports were precise. In any case, all parties agreed that Turkey was a country with many unresolved murders.

Two rooms of the Human Rights Association’s (İHD) Diyarbakır branch are full of files pertinent to the unresolved murders committed in 13 provinces. Local chairman Muharrem Erbey is now working to coordinate with prosecutors with respect to these files. According to the İHD data, there are about 20,000 files. Most of the dockets were left from the office term of Tansu Çiller between 1993 and 1996. Of these 20,000, 1,500 are on disappeared people.

Tarık Ümit

The apprehension of retired Gen. Levent Ersöz, accused of involvement in a number of unsolved murders and disappearances of persons during his service in the region, has presented an opportunity to shed light on the murders. Democratic Society Party (DTP) Şırnak deputy Hasip Kaplan complains that the Ergenekon investigation has so far failed to resolve the murders, assassinations and social chaos in the region, adding that Ersöz’s apprehension will be a big step in this respect. Kaplan’s family was extensively affected by Ersöz’s activities in the region.

Kaplan’s brother Faik Kaplan asked to serve as a witness in the Ergenekon trial, arguing that Ersöz threatened to throw him out of a chopper.

Serdar Tanış and Ebubekir Deniz, both from the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) Silopi local party organization, disappeared on Jan. 25, 2001; a subsequent investigation revealed that they had been taken to the Şırnak Provincial Military Command. There is still no information on their whereabouts. Ersöz was the provincial military commander at the time of their disappearance.

Ersöz, who fled to Russia when the Ergenekon investigation began, also served as head of the General Staff’s intelligence unit. He was caught with a fake ID last week and stands accused of involvement in a number of unresolved murders. The European court ruled against Turkey with respect to the disappearance of these persons despite the fact that local remedies were not yet exhausted -- a prerequisite for the acceptance of an application into the court’s docket. The court waived this requirement for the first time in its history.

Cem Ersever

After the Ergenekon investigation began, alleged Ergenekon member Tuncay Güney, among others, argued that the bodies of some of the missing might have been buried in oil wells and burned with acid in Şırnak and Cizre. While the argument has not attracted attention from public authorities, the İHD’s Diyarbakır branch believes that Tanış and Deniz were dumped in these wells.

Death triangle

After the start of the Ergenekon investigation, the DTP Commission of Human Rights and Law decided to file a motion to intervene in the proceedings. Batman deputy Bengi Yıldız, the head of the commission, notes that they made a report indicating that more than 17,000 people had been killed in the East and Southeast.

The report reserves extensive coverage for the murders committed in the so-called death triangle of Sapanca, Hendek and Düzce. During this period, retired Gen. Veli Küçük, who is currently under arrest in the Ergenekon investigation, was serving as Kocaeli regional gendarmerie commander. Information about Mustafa Dönmez, also an Ergenekon suspect, may shed light on the unresolved murders. It is interesting to note that the mysterious murders started shortly after Prime Minister Tansu Çiller said on Nov. 4, 1993: “We have a list of artists and businessmen who make payments to the PKK; we will deal with them.”

The victims killed in the death triangle include Kurdish businessman Behçet Cantürk, who was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, and his driver, Recep Kuzucu. Cantürk was kidnapped by men in police uniform 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.

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 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 introduced themselves as police officers. They were found dead in Sakarya the next day. A ballistics investigation 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. The body has still not been identified.

Other people killed in the death triangle also include Enis Karaduman, Mustafa Çapar and Ekrem Çaylan.

The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is currently hearing the Ergenekon trial, has ruled for a reinvestigation of the unresolved murders committed in this region.

There is also extensive evidence showing that retired Capt. Cem Ersever, the founder of JİTEM, and Tarık Ümit, from the MİT, were murdered in the death triangle.

Major unsolved murders in Ergenekon case

Professor Bahriye Üçok was killed on Oct. 6, 1990, when a package delivered to her home exploded. Üçok, a professor of theology and a member of the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP) administration board, was working as a columnist for the Cumhuriyet daily at the time. The murder was never solved. On Jan. 31, 1990, Professor Muammer Aksoy was killed in Ankara’s Bahçelievler district. Three years later, Uğur Mumcu, a student of Aksoy’s who had carried a portrait of him during his funeral procession, was also murdered. Turan Dursun, who had worked as an imam in several cities since the 1960s, was assassinated on Sept. 6, 1990. Dursun had attracted a great deal of attention and criticism because of his aggressive stance vis-à-vis religion and religious values. The murder of Dursun, who presented strong opposition to religion in his books, remains unresolved. The murder of Mumcu, who was also a columnist at the Cumhuriyet daily, was huge; Mumcu was killed when a bomb was placed underneath his car on Jan. 24, 1993. The Ankara State Security Court (DGM) handled the murder case. After lengthy delays, a legal investigation was finally initiated on July 11, 2000; however, the murder was not resolved despite investigative efforts. A parliamentary commission was set up to investigate the Mumcu murder, and the commission prepared a report on its findings; however, those who had committed themselves to resolving the murder eventually stepped down from the political stage. Interestingly, even though inspectors determined that military judge Ülkü Coşkun, who was serving as a DGM prosecutor, had been negligent, the Defense Ministry disregarded criminal reports against him. Coşkun was even promoted to the Military Court of Appeals. The parliamentary investigation commission even filed a criminal report with the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges (HSYK) arguing that DGM prosecutors Nusret Demiral and Coşkun had obstructed the work of the commission and blocked the flow of information from the police department. The criminal report was disregarded. The Justice Ministry started an investigation upon a complaint from the Mumcu family and ruled for disciplinary action against the prosecutors; however, the Defense Ministry never complied with the ruling with respect to military prosecutor Coşkun. After the murder, Mumcu’s works were reviewed to find clues about the perpetrators. Interestingly, it was noted that Mumcu was the first person to write extensively about the connection between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Hezbollah as well as the ties between the PKK and the deep state. In his essay, “MOSSAD and Barzani,” penned 17 days before his death, Mumcu exposed an interesting connection between the Barzani family and Israel. In his essay, “Ültimatom,” from Jan. 8, 1993, Mumcu announced he would publish very interesting documents that would shed light on Kurdish nationalists and intelligence units. But he was murdered on Jan. 24, 1993, before publishing these documents. Coincidentally, a large Iranian delegation landed at Esenboğa Airport the day Mumcu was assassinated. Iran was suffering from ongoing economic embargo measures imposed by the US; Turkey and Iran would sign a deal envisaging transport of Turkmen natural gas through Iran to Turkey. The Cumhuriyet daily republished all Mumcu’s essays after his death; however, his essay “MOSSAD and Barzani” was never published again. On May 16, 2006, his brother Ceyhan Mumcu made the following statement: “A large part of the media published extensive propaganda arguing that the assassination was committed by Iran. However, Uğur Mumcu never criticized Iran; besides, he never wrote on discussions about secularism after 1992. For this reason, there is no sensible ground giving Iran motivation to kill Uğur Mumcu. The people still believe that Iran is responsible for the murder. Considering this, our nation should be alert in response to other possible assassinations and look for involvement of MOSSAD serving as the subcontractor of the CIA in such events.” Eleven Middle Eastern men taken into custody as suspects shortly after the Mumcu assassination were released in a week. Six months after the murder, Zeki Ergezen from the Welfare Party (RP) said: “Our party organization located the murderers. An Israeli organization is responsible for the assassination. We notified the Prime Ministry of their location. They knew it. They had the fax message we sent on their desk. But they did not catch the perpetrators.” Statements made by Iranian authorities argued that the Israeli secret service was responsible for the murder. An Iranian newspaper, Jomhouri Eslami, published the details of the following scenario based on an official National Intelligence Organization (MİT) document: “To make sure that military forces are stationed in different parts of Turkey, which is a pivotal country for US security and interests, and that Turkey is prevented from approaching a religious regime, a special team of six members trained by Israeli GADNA units have entered Turkey from Haifa under the supervision of the CIA and control of Haim Bar-Lev, a member of the Israeli Cabinet. The mission of said team in our country is to murder Uğur Mumcu, a key source for our organization. Our intelligence shows that the team members are staying at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara.” Assassination of Kışlalı On Oct. 21, 1999, Professor Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, vice president of the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD) and a professor at Ankara University’s faculty of political science, was murdered by a bomb placed under his car. Like the Mumcu murder, the assassination of Kışlalı outraged secular, Atatürkist and leftist circles, and like so many other political murders, it remains unresolved. Associate Professor Necip Hablemitoğlu, who did extensive research on secessionist terror organizations in Turkey and abroad, German foundations and foundations legislation, was the latest victim in a series of unresolved murders. Like the previous murders, conservatives and religious circles were blamed for this assassination as well; however, the Ergenekon investigation now presents strong and solid evidence suggesting that this murder, along with the others, was committed by the Ergenekon terror organization.