Turkey's shady state actors from 1990s to be retried over 18 extrajudicial killings

Former Turkish minister and police chief Mehmet Ağar and former intelligence official Korkut Eken will be retried over 18 extrajudicial killings that took place in the 1990s after an appeals court reversed their acquittals. Although the appeals court's ruling was adopted on April 5, it was conveyed to the lawyers on May 23, hours after mafia leader Sedat Peker's bombshell allegations shook Turkey.

Sunday May 23 2021 04:02 pm

Duvar English

An appeals court has reversed the acquittal rulings of 19 suspects in the case into the extrajudicial murders of 18 individuals in the 1990s.

The court has ruled for the suspects, including former minister and police chief Mehmet Ağar and former intelligence official Korkut Eken, to be retried, T24 news portal reported on May 23.

The decision to reverse judgement was adopted unanimously on April 5, but was conveyed to some of the suspects' lawyers on May 23, it said.

The 1990s was a decade marred by extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and various other human rights abuses at the hands of the state. Ağar and Eken, two shady figures, were at the center of these practices.

Their names have been making headlines for the past three weeks due to a series of videos released by mafia leader Sedat Peker, who has accused the political figures of committing countless crimes.

In his latest video on May 23, Peker said that Ağar is involved in an international drug-smuggling scheme and that he, as well as Eken, ordered the killings of two journalists in the 1990s.

The appeals court pointed to the inconsistencies at the time of the trials and said that the evidence was not sufficiently looked into. It also drew attention to the fact that the bullets used in the murders were not properly investigated.

The victims were listed as Namık Erdoğan, Metin Vural, Recep Kuzucu, Behçet Cantürk, Savaş Buldan, Hacı Karay, Adnan Yıldırım, İsmail Karaalioğlu, Yusuf Ekinci, Ömer Lütfi Topal, Hikmet Babataş, Medet Serhat, Feyzi Aslan, Lazem Esmaeılı, Asker Smıtko. Tarık Ümit, Salih Aslan and Faik Candan.