Era of unsolved murders returns under AK Party government

The bodies of the victims of the July 20 blast in Suruç, a town in southeast Turkey, were taken to a morgue following the initial crime scene investigation.(Photo: DHA)

August 08, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00/ BAYRAM KAYA/ FAZLI MERT/ / ANKARA

Turkey has seen a dramatic surge in the number of unsolved murders over the past several years, a development reminiscent of the dark days of the 1990s during which many people fell victim to acts of violence that still haven't been exposed or punished.

It has become almost a daily occurrence in the country to witness the killing of either civilians or security force members with the perpetrators remaining unknown in many of the incidents. There are also frequent clashes among mafia groups that result in the execution of some individuals.

Streets are no longer safe in most parts of the country, and light cannot be shed on many incidents taking place in big provinces such as İstanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, İzmir, Adana, Muş, Batman, Van and Gaziantep. Since the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002, many unsolved murders and attacks have taken place -- particularly over the past two years.

In one of the latest such incidents, 33 people were killed in a suicide attack in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey on July 20. The bomber turned out to be an Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist who was also killed in the explosion. Yet, the masterminds of this tragic incident, which led to the killing of so many people, have not yet been found and brought to justice.

Two days after this incident, two police officers were shot to death in their apartment in Şanlıurfa's Ceylanpınar district. The terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the murders, but there has been no progress in the investigation into the murders so far.

Turkey was frequently shaken by extrajudicial killings and unsolved murders in the 1990s, the perpetrators of which have yet to be captured and brought to justice. Extrajudicial killings and unsolved murders terrorized the Kurdish population in particular in southeast Turkey. The murders -- which some say are in the hundreds and others claim to be in the thousands -- were mostly committed by the Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization (JİTEM), an illegal counterterrorism unit formed under the gendarmerie in the 1990s.

Figures show Turkey is still a land of unsolved murders.

A report released by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) earlier this year revealed that 54 people died in extrajudicial killings in Turkey in 2014.

The report, which documents human rights violations in 2014, said 54 people fell victim to extrajudicial killing while 106 others were injured. The report said it excluded the casualties that occurred during the events of Oct. 6-8, 2014, when nearly 50 people were killed after Kurdish protesters across the country flocked to the streets to protest the government's policies in response to an attack by ISIL on the Syrian town of Kobani.

Graft probe and new enemy

The number of extrajudicial killings in the country has increased particularly since a corruption scandal went public on Dec. 17, 2013 in which senior members of the AK Party government were implicated. Then-prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who dubbed the investigation a “coup attempt” against his government, launched a witch-hunt in the judiciary and police force against suspected members of what he calls a “parallel state,” a phrase he coined to refer to the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Since the Dec. 17 probe, President Erdoğan and the AK Party government reassigned police officers who had expertise in intelligence, counterterrorism operations and organized crime and appointed inexperienced officers to these units.

More importantly, the newly appointed police officers act solely on government orders, and they have directed their focus to the government's new enemy, the Gülen movement, not against terror organizations, because Erdoğan believes the Gülen movement masterminded the corruption probe to topple his government. The movement strongly denies the accusation.

According to Research Center for Security Strategies (GÜSAM) head Ercan Taştekin, a former police chief, only police officers who have expertise in the investigation of unsolved murders could shed light on these incidents. He said it should also be a priority for whichever politicians are running the country to ensure that there are no unsolved murders; otherwise, it will take very long time for such murders to be brought to justice.

Security experts say that removing or relocating experienced police officers from their positions has created significant security gaps that work to the benefit of mafia organizations and terror networks. Moreover, some people who have been appointed to critical positions in the İstanbul Police Department, for instance, are known for their ties to mafia networks and radical religious organizations.

Investigations reach impasse

After December 2013 when the witch-hunt began in the police force, no significant progress has been made in the investigation of unsolved or suspicious murders.

Although some progress had been made in the investigations into the killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007, the killing of three Christians at a printing house in the eastern province of Malatya in April 2007 and a suspicious helicopter crash that led to the death of former Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu along with five others, the investigations of all these incidents ground to a halt after a change of stance by the AK Party government.

After the AK Party government launched a war against the Gülen movement, the government and Erdoğan tried to associate the movement with unsolved murders in an apparent move to discredit it in the eyes of the public; hence, they prevented the exposing of the real masterminds of these incidents.

In addition the AK Party government, which enjoyed a parliamentary majority until the June 7 general election, relied on its previous majority to oppose the reopening of the dossiers of some unsolved murders.

AK Party deputies rejected requests by opposition parties to establish investigation commissions into the suspicious deaths of the engineers of ASELSAN, a defense industry giant that produces technology for the Turkish military, the killing of 34 civilians by Turkish warplanes on the Turkish-Iraqi border near the Uludere district of Şırnak after they were mistaken for PKK terrorists in late 2011, and the killing of two police officers in the eastern province of Bingöl last year.

A call by the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for the establishment of a commission to investigate acts of terrorism in the country that have increased since the Suruç bombing was also rejected by the AK Party last month.

AK Party era filled with unsolved murders

On Jan. 6, a female suicide bomber who detonated a bomb at a police station in İstanbul's historic Sultanahmet quarter led to the killing of one officer and the wounding of another. The attacker was first said to be Elif Sultan Kalsen, a member of the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), but it turned out to be Diana Ramazova, a Russian citizen who allegedly had ties with ISIL. It is still a mystery which terrorist organization is behind the attack.

On Feb. 20 a nationalist student, Fırat Çakıroğlu, was killed during a clash between supporters of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the PKK at the İzmir-based Ege University. Çakıroğlu, a history student, was a leading member of the youth organization affiliated with the MHP known as Ülkü Ocakları. The young man's murderers have not yet been brought to justice despite six months having passed.

On March 31 Turkey was shaken by a hostage crisis at İstanbul's Çağlayan Courthouse in which public prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was taken hostage by two DHKP-C militants after they raided his office before being killed along with his captors. Many people have been detained in relation to the killing of the prosecutor, but the masterminds of the incident are yet to be identified.

On April 4 a football team, Fenerbahçe, fell victim to an attack by as yet unknown perpetrators. The Fenerbahçe bus was attacked with guns as it was traveling to the Black Sea province of Trabzon following a match with Çaykur Rizespor in April. The driver of the bus sustained serious injuries, but none of the Fenerbahçe players were hurt in the incident that sparked a nationwide outrage because if the injured driver had lost control of the vehicle, everyone on board the bus might have been killed. Although several people have been detained in connection with the incident, they have been released on probation and still no one knows who was behind this malicious attack.

Back in October 2014 three military members, Ramazan Gülle, Ramazan Köse and Yunus Yılmaz, who were in civilian clothes, were killed by masked attackers in a street in broad daylight in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari. Several people who were arrested as part of the investigation into the murders were later released due to a lack of evidence showing their involvement in the murders.

Further back, in 2012, Murat Uzun, chief public prosecutor of the Ovacık district in Tunceli in eastern Turkey was shot to death in front of his house. Although several people have been arrested as part of the investigation into the prosecutor's killing, no suspect is currently in jail and the murder remains unsolved.

On Dec. 29, 2011 perhaps the most painful tragedy of the AK Party era took place when 34 civilians who went to northern Iraq to smuggle goods were killed near Uludere after being mistaken for PKK terrorists. Despite insistent calls from the victims' families and civil society organizations, the AK Party government has not made any real effort to find those responsible for the tragedy and bring them to justice.

In September 2009 a 12-year-old girl named Ceylan Önkol was killed by a mortar shell fired from a nearby military base while tending sheep in a village in Diyarbakır's Lice district in southeastern Turkey. The pre-teen's tragic death is still a mystery despite six years having passed since the incident.

Keywords: AK Party , Turkey , murders , violence