Special Ops Police Charged With Life Sentence

Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office charged 5 special ops policemen with life sentence within an investigation related to the killing of two civilians in 1999 in disguise of a PKK clash. 

According to Milliyet newspaper, Mehmet Eliveren (19) and Yılmaz Eliveren (17) were found dead in Genç district of Bingöl province on April 17, 1999. 

Police: There was a clash

“PKK terrorists attempted infiltrate to our headquarters. We executed two of them. Their dead bodies are lying in our courtyard,” Genç district police chief told the prosecutor, according to the prosecutor statement logs.  

Following the investigation, empty bullet shells have been found in two casually-dressed individuals. It turned out that Mehmet Eliveren’s leg was chopped from his calf, while several M-16 and kalashnikov entries were found in Yılmaz Eliveren’s body. “The casualties had kalashnikov rifles and bombs,” police logs said. Sources say that the two bodies were not put through an autopsy. 

“The incident was reported to 155 Police Hotline. The suspects have clashed with the police for 20 minutes during a search at a cemetery. There was also footprints for 78 guerrillas and most of them have escaped. Two bodies were retrieved in order to be processed,” police logs said. 

In his statement, special ops policeman M.A. said that he was wounded from his foot during the clashes even though he didn’t press for damages. 

A witness guard, on the other hand, he knew the deceased who were not guerrillas. He also confirmed about the clashes.

“We haven’t seen any guerrillas in the cemetery,” said N.Ö., a bystander. 

Despite the contracting statements, prosecutors chose to close the case and sent it back to Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office who dropped the case saying the suspects have “committed a terror crime” and “they were terrorists”.  

14 years later, Eliveren family applied to the prosecutor’s office again, saying that their relatives were not guerrillas and they were killed by police forces. Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office opened the case again and ordered the hearing of witnesses. 

“Those people were local business owners. They closed down their shop and went to a coffee house to watch a soccer game. They were killed as they left the coffee house. The older one was selling military equipment and the younger one was a high school student,” witnesses said. 

They also added that senior policemen A.K. knew Mehmet Eliveren well and they had a dispute over money lending. 

No evidence related to PKK 

“They have fired kalashnikovs on an empty field to give the impression that there was a clash. Even the prosecutor was aware of the situation. They have used unprocessed PKK rifles to say that they have used during the clashes. It was all staged,” a witness under protection program said. 

Upon that, judicial authorities removed its previous decision to not follow the prosecution and charged policemen suspects with killing Eliveren family members.  

An indictment also underlined that allegations on Mehmet and Yılmaz Eliveren’s clashing with police did not represent the reality and they had no linkages with PKK. The prosecutor charged 5 special ops policemen - K.Ç, M.A, B.G, M.Y and A.K respectively - with life sentence. 

“The family members were killed so that the suspects would not pay their debt back,” the indictment said. (AS/BM)