Union Leader Killer Acquitted After 26 Years
Türkler was gunned down on July 22, 1980 -just 51 days before the reactionary military coup- while trying to get into his car in front of his house. Three people had been arrested as suspects of the infamous murder. Ünal Osmanoğlu, another suspected nationalist gunman, had been on the run.
The case began in 1981. Following suspect testimonies, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader of the time Alparslan Türkeş; nicknamed "the commander of the east", MHP member Yılma Durak and later MP Celal Adan have been tried as solicitors.
According to Durak and Adan, Türkeş gave the order for the killing. Then Durak hired his brother-in-law Ünal Osmanoğlu as the gunman. Osmanoğlu was involved in the cold-blooded killing of the seven university students -who were members of the Turkey's Labor Party-.
In addition, lawyer of the Türkler family, Rasim Öz claimed that on another account Osmanoğlu had killed three people while sweeping a bus with a machine gun, in Ankara.
Caught 19 years after
The court declared its ruling on April 7, 1987. Two other suspects were condemned to 12 years imprisonment for the murder of Türkler. Osmanoğlu had avoided a punishment as he left the country. Following the Military Court of Appeals overruling, Türkeş and Durak were acquitted on prescription.
19 years after the murder, Osmanoğlu was spotted in Kusadası, İzmir. He was running a facility of the Ministry of Forests.
It was revealed that during his time abroad, Osmanoğlu was jailed for selling of drugs in Germany and Sweeden. Then he was transferred to Turkey in 1992.
Using his brother's identity, his deposition was taken by the prosecutor's office. The case was opened once again on his arrest. It lasted until 2003 and Osmanoğlu was acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence.
26 years and no justice
Türkler's lawyer Öz appealed the verdict. The court reexamined the case and yesterday (March 5) Osmanoğlu was once again acquitted of all allegations. The court rejected the witness testimonies of Türkler's daughter Nilgün Soydan, and the man whose car was abducted by the murderers.
Disappointed with the verdict, Öz once again filed an appeal but he reminds that it has been 26 years since the killing and only four years left for the case to be closed once and for all on prescription.
"Our appeal will take a year, then they would appeal and there goes one more year... This is an unlawful ruling" said Öz, without any hope of justice.
Although acquitted, Osmanoğlu stays in prison for his part in the killing of seven students.
Kemal Türkler
Kemal Türkler, Turkish socialist trade union leader. He was founder and first president of DİSK, and also one of the founders of the Labour Party of Turkey (TİP) in 1963.
He worked as a metal worker for a long time. After that he became president of Turkey's Metal Workers' Union (Türkiye Maden-Iş). He was a leading figure of the democratic trade union movement in Turkey.(EÜ)
