State’s Role Was The Topic In Malatya Trial

The 12th hearing of the trial of the murder of the three Protestants in Malatya was held at the 3rd High Criminal Court of Malatya yesterday (October 16). The three Protestants were murdered brutally for allegedly doing missionary work.

The court heard the testimony of Varol Bülent Aral, whom Emre Günaydın had described as a brother working at a local newspaper. Aral’s name had also appeared in threatening and harassing Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a joint lawyer in this case.

The court is still waiting for the Ergenekon Indictment, which it had requested from the 13th High Criminal Court of Istanbul on August 12. The trial will continue on November 21.

On April 18, 2007, the Zirve Publishing building was raided and three Protestants, Necati Aydın, Uğur Yüksel, German citizen Tilman Ekkehart Geske, were brutally murdered.

Emre Günaydın, Salih Gürler, Cuma Özdemir, Hamit Çeker ve Abuzer Yıldırım, who have been in the Malatya E Type Prison for the past 18 months, are accused of the murder.

Günaydın did not answer the question whether Aral had convinced him to do what he had done

At the hearing, Günaydın wanted from Aral to explain to the court how he was going to provide him with the state support. Aral’s reply was that he did not promise any support. He also said he did not know lawyer Cengiz.

Aral said that among the suspect, he had only met Günaydın during the three days he had worked at the newspaper Malatya Birlik in the autumn of 2006. He also said that they did not talk about the missionaries, but the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).

Günaydın insisted that he talked about missionaries with Aral, otherwise, he said, how he knew so much about the subject. But when the judge asked Günaydın whether Aral had convinced him to do what he had done, he decided to use his right not to answer the question.

When Aral was asked if the statement he gave at the Adıyaman Closed Prison on May 3, 2007 was true, he said his statement was the source he was planning to use in the book he was going to write about Ergenekon.

“I have many police and officer friends, we get together to drink tea”

About being caught with a Kalashnikov machine gun in Adıyaman, Aral said that he had taken the gun from the hands of a ten year old and was trying to return it to a police station when he was caught.

Aral said he had no connection with the fanatic religious Hizbullah organization and explained having the names of  Mehmet Ağar, Kemal Kerinçsiz and Ümit Özdağ in his personal organizer as “I received some information and wrote them down to think about them later.”

When he was asked why he was receiving this kind of information, if he had worked as an informant either for the police or the gendarmerie, his answer was “I have many police and officer friends, we get together to drink tea.” But on October 2, Aral had claimed that he was threatened by two undercover police officers with a statement he knew belonged to Veli Küçük, one of the main actors in the Ergenekon case. (EÖ)/TB)