Disappearance of Kurdish Politicians Mentioned in JİTEM Trial

During the investigation of Colonel Cemal Temizöz, a commander of the clandestine JİTEM (gendarmerie intelligence anti-terrorism unit), other JİTEM members and village guards, witness Mehmet Nuri Binzet has said that the bodies of Ebubekir Deniz and Serdar Tanış, two members of the pro-Kurdish HADEP party who disappeared in Silopi, a district of the southeastern province of Şırnak, may be buried near the Cudi mountain.

According to an article by Cem Emir in the Radikal newspaper, Binzet said in his statement that he had overheard a conversation between two of the defendants, former Cizre mayor Kamil Atak, whose brother is a village guard, and an informant. They talked about the two Kurdish politicians, saying, "They took them to the Cudi Mountain after five months and killed them. There is an Assyrian village at the bottom of the mountain. I think they were killed there. During a military operation near the village, they told us that they had seen people being buried there."

Deniz and Tanış disappeared on 25 January 2001.

bianet spoke to lawyer İdris Tanış, who represents the families of the two politicians and is at the same time a cousin of Serdar Tanış.

Family and lawyers skeptical

The lawyer said that he was skeptical of the information, which he found out from the press:

"This partially contradicts some of the concrete facts we have found out. Our concrete information points to Şırnak Regiment Commander Leven Ersöz, Silopi District Commander Süleyman Can, Şırnak JİTEM employees Taşkın Akgün and non-commissioned officer Selim Gül. We know from witness statements and files that Selim Gül took Deniz and Tanış to the Silopi gendarmerie station and handed them over to Ersöz' team. On that day, Serdar Tanış had been called by Taşkın Akgün from the station."

"Ersöz was involved"

General Levent Ersöz is now a defendant in the Ergenekon trial. Lawyer Tanış is worried that there are attempts to keep accusations away from Ersöz and his team.

However, he added that they may ask for an excavation near the Hesana village mentioned by Binzet after studying the authenticity of the claim.

Lawyer Tanış, who is a member of the Şırnak Bar Association, says that the association will represent families of people who disappeared in the region in the Temizöz trial. The association also wants to join the Ergenekon trial.

The second indictment of the Ergenekon investigation mentions the disappearance of Deniz and Tanış. Secret witness "Kıskaç" ("Pincer") said on 30 November 2008 that defendant Osman Gürbüz was sent to the Cizre and Silopi area (both districts of the southeastern province of Şırnak) by General Levent Ersöz (also a suspect) to take part in questioning people, and that the disappearance of two HADEP members took place at that time.

Müdür Tanış, brother of the disappeared politician, told bianet at the time that statement emerged, "It is Levent Ersöz who needs to talk, because he was at the head of everything. He is the most important name in all the incidents."

The family applied to join the first Ergenekon trial but were rejected.

Trial of twenty murders

On 11 September, the trial of Temizöz and six others begins in Diyarbakır. They stand accused of killing twenty people: Ramazan Elçi, Ramazan Uykur, Abdullah Efelti, İbrahim Adak, Mehmet Gürri Özer, İbrahim Danış, Abdurrahman Afşar, Abdurrahman Akyol, İhsan Arslan, Beşir Bayar, Abdurrazak Binzet, İzzet Padır, Abdullah Özdemir, Mustafa Aydın, Süleyman Gasyak, Abdulaziz Gasyak, Ömer Candoruk, Yahya Akman, Abdulhamit Düdük, as well as an unidentified person of Arabic origin. (TK/AG)