UNSOLVED MURDERS
Former JİTEM Member Leads to Mass Graves
Şırnak Bar Association President Nuşirevan Elçi expects the Silopi Attorney General to investigate the region of Hezil Çayı and start excavations as soon as possible. The province of Şırnak borders on Iraq in south-eastern Turkey.
Elçi told bianet that an application was made to the Diyarbakır special authority prosecution on 28 December upon the statement of former JİTEM member Yıldırım Beğler, known as the "General Staff translator". The special authority prosecution wrote an according directive to the Silopi prosecution on 30 December. As reported by Bar Association President Elçi, the Attorney General who personally attended previous excavations delegated the duty to another prosecutor. The beginning of the procedure was delayed due to the weekend and New Year's Eve.
Elçi indicated that an efficient excavation should be carried out with the aid of using trained dogs, which had not been done in previous diggings.
Hundreds of bodies
Yıldırım Beğler was detained in 2006 under allegation of "human trafficking" and received an eleven years prison sentence. Currently, Beğler resides in Norway. He told journalists that in the context of "unsolved" murders many people were killed by torture. According to Beğler, most of the bodies were burned in the boiler room of the Gendarmerie 2nd Border Division or thrown from helicopters. About 200 bodies were apparently dropped in the region of the Hezil stream.
"Hezil Çayı is close to the Habur border crossing. The bridges no. 47 and 48 are in this region. Bridge no. 47 is used for entering Turkey form Iraq, the 48th bridge serves the opposite direction from Turkey to Iraq. Hundreds of executed people were thrown into the river between the two bridges within the boundaries of the 2nd Division, tied up to stones or other heavy objects. This is the largest area where executed bodies were buried. People think it is a mined region, but it is clear of mines. The region in a radius of 500-1000 metres around the 48th bridge between the Hezil stream and the Aktepe military zone is called 'fire area'. We cleared the mines in this region and pretended that is was still a mined area. There is a stream here, might be a side arm of the Hezil stream. 20-30 metres beyond the end of the stream 80-90 people are buried", Beğler stated.
Lost for 13 years
Upon the information that two victims of the unsolved murders were Halil Birlik and Mehmet Bilgiç. Lawyer Nazan Birlik, niece of Halil Birklik, and the Şırnak Bar Association applied to the prosecution.
Halil Birlik was the father of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Şırnak Provincial Chairman Rizgin Birlik, Mehmet Bilginç was his uncle. Birlik had previously told bianet that both men set off to Iraq in November 1996. They came to Habur in the morning where they were brought to the military unit and taken into custody. After that nobody got further word of Birlik and Bilginç.
"Testimonies of soldiers from the 2nd Division are important"
Elçi pointed out that the statements of soldiers who worked in the area are important to find the disappeared bodies since the region was closed to civilians kept from vision.
"Beğler had certain control over Habur"
Elçi said about Beğler: "Even though he was the interpreter of the staff, everybody knew that he was a member of JİTEM. He had certain control over Habur. He was one of the people who decided for the majority of people who could cross the border and who could not. He was not an ordinary person, everybody knows that".
The Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counterterrorism Unit JİTEM is an unofficial wing of the Turkish Gendarmerie, active in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) conflict and supposedly used by "the Establishment" to enforce alleged national interests. (TK/VK)