Assassination of Prof. Hablemitoğlu: Retired colonel Levent Göktaş detained in Bulgaria

Photo: AA/File

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Retired colonel Mustafa Levent Göktaş, a suspect in the 2002 assassination of a professor, was detained yesterday (September 1) in Bulgaria's Svelingrad city.

Türkiye had an Interpol red notice against Göktaş.

Following his detention, the Ministry of Justice and the General Directorate of Security's Head of Interpol Department started proceedings for Göktaş's extradition, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

In late July, Göktaş had said on his social media account, "I'm going to explain everything with documents at 22.00 tonight. Starting from tomorrow, I'll begin shooting videos."

However, he did not make any further statement after Sedat Peker, who also has a warrant against him for "leading a criminal gang," responded to him on Twitter, claiming that Göktaş had offered money to him to kill a person.

Another suspect in the assassination, Volkan Bozkır, was brought to Türkiye in January.

The assassination

Prof. Necip Hablemitoğlu was shot dead in front of his home on December 18, 2002. At the time, he was working on a book about the Fetullah Gülen group's efforts to infiltrate state institutions. The book was released unfinished a year after his death.

No lawsuit has yet been filed concerning the assassination.

Hablemitoğlu was a historian and a lecturer at Ankara University.

Gökhan Bozkır, a suspect of Hablemitoğlu's murder, was brought to Türkiye from Ukraine in late January.

Statement from Saturday Mothers

After Levent Göktaş became a talking point, the Saturday Mothers/People, a group demanding clarification for what happened to their disappeared relatives during the conflict in the Kurdish regions since the 1990s, had released a statement, asking Göktaş to reveal what happened to two people who had disappeared.

Göktaş was allegedly involved in the disappearance of H.B. and M.B., who were the father and uncle of an MP with the ruling Justice and Development Party, according to revelations made by Yıldırım Beğler, a former officer, in an interview with Sabah newspaper in 2009.

The Saturday Mothers/People had called on the judicial authorities to reveal what happened to the two people.

"The families of H.B. and M.B. had met with the then Interior Minister Meral Akşener. Akşener had promised to them that the incident would be shed light on. But nothing was heard from the missing. We are calling out to Akşener: Explain why the incident wasn't/couldn't be shed light on." (EMK/AS/VK)