Killing of ex-Grey Wolves leader: Key suspect denies intentional murder

The suspect accused of instigating the killing of a former Grey Wolves leader on December 30 has denied the accusations, saying his intention was not to kill Sinan Ateş but to "intimidate" and "injure" him.

Doğukan Çep, who was detained on January 5, said in his statement to the police that he had planned the attack on Ateş because of "personal hostility."

"I asked his help for my case, which is at the appeal stage at the Court of Cassation, but he did not help. Angrily, we planned this to scare and intimidate him," said Çep, as quoted by NTV.

After appearing before the prosecutors, Çep and two other suspects were on Saturday (January 7) arrested for "premeditated murder."

Also, Çep has been sought for six years because of his 35-year prison sentence because of his involvement in the 2013 killing of Hasan Ferit Gedik during a protest against drug cartels in Gülsuyu, Maltepe.

Ateş was fatally shot after he came out of an apartment building in Çankaya, Ankara. The suspect who shot Ateş and the one who drove him on a motorcycle are also among the 13 people arrested in relation to the killing.

Between 2019 and 2020, Ateş headed the Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist group affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the de facto coalition partner of the ruling party.

The party has mostly remained silent about Ateş's killing, and there was no one representing the MHP at his funeral, raising suspicions of a "political murder." (VK)