New confessions about 1993 Lice massacre on parliamentary agenda
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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır Deputy Remziye Tosun has submitted a parliamentary question about a former intelligence officer's confessions about the 1993 Lice massacre.
"A former intelligence officer claimed that Diyarbakır Corps Commander Hasan Iğsız and his deputy İlker Başbuğ [Chief of the General Staff between 2008-2010] were named as defendants in the first file prepared regarding the Lice Case.
"According to his statements, [Brigadier General] Bahtiyar Aydın was killed by the JİTEM by a single bullet with a kanas [Dragunov rifle] in the Lice Public Security Company Command building, the assassination weapon was burned, entrance and exists to the district were blocked and the bullet ant other evidence were destroyed. It has been claimed that İlker Başbuğ had connections to the assassination of Bahtiyar Aydın."
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"It has been stated that the testimony of a security officer who was slightly injured in the clashes in Lice was not taken, only the paintwork of the 'Dragon 9' armored vehicle, which was claimed to be attacked, was erased, and the Gendarmerie did not make any survey about the assassination and what happened after that.
"In the expert reports regarding the case, it is claimed that Bahtiyar Aydın was shot inside the barracks, from the tower or the roof.
"It is stated that a note that read 'We didn't burn this house out of respect to this soldier' was left on a military service photograph belonged to a citizen from Lice who had returned from military service and that the 'Turkish Revenge Brigades (TİT)' was written under the note."
'Başbuğ prevented the release of the suspect'
The motion also mentioned the claim that a court in 2013 ruled for the retrial of Mehmet Emin Özkan, who was remanded in custody in the case concerning the assassination of Brigadier General Aydın but his release was prevented by İlker Başbuğ.
"Among the allegations is that İlker Başbuğ pressured Fahri Kasırga, the then undersecretary of the Minister of Justice, and Ali Suat Ertosun, a member of the HSYK [High Council of Judges and Prosecutors], to close the cases.
"In this context, it is stated that the places of duty of judges and prosecutors dealing with unsolved cases were changed."
MP Tosun asked Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül whether the claims were true and whether Başbuğ was connected to JİTEM, a military organization whose existence is not officially acknowledged and alleged to be responsible for many extrajudicial killings during the conflict in the Kurdish-majority regions in the 1990s.
She also asked whether an investigation into those claims will be opened and.
The Lice massacreIn Lice district of Diyarbakır, 17 people were killed, and scores of homes and workplaces were set on fire on 22 Ekim 1993. Brigadier General Bahtiyar Aydın was among the killed. The indictment regarding the massacre was accepted one day before the timeout. The trial began 21 years after the massacre, in January 2014. According to the indictment, the attack was not carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), contrary to what authorities announced at the time. Then Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regimental Commander Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu and First Lieutenant Tünay Yanardağ were identified as perpetrators of the massacre. The two former officers were charged with "premeditated murder", "encouraging the people to riot" and "forming an organization on the purpose of committing an illegal act". The prosecutor demanded prison sentences of up to 24 years and aggravated life imprisonment for both Hatipoğlu and Yanardağ. The suspects were not arrested after the hearing. In the following months, the case was first moved from Diyarbakır to Eskişehir, and then moved to Diyarbakır again. For the last time, the case was moved to İzmir on the grounds that there was not a court authorized by the 10th article of the anti-terror law in Diyarbakır. The İzmir 1st Heavy Penal Court suspended the trial on June 13, 2014. The court ruled that after the abolition of the special courts, continuing this trial is subject to permission. Intervening lawyers appealed against the decision. The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) reversed the judgment and gave its verdict that the case should continue at İzmir 1st Heavy Penal Court. With Tünay Yanardağ losing his life in August 2015, Hatipoğlu remained the only defendant. Lawyers of the victims stated that they do not believe Yanardağ is dead and demanded an investigation from the court but overruled. |
(AS/VK)