MURDER IN ANATOLIA - European Stability Initiative - ESI

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“We started talking. Necati said bad things about Islam. He said that Christianity was
good and praised the PKK. I got mad at what he said … Ugur said America and Israel
were behind them and that the goal was to get rid of the Koran. He said: „We took Iraq,
we will take Syria. Kurdistan will be independent; and of every five born Turkish
children three will be killed‟.” 116
Abuzer also blamed Ugur Yuksel for provoking him and the others.
“Ugur said they will rape our sisters and mothers and then kill them. Emre said, „Let‟s
see who will kill whom,‟ and walked towards him. Ugur was still cursing. I punched
Ugur in the face. I got blood all over me. My stomach was upset. I went to the bathroom.
A little later Emre came. His hand and knife were bloody. He washed his hand. They
would have killed our children. He asked, „What kind of man are you?‟ I didn‟t
understand. When I got back I saw Necati lying in his blood. When I told Emre, „What‟s
that?‟, he said they should die instead of our children … Later I went to the room next
door. I thought my life was over and I cried and put the CDs on the table. When I
returned to the room where my friends were, Emre was pressing a towel to the face of the
foreigner with one hand, and holding a knife with the other. The knife was bloody. I went
to the room next door. There I put all the CDs in the PC bag. I told Emre „I found
everything, let‟s go!‟” 117
Salih told the court a similar story:
“Emre went to the bathroom again. When he got back, he told Necati that he was doing
the wrong thing by dividing the country. Necati told Emre, „Fuck you, faggot!‟ Then
Emre took his knife out and told them to lie down and threatened to kill them if they
didn‟t. He pressed the knife to the German‟s neck. At that moment we also took our
knives out spontaneousely. Then everybody lay down. While Necati was lying on the
floor he told Emre that he would fuck his mother and sister. In response to this, Cuma
tied Necati‟s hands behind his back, and then the German‟s. Emre tied up Ugur.”
“Emre gave me a rope and pointed to Necati and told me to kill him … Because I was
afraid of Emre, I put the rope around Necati‟s neck. I strangled him a little. Then I said I
couldn‟t do it and stopped doing it. Then Emre went towards Necati. I stood up and tried
to hold Emre back. I told him to calm down. At that moment the knife in Emre‟s hand
cut my hand. Then Emre stopped. A little later Necati cursed again. While Necati was
cursing Emre started stabbing him in the neck. After a short while Emre jumped on the
German‟s head. Later I saw that Emre was stabbing the German in the back and neck.” 118
During the court hearings, Emre‟s associates all claimed not to have been aware that Emre
planned to kill the Christians. According to Salih, Emre “said that the ropes were necessary to
tie people so that they would surrender information more easily and that we needed the
knives to protect ourselves.” 119 Cuma added his account of the day before the murders:
“I asked them the reason for buying the knives. They said they were going to use these
knives to threaten. When I asked Emre what we would need the weapons for, he said he
would explain this later. After we left the hardware store, Salih parked the car. I saw a
116 Malatya Indictment, p. 9.
117 Protocol of the 5 th Court Hearing, 14 April 2008, p. 11.
118 Protocol of the 5 th Court Hearing, 14 April 2008, pp. 16-17.
119 Protocol of the 5 th Court Hearing, 14 April 2008, p. 16.
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