MURDER IN ANATOLIA - European Stability Initiative - ESI

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registered … Mehmet Ulger had personally given orders to send this person straight to
his office, without making him wait and without doing the registration. This can be
confirmed by the personnel on duty.
In 2007, the Malatya Gendarmerie used more than 40.000 YTL [around 20,000 Euro] of
the Gendarmerie headquarters‟ intelligence budget ... Almost all of this money was used
to [investigate] missionary activities. And out of this money, Mehmet Ulger made plenty
of payments to Ruhi Abat personally, especially before the murders. But it is impossible
to prove this. On the pay slips there are no names written, only code names are used.”
The anonymous author asserted that Ulger had also replaced the SIM card from a mobile
phone belonging to one of the suspects in the Zirve murder case:
“After the event, the SIM card of one of the mobile phones of one of the suspects in
prison was taken by Mehmet Ulger. He visited the prison. The prison authorities were
told that information from the card was needed to shed light on [the Zirve murders]. The
following day a new SIM card with the same number was given to the prison authorities.
This is also known to Prison Gendarmerie Abdulkadir Seri and Ismail Sert and the prison
staff Aytekin Kut, Kamil Coskun and Huseyin Karakus. Although this crime falls into
the remit of the police, why have Mehmet Ulger … and some non-commissioned officers
and expert gendarmerie been so interested?”
The letter concluded:
“I know more than this, but if I say exactly what I know, I will be identified. I am
sending this letter to the two prosecutors, because I also regret some of the things I have
done. I hope I will have helped in solving a dark crime.”
In February 2010 the victims‟ lawyer Erdal Dogan submitted five pages of documents
identifying anonymous payments made by the Malatya Gendarmerie. 210 The payment slips
had initially been sent to the daily Hurriyet. Dogan obtained them and handed them over to
the Malatya prosecutors. As he explained,
“On the slips there are no real names, only code names are used. That‟s why we do not
know which code refers to whom. The Malatya 2 nd Army commandership opened an
investigation into who leaked this information, which suggests these documents are
real.” 211
Mehmet Ulger has not been summoned again to respond to the accusations made against him
in the anonymous letter.
h. The deep state in Malatya?
The 29 th court hearing took place on 15 October 2010. With the testimonies of Orhan Kartal
and Erhan Ozen, the court case took a new dramatic turn.
Orhan Kartal, a former PKK member, had shared a prison cell with Varol Bulent Aral in
Adiyaman between October and December 2008. Taking the stand in October 2010 he
210 Erdal Dogan presented examples of payments and its records at the court hearing on 19 February 2010.
211 Lawyer Erdal Dogan in an e-mail to ESI on 3 November 2010.
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