Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka<br />
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basln Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
6 March,1998<br />
S The illusive Yesil<br />
Following the acci<strong>de</strong>nt at Susurluk on Novemher<br />
3, 1996, Mahmut Yildirim, co<strong>de</strong> named "Yesil",<br />
was sought hut couldn't he found. First it was<br />
announced that he was <strong>de</strong>ad hut he's very much<br />
alive.<br />
HAKAN ASLANELI<br />
Istanbul- Turkish Daily News<br />
He was known by the co<strong>de</strong> names Yesil (Green) and<br />
Sakalli (Bear<strong>de</strong>d). In Tunceli b<strong>et</strong>ween 1990 and 1993<br />
and for two more years in.Elazig, he spent his tim~<br />
mixing with people to collect information for the<br />
Gendarmerie Information Agency GITEM). It has<br />
been further claimed that during these years he tortured<br />
villagers and his name was linked to unsolved<br />
mur<strong>de</strong>rs. It has been proven that he collected $17million<br />
in bribe money from Casino King Omer Lutfu<br />
TopaI using the name Ahm<strong>et</strong> Demir. In or<strong>de</strong>r to capture<br />
Yesil,who l<strong>et</strong> it be known that he.worked for the<br />
National Intelligence Agency (MIT), the police have.<br />
started an operation which covers all of Tur~ey.<br />
The "Green" operation<br />
Police headquarters are now looking for Mahmut<br />
Yildirim, co<strong>de</strong>-named Yesil, a key name in the 1996<br />
Susurluk traffic acci<strong>de</strong>nt in which a top poÎice official<br />
and a wanted criminal were killed and a member of<br />
parliament injured. Within the past week the police<br />
rai<strong>de</strong>d a house in Antalya which the press had found<br />
and i<strong>de</strong>ntified asbelonging to YesiI.The house in the<br />
Lara dis.trict .of Antalya was exactly opposite the<br />
Emperyal C~sino which belonged to the mur<strong>de</strong>red<br />
TopaI. Yesil's personal effects were found in the<br />
house.<br />
As a result of initiatives to catch Yesil which began<br />
with this operation, a raid was carried out on the two<br />
houses Yesilused inAnkara's Etlik district. These two<br />
raids en<strong>de</strong>d with Yesil'swife, daughter and ol<strong>de</strong>r brother<br />
being picked up by the police. At the same time<br />
in Antalya, Yesil's sister's husband was taken into<br />
custody. According to the statements these people<br />
gave to the police, they hadn't seen Yesil for a year<br />
and he could have been killed.<br />
But the people who lived near Yesil's ,house in<br />
Antalya, discovered by the press before the police<br />
raid, said that they had seen Yesilas recently as three<br />
months ago. .<br />
Earlier a statement was issued by Prime Minister<br />
Mesut Yilmaz in which it was announced that he was<br />
<strong>de</strong>ad. But the realities unfolding in front of one's eyes<br />
lend cre<strong>de</strong>nce to the belief that he is still alive.<br />
Y<strong>et</strong> another shock accusation connected to Yesil has<br />
been ma<strong>de</strong>' regarding Brigadier General Veli Kucuk.<br />
In the Susurluk report prepared by the Prime<br />
Ministry's Investigative Commission it was written<br />
that Yesil and Veli Kucuk, the Giresun Gendarmerie<br />
Comman<strong>de</strong>r, had been in contact with each other.<br />
According to a claim ma<strong>de</strong> by KUtlu Savas who pr<br />
pared the report the telephone which Yesil used<br />
belonged to Brigadier General Kucuk. Prior to this,<br />
while the latter was stationed in Kocaeli, the General<br />
Staff had begun an investigation over Veli Kucuk<br />
who, it was claimed, had been cooperating with<br />
criminal elements in Kocaeli. '<br />
Just two days ago, Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Suleyman Demirel, who<br />
was on an airplane on his way to Spain, said that<br />
General Ismail Hakki Katadayi, the chairman of the<br />
General Staff, had given him inform~tion about<br />
Kucuk and said the man was innocent. Saying that<br />
the claims which had been ma<strong>de</strong> conc~rning Kucuk<br />
were groundless, Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Demirel essentially said<br />
that the man was not guilty. Asked wh<strong>et</strong>her therehad<br />
been any progress or not over Susurfuk,: Demirel<br />
replied as follows: "Everything is in the hands of the<br />
judge, the prosecutors and the investig~ting offices.<br />
What can anybody else do besi<strong>de</strong>s this?"<br />
Who can do anything about Yesiland what? .<br />
Some circles, claiming that the operations being<br />
mounted throughout the country to arrest Yesilwere<br />
just show, say that it is impossible to catch the man.<br />
While the Susurluk acci<strong>de</strong>nt' showed that the government<br />
.was using some criminal parties at its own<br />
command, it is acknowledged that Yesil was at the<br />
headof these people.<br />
'<br />
Does the name Yesilbelong to a real per~on who was<br />
responsible for everything from operations against<br />
ASALA, the Armenian terrorist group, in Europe to<br />
10