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Turkish soldiers, Kurdish informer on
trial over shady bombing
4.5.2006
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VAN,
Kurdistan-Turkey, May 4, 2006 (AFP) - Two
Turkish soldiers and a Kurdish informer went on
trial here Thursday for a bomb attack in the
country's volatile southeast as part of an alleged
campaign to stir unrest and undermine the
government's drive to join the European Union.
The trial in a tiny, packed courthouse in this
eastern city is widely seen as a test for Ankara to
prove its commitment to the supremacy of law and
shed light on rogue elements in the security forces,
accused of shady practices in the past during the
fight against armed Kurdish rebels.
Tight security was in place for the opening of the
trial under the eye of lawmakers, Western rights
activists and reporters, most of them left out of
the courtroom because of limited space.
The defendants -- gendarmerie sergeants Ali Kaya and
Ozcan Ildeniz and Veysel Ates, a former member of
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) turned
informer -- face life imprisonment for the November
9 bombing of a bookstore in Semdinli, in Hakkari
province.
They are charged with "committing acts aimed at
destroying the unity of the state and the integrity
of the country" in addition to murder and forming a
criminal organisation.
The attack on the store, which was owned by a former
PKK rebel, killed one person and sparked deadly
riots in the remote province that abuts Iraq and
Iran.
The prosecutor described it as an act of provocation
aiming to stir unrest among Kurds, discredit the
government and undermine Turkey's EU bid.
Kaya, Ildeniz and Ates, who reportedly threw bombs,
were nearly lynched by an angry mob at the site of
the blast.
Weapons, hand grenades, a sketch of the bookshop and
a list of names, including that of the shopowner,
were found in the car the three tried to flee in
after the blast.
The bombing was a huge embarassment for the
government, which promised to shed light on the
incident that occurred just one month after Turkey
began membership talks with the EU and was striving
to prove its commitment to democracy.
The Semdinli attack also raised questions over
whether Turkey had succeded in purging rogue
elements from its security forces who were accused
of summary executions, extortion, kidnappings and
drug smuggling in the mainly Kurdish southeast in
the 1990s, at the height of the PKK rebellion.
More than 37,000 people have died since 1984, when
the PKK took up arms against Ankara for self-rule in
the southeast in a conflict that led to allegations
of gross human rights abuses by both sides.
The indictment also called for an investigation into
the commander of Turkish land forces, General Yasar
Buyukanit, for alleged illegalities in combating the
PKK.
The indictment said the army should investigate
Buyukanit for setting up a criminal organization and
abusing his power during his term as regional
commander in the southeast in the 1990s.
It also said the general attempted to influence the
judiciary by commenting after the Semdinli blast
that he knew one of the accused soldiers as "a good
guy."
The army vehemently rejected the allegations and
urged the government to punish "those behind this
onslaught... aimed at eroding (the credibility of)
the Turkish armed forces."
The prosecutor who drew up the indictment was sacked
last month by a panel of his peers for having
exceeded the limits of his jurisdiction.
AFP
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