File 12 - Observations/Susurluk report

4 items

Observations of the Turkish Government on the application of Ülkü Ekinci to the European Commission of Human Rights, the applicant's response to the Government's observations, and materials pertaining to the Susurluk Report.
The events that led to the release of the Susurluk Report stemmed from a car crash that took place on 3 November 1996 in the small town of Susurluk, Balıkesir Province. It resulted in the deaths of three of the passengers: Abdullah Çatlı, a former ultra-rightist militant and a contract killer for the National Intelligence Organisation (Turkey) (MİT), who was wanted by police for multiple murders and drug trafficking and was on Interpol's red list at the time of his death; Huseyin Kocadağ, a senior police official; and beauty queen and Çatlı's girlfriend Gonca Us. Sedat Bucak, an MP, suffered a broken leg and fractured skull but survived the accident. The Susurluk crash was a key event in the unravelling of the deep state in Turkey. The peculiar associations of the crash victims and their links with Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar led to a number of investigations, including a parliamentary investigation, of what became known as the Susurluk scandal. The scandal exposed a close relationship between the Turkish government, the ultra-nationalist paramilitary Grey Wolves organisation, and the Turkish mafia. The crash itself was shown to be an assassination arranged by the MİT; Ağar's gang aimed to create a state within a state, complete with a shadow army (the village guard system), and intelligence organization, inside the police force. The Ekinci family suspected that this deep state organisation was responsible for Yusuf Ekinci's murder.

Materials within the file that were created by the Government of Turkey are not permitted to be accessed until 1 November 2073.