Turkey's former Interior Minister Ağar indicted for murder

ANKARA

An indictment is opened against Mehmet Ağar in an unknown murder. DHA Photo

Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office has drafted a bill of indictment concerning the murder of Mecit Baskın in 1994 and is seeking penalties for 12 suspects, including former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar and former Chief of Police İbrahim Şahin.

Prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili filed for charges of “homicide within the framework of activity of an armed organization established to commit crime,” for the case of Baskın, the former head of the registry office in Ankara’s Altındağ district, Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 19. The court has 15 days to review and decide whether to accept the bill of indictment.

Ağar previously gave his testimony upon Bilgili’s demand, in which he denied that he had ever been involved in any illegal activity. He was previously sentenced to five years in prison for “establishing an armed organization to commit a crime” during the time he served as the chief of police, as a part of the Susurluk “deep state” case, but was released on probation after one year and four days in prison.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Baskın’s son, Eren Baskın, described it “the most serious bill of indictment so far,” but expressed concern over whether it would yield any results.

Eren Baskın also noted that he was sorry that Tansu Çiller, the prime minister of the time, was not a suspect in the indictment.

In 1996, a car rear ended a truck in Susurluk town, which later became the namesake of the infamous case. Nationalist militant Abdullah Çatlı, Police Chief Hüseyin Kocadağ and model Gonca Us died in the accident, while Sedat Edip Bucak, a deputy from the center-right True Path Party (DYP), was injured.

The traffic accident involving a parliamentarian, a police official and a fugitive rightist militant exposed the relationship between the country’s mafia, police and political figures. It was claimed that the deep state had been responsible for many unsolved crimes.

The Susurluk case is aimed at unveiling a shadowy illegal organization popularly known as the “deep state.”