Corpses searched for in Turkey after convict’s Gendarmerie Intelligence confession

AYDIN - Doğan News Agency

Aydın Sevinç said in his latest petition that he had taken an active role in the unsolved murders that were committed throughout the Aegean region. DHA photo

Aydın Sevinç, a jailed convict in the Black Sea province of Trabzon Prison, has filed a petition with the prosecutor claiming that more than 50 people were killed and buried in the Aegean town of Kuşadası’s National Park in 2004. Work was started in the park on Feb. 14 to find the bodies.

Sevinç, who claimed that he worked for the alleged Gendarmerie Intelligence Anti-Terrorism Unit (JİTEM) in his previous testimonies, said in his latest petition that he had taken an active role in the unsolved murders that were committed throughout the Aegean region. JİTEM is an intelligence unit of the gendarmerie that has never been officially recognized by the military.

According to Sevinç, Ahmet Tekin Baykal, a convicted leader of a criminal organization, killed Erkan Er in 2004, and Sevinç himself buried Er’s body in the Aegean town of Kuşadası’s National Park.

Sevinç filed a petition at the Trabzon Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, claiming that Ahmet Tekin Baykal’s gang had killed and buried more than 50 people in several Aegean provinces. Upon the petition being received, he was brought to Kuşadası on Feb. 14 to identify the place where Er had been buried. Excavations were started in the place indicated, but no findings have yet been obtained, according to reports. After a few hours of work, excavations stopped due to heavy rain. The excavations are expected to start again when the rain stops, under strict safety measures.

Sevinç allegedly said he was staging a hunger strike in jail and that he thought he would be killed in order to prevent truths from being revealed. “I cannot stand this prick of conscience anymore. I am not lying. If you excavate the ground in the National Park, you will find at least 50 corpses,” he reportedly stated in his petition.

Meanwhile, it has been indicated that Sevinç previously made a similar claim. In 2011, while he was arrested in Erzurum E Type Closed Prison, he reportedly filed a letter to the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Bar Association, claiming that he had been involved in the killing of Nazım Babaoğlu, a reporter for daily Özgür Gündem, back in March 12, 1994. However, no bodies were discovered in the place where he indicated.

It has also been claimed that Sevinç explained in his letter how he joined the alleged JİTEM and how long he served in the organization.