Court agrees to try ex-general over alleged murder of former president

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

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Ankara’s 13th High Criminal Court accepted an indictment against former Gen. Levent Ersöz today over links to the alleged assassination of late Turkish President Turgut Özal, a day before the statute of limitations expired in the case.

The legal inquest into the death of the country’s eighth president was set to end today, the 20th anniversary of Özal’s death, but the court moved to accept the indictment against Ersöz.

Ersöz is accused of involvement in the murder of Özal, who officially died of heart failure in 1993 at the age of 65, at a time when he was engaged in efforts to end the Kurdish insurgency through dialogue. Ersöz, who is also a suspect in the Ergenekon coup plot case, was previously interrogated for three hours and denied all charges.

There have long been rumors that Özal’s initiative angered militants of the “deep state” within the Turkish establishment of the day, and that he may have been poisoned as a result.