(AA Photo)
Investigators exhuming the grave of a former intelligence officer 15 years after his prison death have found intact soft tissue, yielding critical forensic evidence for a reopened murder probe.
The Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered the opening of Kaşif Kozinoğlu’s grave at Ümraniye Kocatepe Cemetery to investigate his 2011 death. Officials sent extracted organs, bones and soil to the Forensic Medicine Institute First Specialization Board alongside camera footage, emergency call transcripts and hospital records.
Forensic Medicine Expert Professor Nevzat Alkan said the preserved internal organs could change the investigation’s course.
“Getting soft tissue is very valuable. Substances entering the body do not easily penetrate bone structure, but in soft tissues, meaning internal organs, these substances can be easily detected,” he said.
The probe targets screenwriters Raci Şaşmaz, Bahadır Özdener and Cüneyt Aysan of Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu (Valley of the Wolves Ambush) — a highly influential, long-running Turkish political drama notorious for blurring fiction with alleged “deep state” and mafia realities.
Prosecutors noted an episode broadcast two days before Kozinoğlu’s Nov. 12 death featured a character named Kazım Kaşifoğlu delivered to Yaşar Ağa as a gift from protagonist Polat Alemdar. Kaşifoğlu faced death threats from henchman İlhan, who declared himself his “angel of death.” A subsequent episode depicted the character, after exercising and showering, being murdered by the character “Kara” via an air-injecting syringe. Investigators are also examining a 2012 scene showing a tombstone inscribed with ERDOĞAN.
Kozinoğlu, a former National Intelligence Organization (MİT) regional advisor, penned a 2004 report alleging the show was directed by jailed gang leader Nuri “Nuriş” Ergin and Osman Sınav. It stated the character “Çakır” represented Ergin’s rival Çakıcı, while “Halit” represented Ergin.
It linked financiers Sedat and Vedat Kasım to security figures Yavuz Ataç and Korkut Eken, naming Tahir Kıran — son of shipping magnate Turgut Kıran and partner of Şadan Kalkavan — as a proxy. The screenwriters allegedly took instructions from Gendarmerie Intelligence Deputy Head Colonel Hasan Atilla Uğur. Raci Şaşmaz and lead actor Necati Şaşmaz were also linked to former police chief Mehmet Ağar through a relative, Abdülkadir Şaşmaz.
