The Canadian Press
Dec 8 2007
Turkey investigates alleged ties between police and alleged killers
of Christians
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has launched an investigation into alleged
collusion between police officers and at least one of the suspects
charged with killing three Christians earlier this year at a
publishing house that produces Bibles, an official said Saturday.
Two senior police inspectors will be assigned to investigate whether
any officers provided assistance to the suspects, an Interior
Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media. He did not provide further details.
The three Christians – a German and two Turks – were killed in the
southern city of Malatya on April 18. The killings – in which the
victims were tied up and had their throats slit – drew international
condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can
protect its religious minorities.
Five people were arrested and charged with murder. The trial opened
last month, but was quickly adjourned until Jan. 14 because defence
lawyers requested more time to prepare their arguments.
The Interior Ministry decided to open an investigation after several
newspapers published stories Saturday alleging co-operation between
police and at least one of the suspects.
Radikal newspaper quoted two of the suspects, Abuzer Yildirim and
Salih Guler, as saying in their testimonies that a third suspect Emre
Gunaydin told them that he had met with police officials and learned
about the locations of Christian churches in the city.
"I asked him who are the police chiefs that you are speaking to, he
said: ‘Don’t ask, take it easy,"’ Radikal quoted Yildirim as saying.
Similar allegations have also emerged after the January killing of an
ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who was detested by hardline
nationalists because he described the mass killings of Armenians in
the early 20th century as genocide.
Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, insisting those killed
were victims of civil war and unrest.
Critics have accused authorities of failing to act on reports of a
plot to kill Dink but there has been no evidence that directly
implicates any police or government officials in the slaying of Dink
outside his office.
Many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" – a network of
state agents or ex-officials, possibly with links to organized crime
– periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the
name of nationalism.
Christian leaders have said they are worried that nationalists are
stoking hostility against non-Turks and non-Muslims by exploiting
uncertainty over Turkey’s place in the world.
The uncertainty – and growing suspicion against foreigners – has been
driven by Turkey’s faltering EU membership bid, a resilient Kurdish
separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamists who see
themselves – and Turkey – as locked in battle with a hostile
Christian West.