WAS TURKEY BEHIND THE KIDNAPPING OF AN ASSYRIAN MONK?
Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Dec 13 2007
Stockholm — Father Daniel Savci was kidnapped on November 28, 2007
at 14:00 on his way to his monastery in the village of Baristepe, in
Turabdin, south east Turkey. Two cars were involved. The kidnapping
took place when the Turkish military was on its highest alert in the
region, with check points on roads in the entire area because of a
subsequent military operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) guerillas in north Iraq.
It became evident early on that forces within the Turkish state were
behind the kidnapping. The monk was transported by the kidnappers to
a place in the town of Batman, 90 kilometers north of his village,
despite all the check points set up by the military.
The Turkish daily Hurriet quickly reported online that the monk had
been kidnapped by the PKK, only to retract the story 30 minutes later
and state that the kidnapping was by "unknown perpetrators."
The next day the Turkish command officers were unusually relaxed in
their contacts with Assyrian representatives and guaranteed that the
monk would be found unharmed. It became clear that the military could
influence how the kidnapping would develop and resolve. On the same
day, the governor in the county of Mardin told the newspaper Milliyet
"the state will arrest the perpetrators soon and this will be a happy
news without any injuries to Daniel Savci".
Shortly after the release of the monk, the same governor told Milliyet,
on November 30, that he had called Prime Minister Erdogan to tell him
about the release, but because of circumstances concerning "the safety
of the state" he could not reveal the identity of the kidnappers.
Since then it has been revealed that one of the kidnappers was a
village guard. The village guards are a militia, equipped and backed
by the state to fight against the PKK. The militias stand therefore
under the control of the Turkish state. Village guard Halil Esen
was detained on 4 December together with the other kidnappers; all
are awaiting indictment. It is highly unlikely that this village
guard committed this act without the knowledge and sanction of his
superiors. It has been suggested the plan was to kill the Assyrian
monk and blame the PKK, hence providing a pretext for military action.
Without a thorough investigation by the Turkish government, and so
long as the Swedish government and the EU do not pressure Turkey to
investigate, the incident will be swept under the rug and similar
things will happen again.
The murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink took place with the
approval and knowledge of influential police officers, military
personnel and politicians; so, too, for the murder of three
missionaries in the city of Malatya. The Turkish state has so far
done everything to cover up these murders.
This is an outright violation of the resolution of the EU parliament
from 2005. In point 14 the resolution states: "The European parliament
encourages the commission to halt the membership negotiations with
Turkey if principles of freedom, democracy, respect for the human
rights, rights of minorities and the principles a state governed by
law are violated against in a continuous and serious manner, as is
agreed upon in the EU charter."
It is time for the EU to show integrity and follow its own resolution
and halt all economic aid to Turkey.