(RSF/IFEX) – In a 24 October 2001 letter to Minister of the Interior Rüstü Kazim Yücelen, RSF expressed its concern about the verbal threats expressed by Member of Parliament and former minister of the interior Mehmet Agar against Adnan Keskin, a journalist from the daily “Radikal”, following the publication of an article titled “Susurluk affair […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 24 October 2001 letter to Minister of the Interior Rüstü Kazim Yücelen, RSF expressed its concern about the verbal threats expressed by Member of Parliament and former minister of the interior Mehmet Agar against Adnan Keskin, a journalist from the daily “Radikal”, following the publication of an article titled “Susurluk affair buried” in the 17 October edition of “Radikal”.
“We take these threats very seriously, especially since they are directly linked to one of the Turkish police’s most dubious affairs in recent years,” stated Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you personally intervene so that the well-known protagonists in this affair stop pressuring and attacking journalists,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, on 19 October, Keskin received a telephone call from Agar, compelling him to “stop” discussing the Susurluk affair, specifying that “otherwise,” his “friends [the accused in the affair] might behave badly.” On 17 October, Keskin published an article titled “Susurluk affair buried”, denouncing the fact that several senior police officials who have been accused in the affair might be treated very leniently by the Court of Cassation this week. In 1996, a mafia figure, a police official and a member of parliament were found in the same vehicle after a road accident in Susurluk, an area in the city of Balikesir (in the country’s western region). The sole survivor in the accident was the member of parliament. A supply of arms was recovered from the trunk of the vehicle. The investigation that was hastily launched at the time under strong public pressure revealed collusion between certain police officials and criminal networks, and the existence of a plan to eliminate opponents of the regime. Member of Parliament Agar, then minister of the interior, and the member of parliament who survived the road accident were accused in the affair but were shielded by their parliamentary immunity. Several senior government officials and police officers were taken to court for “abuse of office” and “belonging to a criminal organisation”. On 24 October, the Court of Cassation pronounced itself in favour of taking the investigation further.
