MURDER IN ANATOLIA - European Stability Initiative - ESI

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Huseyin Yelki supposedly told Emre that the missionaries wanted to destroy the country and
that “brother Bulent [Aral] has a fight with them.” 161 After Aral‟s departure from Malatya,
Yelki allegedly told Emre that he should enter the Zirve office and collect all the material he
could find. 162 According to the indictment against Aral and Yelki, a month and a half prior to
the murder Yelki instructed Emre to make contact with the Christians in Zirve. Although
Yelki himself worked at Zirve at the time, he did not want to serve as an intermediary. “Find
another way to contact Necati and those working at Zirve,” he told Emre. “I should not
facilitate this contact. I must not be linked to this event.” 163 This, prosecutors now alleged,
explained why Emre got in touch with Necati Aydin through a Christian chat room.
“Whoever is in the office on that day, you won‟t leave any evidence,” Yelki supposedly
instructed Emre a few days prior to the murders. 164 Emre also claimed that Yelki‟s brother
told him at the beginning of April 2007 that “the job was moved from the 16 th to the 18 th
[April].” 165 Emre finally told prosecutors that the other four suspects had also met Huseyin
Yelki. 166 Emre claimed that in case “the police began to search for them, Yelki would help
them escape with some money. If they got caught they should wait for state support from
Bulent Varol Aral.” 167
The indictment against Aral and Yelki was published on 9 April 2009 and both were
detained. Ozkan Yucel, a lawyer from the Izmir Bar Association representing the victims‟
families, was elated:
“We have always argued that these were not murders that five young men decided to
commit one morning after they got up, but that they were incited to commit them by
others, and that they were protected by the state, or at least told that this was the case.
This is a step forward. There are other people connected to Aral.” 168
The indictment accused Aral and Yelki of having instigated, “in the framework of a terror
organization, a multiple murder and kidnapping.” 169
Confronted with these accusations in February 2009 Varol Bulent Aral denied all of Emre‟s
claims. He stated that he did not know Huseyin Yelki. 170 Yelki also denied knowing Aral and
told prosecutors that he had been in contact with Christians, both Turkish and foreign, since
2001. 171 He was baptized in June 2002 and was offered work with the Christian publishing
house Kayra in Malatya in 2002. When Kayra closed down in 2005 Yelki continued using the
Zirve office to distribute Christian literature. 172
161 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6.
162 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6.
163 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, pp. 5, 6.
164 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6.
165 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6.
166 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6.
167 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 6
168 Bianet, “Aral Tutuklandi, Zirve Davasi „Ergenekon‟a Dogru” [Aral arrested, Zirve trial heads towards
Ergenekon], 5 February 2009, http://bianet.org/bianet/azinliklar/112361-aral-tutuklandi-zirve-davasiergenekona-dogru.
169 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 1.
170 Iindictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 7.
171 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, p. 8.
172 Indictment against Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki, pp. 7-8.
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