Pictured are the three victims of the killings
On February 4, a judge ordered the arrest of a former journalist, 32-year-old Varol Bulent Aral, on suspicion of being behind the killings. The Malatya court had summoned Aral several times in the past to testify about his role in the killings, but he did not appear until October last year after being arrested on other charges.
The plaintiff attorneys representing family members of those killed believe that Aral encouraged the alleged mastermind of the murder attacks by convincing him that foreign missionaries were connected to the Kurdistan Workers Party, a domestic outlawed terrorist organization. Aral has had links to Ergenekon, an ultra-nationalist junta of retired generals, politicians, journalists and mafia members suspected of conspiracy to commit various murders. Over 100 people have been detained in connection with this network since July 2008.
The public prosecutor, lawyer Erdal Dogan, told the national daily Taraf that Aral's arrest was an important, if insufficient, step in the trial. "From the beginning, this suspect could have been included in the case as an initiator of murder," he said. "This person had an internal connection [to the murder] and the security forces also knew it." A total of nine men have been charged with the killings. Seven of them are in prison; Mehmet Gokce and Kursat Kocadag have not been detained.
Former Zirve employee indicted
Huseyin Yelki, 34, a Turk who has worked for Christian organizations, was arrested on Monday 9 February after alleged mastermind Emre Gunaydin implicated him in the case in a testimony to a public prosecutor, saying he had incited the murders.
Yelki was formerly employed by Zirve Publishing Co. in Malatya, the site of the brutal torture and murder of two Turkish Christians, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, and a German, Tilmann Geske, on April 18, 2007. Last week, Gunaydin claimed in his testimony that Aral and Yelki worked together in instigating the assault.
Yelki's testimony at a hearing last August in Malatya differed sharply from Gunaydin's account. But the plaintiff lawyers said they believed there was good reason to believe Yelki was involved in the murders. "Emre Gunaydin gave a very detailed account of his cooperation with Huseyin Yelki that is consistent with other evidence in the case," said Orhan Kemal Cengiz, who leads the team of plaintiff lawyers. However, the lawyers have yet to establish the possible motives Yelki may have had to participate in the killings.
The plaintiff lawyers said they hoped the arrest of the two men would provide important answers to the many questions regarding the true identity of the perpetrators.
The next court hearing in the case is scheduled to take place in Malatya on February 20.
Compass Direct News
