TURKEY: One Year After Murders, One Man Blamed
22 April 08
High court rejects plaintiff demands to replace ‘biased’ judges in Malatya trial.
On the eve of the one-year mark of the slaughter of three Christians here, the impartiality of the judges in the case is in doubt, and the young men on trial have now shifted the blame to one man.
Accused killers Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim and Salih Gurler had been caught at the scene of the crime on April 18, 2007, butcher knives in their hands and the blood of the victims on their clothing. But like Hamit Ceker, the first suspect to testify in January, the three suspects declared at the fifth hearing on Monday (April 14) that they had not participated in the actual killings of Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske.
Instead, in Malatya Third Criminal Court they claimed it was Emre Gunaydin, the fifth culprit and alleged ringleader of the attack, who personally tortured and then slit the throats of the three Christians.
In their statements before a packed courtroom, the three said Gunaydin had deceived them, telling them his plan was just to infiltrate and intimidate these Christian missionaries whom he claimed were trying to divide Turkey and destroy Islam.
“We will go to their office and gather information,” suspect Gurler said Gunaydin told them the night before the attack. “The information would contain the intentions of the missionaries and their activities,” he explained, including CDs and computer files.
According to Ozdemir, Gunaydin said the purpose of buying five knives and a considerable length of clothesline cord was to be used to frighten them and extract more information.
When Ozdemir asked about the three guns they were taking along, he said Gunaydin told him, “I’ll explain that later.”
Although the suspects admitted they followed Gunaydin’s orders to force the Christians onto the floor, tie their hands and feet and then stuff their mouths with towels, they insisted they had tried to stop him when he began to stab and torture the victims.
I wanted to go, Gurler said. My purpose was to get Emre to give up on this…to tell him we could not get any information from them.
Previously Ceker had testified at the second hearing, “Salih, Abuzer, Cuma and I told Emre that nothing remained for us to do and we needed to leave. He answered, No, now they know me. I won’t leave without killing them.
When cross-examined over the content of letters they said Gunaydin ordered them all to write to their families just before the attack, the suspects still claimed they did not expect violence or arrest over the incident.
Ozdemir’s letter addressed to his mother, father and siblings, read out to the court by the prosecutor, declared in part, “We are going to die, we will die for our nation. Trust Allah, my brothers. We will attack the Christians’ homes, and we will take our Muslim brothers’ revenge.
In almost rehearsed fashion, all four suspects insist they were terrified of Gunaydin because of his apparent connections through his older brother and uncles with local mafia elements as well as influential police officers.
Because I was afraid, I didn’t disobey whatever he said, Gurler said. The suspects said Gunaydin had threatened repercussions against them and their families if they tried to pull out of the plot.
Several times the judge also made light of details in the gruesome case, such as asking one suspect what they were planning to do with the clothesline rope. Were you going to hang up clothes? he bantered.
A nationwide memorial service commemorating the three Malatya martyrs on the first anniversary of their deaths will be held on Sunday afternoon (April 20) at Istanbul’s St. Esprit Cathedral.
- Continue to pray for the families of the murdered victims.
- Pray for strength and peace as the on-going court case is continuing to be challenging!
Source: Compass