Police investigating Kutlu Adalı murder in 1996

In the wake of the statements of Sedat Peker about the unsolved murder of Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı and the petition of his brother Atilla Peker to the Fethiye Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it is now discussed whether the investigation into the murder will be launched again.

Speaking to bianet about the issue, Cyprus Press Union Chair Ali Kişmir says that the murder of Kutlu Adalı has hit the headlines of almost all newspapers for the last two days and that there is a pressure on the government in Northern Cyprus to reopen the investigation.

"There is a demand for reopening the investigation," says Kişmir, underlining that everyone mentioned in the statements of Sedat Peker and his brother Atilla Peker must face an investigation:

"Besides, the Director General of Police is the police officer who investigated the killing of Kutlu Adalı in 1996. He is the one who has left the file unsolved. The person who has left the file unsolved is the Director General of Police and we now expect him to reopen the investigation."

Sharing further information about the issue, Kişmir notes, "Statements are enough to launch an investigation. The main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and other parties demand that an inquiry committee be established to investigate the murder. They have submitted a Parliamentary inquiry for this. The People's Party has filed a criminal complaint to the police. But we have not seen such an effort on the part of the government."

Investigation file allegedly 'missing'

According to Kişmir, People's Party Chair Kudret Özersay alleged yesterday (May 25) that the file of Kutlu Adalı at the police might be missing. Kişmir says that the police have not refuted these claims. "I hope that this allegation is not true," adds the Cyprus Press Union Chair.

Kişmir says that President of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar summoned Director General of Police Ahmet Soyalan to the Presidency on May 24. "They can launch an investigation immediately if they want," states Ali Kişmir, briefly adding the following about the recent developments:

"There is no law foreseeing the violation of the statutory limitations in Cyprus. There is the confession of Atilla Peker and the names he has given; there are the statements of Sedat Peker. They can start the judicial process immediately. But there needs to be a will for this to happen.

"President Ersin Tatar uttered a sentence like 'If there was something illegal about this...' What is illegality supposed to mean! As if there could be a legal murder... Then, he summoned Director General of Police Ahmet Soyalan, saying, 'The necessary will be done.'

"On the other hand, Prime Minister Ersan Saner said that the investigation has not been completed. He said that 'if there is new evidence, it will be investigated.' But on the same day, there emerged both the statement of Atilla Peker and that the investigation has not been completely finalized. We don't know why they are waiting to reopen the investigation.

'They obey Turkey'

"There is a government that fully obeys Turkey, a President who fully obeys Turkey. As for Director General of Police Soyalan, he was the police officer who investigated the murder of Kutlu Adalı in 1996. He was the person who left the file unsolved. The person who has left the file unsolved is now the Director General of Police; we expect him to reopen the investigation.

"To be frank, it does not seem possible that these people will reopen the investigation. Because these are the people with the mentality of supporting such operations.

"There is a prevalent mentality that declares the ones thinking differently as pro-Greek, traitors, terrorists. For this reason, it is not possible to expect something like that from the government or from the President.

"Besides, the provisional articles of our Constitution affiliate Cyprus with Turkey and Turkish Armed Forces. When we consider the allegations, we see that the names of some commanders from the Turkish Armed Forces are mentioned there. Do you think that Cyprus, the Constitution of which is affiliated with Turkey, can investigate these allegations?"

What happened?

Accused of leading a criminal organization and currently abroad, Sedat Peker has been posting some videos on YouTube regarding the 'state-mafia' relations in Turkey, targeting especially Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar.

In his 7th video shared on May 23, Sedat Peker made some allegations about the assassination of Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı:

"At that time, we were all together, Mehmet Ağa, Korkut Eken... We were young, we were patriots. They would usually give me jobs related to businesspeople rather than unsolved murders," he said, referring to the widespread extrajudicial killings at the time, for which both Ağar and Eken stood trial. A court yesterday overturned their acquittal of killing 19 people.

"[Eken] told me that 'There is a man in Cyprus, he wants to sell Cyprus to the Greeks.' He said 'two professionals'... I told him 'I'll give you my brother, Atilla Peker.' He is a specialist, he grew up on the streets.

"Another team affiliated with them killed [Adalı]. I came across brother Korkut, he said to me 'That job is done.'

"Atilla Peker will tell the truth. If we killed him, I'd say we killed him. It's time-barred now. I always watched his spouse's struggle from afar. What should I say? We are all the same."

After the video, Attila Peker was detained in a villa in Fethiye's Kayaköy Neighborhood. Police officers also detained Yunus O., who is said to be his bodyguard, and seized an unlicensed gun and two magazines.

Taken into custody together with his private guard, Atilla Peker was released on probation with an international travel ban.

The Fethiye Prosecutor's Office has also launched an investigation into the assassination of Kutlu Adalı. Speaking in a live program on Habertürk TV on May 24, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu announced that he had given an instruction for an investigation into the death of Kutlu Adalı, who was killed in an armed attack in front of his house on July 6, 1996.

Kutlu Adalı murder

Kutlu Adalı, a journalist from Northern Cyprus, was shot dead in front of his house on July 6, 1996, shortly after writing an article about the armed robbery of millions of dollars worth of icons from St. Barnabas Monastery in Famagusta, Cyprus. In his article penned on March 23, 1996, nine days after the robbery in question, he wrote that the official vehicles affiliated with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Head of Civil Defense Organization were used during the related raid.

While he was known as nationalist and patriotic by the Turkish politicians and his circle in Cyprus, he was a dissident of Rauf Denktaş, the then TRNC President. His house was targeted in an armed attack after penning an article about Denktaş titled "The lunatic at the minaret."

In his articles, Kutlu Adalı was talking about a series of paramilitary organizations operating in Cyprus. He was alleging that several murders committed before Turkey's "Cyprus Peace Operation" in 1974 were in fact committed by them and the Cypriot Greeks were blamed.

On April 2, 1996, Kutlu Adalı announced that he was receiving threats. The complaints of Adalı were not taken into account by the security officers. Adalı was shot to death in front of his house on July 6, 1996.

The investigation launched by the Northern Cypriot authorities remained inconclusive and it could not be found who had committed the murder.

So, his wife İlkay Adalı applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and filed a suit against Turkey. Handing down its judgement on March 31, 2005, the ECtHR convicted Turkey on the grounds of "the failure to carry out an adequate and credible inquiry into the murder."