Prosecutors to probe TC journalist’s murder
Mafia boss’s brother and former lieutenant colonel in the special forces deny killing journalist Adalı
THE Chief Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul announced that an investigation has been launched into the 1996 murder of Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı based on statements by Atilla Peker, brother of the wanted mob boss Sedat Peker.
Mr Adalı was gunned down outside his home in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on July 6, 1996, and the perpetrators of his murder were never identified. Sedat Peker claimed in a video released online on May 23 that his brother Atilla was involved in the plot to kill Mr Adalı.
Atilla Peker, who was
detained last month and released pending judiciary control for another charge, had claimed that he traveled to the TRNC with military officer Korkut Eken before the murder, apparently to kill Mr Adalı, but he was not involved in the murder.
Atilla Peker filed a petition with prosecutors over the plot after his brother’s statement. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office said that work is underway to receive a “detailed statement” from Atilla Peker and to retrieve the “necessary information and documents” from Turkish Cypriot judicial authorities about the murder.
Mr Peker claimed that
Korkut Eken — a former lieutenant colonel in the Turkish army’s special forces, who also served in the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) — gave him a weapon and silencer
for the murder. Mr Eken was jailed briefly for the notorious “Susurluk” scandal in 1996 that exposed illegal links
between government officials, the mafia and intelligence. A “deep state” figure in the 1990s in Turkey, Mr Eken confirmed
that he traveled to the TRNC with Atilla Peker before the murder but rejected involvement in the killing.