The former regimental commander of the gendarmerie, Staff Col. Vecihi Halil İyigün, has been accused of killing two Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a civilian, Mehmet Emin Atabay, who was accused of aiding and abetting the PKK in the eastern province of Erzurum, despite their surrender during an operation in 2009.
Three PKK were reportedly killed during a military operation taking place close to a village in Çaldıran, a district of Erzurum province, on Oct. 7, 2009. However, an anonymous letter claims this is not what happened. The letter was written by a soldier who witnessed the incident.
In the letter, he says a group of soldiers, including himself, heard that two PKK terrorists were at a civilian’s house. The civilian was allegedly aiding and abetting the terrorists. The soldiers went to the place in question to ascertain the veracity of the claim. Having noticed the soldiers’ arrival, the PKK terrorists began to flee the area, taking the civilian’s son with them as a hostage in order to facilitate their escape. The soldiers followed them and cornered the terrorists in a place two kilometers away from the village. The commander of Çaldıran’s gendarmerie, Cpt. Murat Yıldırım, asked them to surrender and the terrorists complied. The soldiers asked them to lie down, informed Col. İyigün and waited for him to arrive at the scene. After Col. İyigün arrived, he ordered the soldiers who had captured the terrorists to leave, and then he ordered the gendarmerie’s special team to kill the terrorists. The special team took the surrendered men away from the soldiers and killed them. The letter’s author added that the colonel had explained the situation, saying: If they hadn’t killed the surrendered men, they would be freed one day and would return to the PKK and kill people.
Soldiers’ testimonies confirm account
The specially authorized Van Public Prosecutor’s Office took the soldiers’ testimonies. What they recounted was in line with the contents of the letter. According to their testimonies, they put guns in the slain PKK’ hands to make it look as if they had been killed in a clash.
Colonel conceals the truth
The prosecutor’s case says that Col. İyigün had tried to conceal his offence by not signing any official reports or documents regarding the incident. Evidence indicates that the two terrorists and the civilian were executed due to an illegal order issued by the colonel and that there is no reason at all to believe this was an instance of self defense.
