Former spy chief dies three months after release in Feb 28 trial

ISTANBUL

Nicknamed 'the last cavalryman,' Teoman Koman (C) was seen as the beholder of many state secrets, especially about the 'dark' era of the 1990s.

Former head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and gendarmerie forces commander Teoman Koman died Dec. 14 at age 77 only three months after his release during the Feb. 28 coup plot case.

The retired general, who headed up MİT between 1988 and 1992 and the gendarmerie forces between 1995 and 1997, also served as a key witness in the Ergenekon coup plot trial. He has been under arrest for over a year for his alleged role in the ongoing Feb. 28 "post-modern" coup until his release on Sept. 3 due to his deteriorating health.

Koman was believed to have played a key role in the events of Feb. 28, a harsh, army-led campaign that followed a National Security Council (MGK) declaration, forcing the Welfare Party (RP) leader Necmettin Erbakan to resign from the prime ministerial post in June 1997.

During his testimony at the Ergenekon trial, Koman denied all allegations regarding his “leadership role in the alleged Ergenekon organization and Turkish Hizbullah,” which has no links with the Lebanese Hezbollah and is considered responsible for many unsolved murders in Turkey's southeast during the 1990s.

Seen as the beholder of many state secrets, Koman would also deny the existence of an official decision to establish a separate intelligence unit in the gendarmerie [JİTEM], accused of many unsolved murders in the 1990s, adding that he only heard about the unit but banned its activities while in serving as the head of the Gendarmerie Forces.