Sabancı murder suspect detained in Turkey’s west

AYDIN – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

One of the two suspected suicide bombers detained in the Aegean province of Aydın on Feb. 2 has been identified as a suspect in the assassination Özdemir Sabancı, the Sabancı Holding board member who was killed in 1996.

Two members of outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) were detained in Aydın’s Söke district early on Feb. 2 on suspicion of planning suicide bomb attacks. 

The two suspects were identified as Fadik Adıyaman and İsmail Akkol, and the latter is a suspect in the Sabancı assassination case, according to a statement issued by the Aydın Police Department.   

Adıyaman and Akkol were caught while they were about to head to the neighboring İzmir province from the Söke bus terminal. A Kalashnikov rifle, a hand grenade, bombing material, and ammunition were also seized in the luggage of the two suspects.

It has been reported that the two suspects arrived in Söke from the touristic district of Didim and bought tickets to go to İzmir.

Greek police had detained four suspects, including DHKP-C leader Hüseyin Fevzi Tekin and Akkol, on Feb. 10, 2014 during an operation on residences in the Gizi neighborhood of Athens.

According to Greek media reports, Akkol confessed in his interrogation that the weapons found in their Gizi house were bought to be used in attacks on Turkish territory.

Akkol was later released by a local court, although Turkish authorities had demanded his extradition for his alleged involvement in the murder of businessman Özdemir Sabancı in 1996.

Leading Turkish industrialist Özdemir Sabancı, his secretary Nilgün Hasefe, and Toyotasa General Manager Haluk Görgün, were killed in an armed attack in the headquarters of Sabancı Holding in 1996.