CHP to carry Zirve trial to Parliament

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Main opposition CHP’s deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu is preparing to put forward questions in Parliament about why the Zirve massacre case has not progressed. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

The Malatya Zirve Publishing House massacre case will be on the agenda of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) when the new parliamentary term starts on Oct. 1.

CHP deputy leader Sezgin Tanrıkulu is preparing to put forward questions in Parliament about why the case has not progressed yet and about the two judges and two prosecutors who were removed from duty on Sept. 1, two days before a critical hearing in the case.

The prosecutors and judges, who had been following the case for five years, were dismissed from the case and assigned to other duties due to the abolishment of the Law about Specially Authorized Courts as part of the third judicial package legislated by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Tanrıkulu told the Hürriyet Daily News that the dismissal of the judges and prosecutors would doubtless affect the case’s progress. “There is an indictment consisting of thousands of pages. Above all, they had been following the case for five years. That means some people do not want the case to be resolved,” Tanrıkulu said.

Three missionaries - German citizen Tillman Geske and two Turks, Necati Aydın and Uğur Yüksel - were tied up and tortured before their throats were slit at the Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publisher in the eastern province of Malatya, on April 18, 2007.

“From the Father Santoro murder committed in [the Black Sea province of] Trabzon to the Hrant Dink murder, and from the Zirve Publishing House massacre to the murder of a bishop in [the Mediterranean province of] İskenderun, all these murders display signs that they were committed by ultranationalists. It is clear that the deep state had a hand in these incidents, but the AKP does not try to shed light on them,” Tanrıkulu said.

He added that they were collecting data from the lawyers following the Zirve massacre case, and also working on a report that would be presented to Parliament.
 
Kurdish issue is a dilemma
Tanrıkulu also expressed his views on the Kurdish issue and the Heybeliada Halki seminary. He warned that abolishing the political immunity of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies would be of no use. “The Democratic Society Party (DEP) was closed in 1994, and its deputies were jailed, the result of this is evident. Abolishing the political immunities of BDP deputies would mean repeating the same mistake,” Tanrıkulu said. Tanrıkulu also said the CHP was ready to give any kind of support for the reopening of the Halki Seminary, but the AKP’s attitude toward the subject was not clear.“Politicians should leave prejudices aside and must immediately intervene [in the issue]. … Turkey is not on the right track in terms of either foreign policy or civil peace,” Tanrıkulu said.