Former minister says he is being targeted

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar rebuffed recent claims raised by intelligence operative Mehmet Eymür regarding his responsibility in acts of extrajudicial killing, racketeering and kidnapping that occurred mainly in connection with the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK.) 

“The point of concern in this matter is to unfavorably impact our trial process underway in a higher court. It is also to depict me as a target for crime syndicates engaged in acts of terror and organized crime,” Ağar said during a press meeting. 

Ağar said terrorism was the most important issue on the agenda of every Turkish government and expressed his hope for a future without any armed conflict in the country. 

“People who work in public services are obliged to account for their actions in both judicial and administrative levels, but they are first responsible to God, their own conscience and history as well,” he said. Ağar said his conscience was at ease as he believed he had performed his public duties in accordance with these responsibilities. 

The former head of the Counterterrorism Bureau of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Eymür testified to a prosecutor last week, claiming Ağar, police chief at the time, was part of a team responsible for acts of extrajudicial killing, racketeering and kidnapping. 
Ağar was recently sentenced to five years in prison as part of the Susurluk trial, which dealt with a scandal involving close relations between the government, the security forces and organized crime.