Minister hints at unnatural death for Özal

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The state of late President Turgut Özal’s body, which was exhumed 19 years after his burial in order to cast light on his mysterious death, suggests that his death was unnatural, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said.

“The materials obtained from Özal’s grave are very different from those that are supposed to be found in a grave opened after 19 or 20 years. A large part of Özal’s corpse has not decomposed,” Ergin told private television channel Bugün on Oct. 2. “The materials obtained from the grave could answer the claims suggesting that his death was unnatural. The data even surprised Forensic Medicine [Institute] experts.” Ergin said Özal died in 1993 amid tumultuous events that includes massacres and that his family had long suspected foul play in his death.

The failure to perform an autopsy at the time of his death – which was officially declared to be due to a heart attack – was “an eclipse of reason,” the minister said.

“The Forensic Medicine staff was wondering whether they would acquire DNA results from hair strands or bone samples, but they came across more material than they thought,” Ergin said.