Atilla Peker released on probation

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Launching an investigation into the assassination of journalist Kutlu Adalı in Northern Cyprus, the İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office heard the statement of Atilla Peker, the brother of Sedat Peker, who is now facing a warrant for leading a criminal organization.

Atilla Peker gave his statement at the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau for nearly four hours yesterday (June 2).

Following the related procedures at the prosecutor's office, Peker was referred to the judgeship to be released with an international travel ban and giving his signature at the police department on charge of "aiding a premeditated murder". The İstanbul Anadolu Penal Judgeship of Peace on Duty has ruled that Atilla Peker shall be released on probation.

Sedat Peker has postponed the video

On the other side, posting some videos about the 'state-mafia relations' in Turkey on YouTube for a month now, Sedat Peker has announced that he has postponed his video where "he and Erdoğan will write off each other's debts" until after the meeting to be held between US President Biden and President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 14, 2021.

As the reason for the postponement, he has referred to the allegations of some journalists that "he will shoot the related video to weaken the hand of Erdoğan during his meeting with Biden."

What happened?

Accused of leading a criminal organization and currently abroad, Sedat Peker has been posting some videos on YouTube regarding the 'state-mafia' relations in Turkey, targeting especially Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar.

In his 7th video shared on May 23, Sedat Peker made some allegations about the assassination of Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı:

"At that time, we were all together, Mehmet Ağa, Korkut Eken... We were young, we were patriots. They would usually give me jobs related to businesspeople rather than unsolved murders," he said, referring to the widespread extrajudicial killings at the time, for which both Ağar and Eken stood trial. A court yesterday overturned their acquittal of killing 19 people.

"[Eken] told me that 'There is a man in Cyprus, he wants to sell Cyprus to the Greeks.' He said 'two professionals'... I told him 'I'll give you my brother, Atilla Peker.' He is a specialist, he grew up on the streets.

"Another team affiliated with them killed [Adalı]. I came across brother Korkut, he said to me 'That job is done.'

"Atilla Peker will tell the truth. If we killed him, I'd say we killed him. It's time-barred now. I always watched his spouse's struggle from afar. What should I say? We are all the same."

After the video, Attila Peker was detained in a villa in Fethiye's Kayaköy Neighborhood. Police officers also detained Yunus O., who is said to be his bodyguard, and seized an unlicensed gun and two magazines.

Taken into custody together with his private guard, Atilla Peker was released on probation with an international travel ban.

The Fethiye Prosecutor's Office has also launched an investigation into the assassination of Kutlu Adalı. Speaking in a live program on Habertürk TV on May 24, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu announced that he had given an instruction for an investigation into the death of Kutlu Adalı, who was killed in an armed attack in front of his house on July 6, 1996.

Kutlu Adalı murder

Kutlu Adalı, a journalist from Northern Cyprus, was shot dead in front of his house on July 6, 1996, shortly after writing an article about the armed robbery of millions of dollars worth of icons from St. Barnabas Monastery in Famagusta, Cyprus. In his article penned on March 23, 1996, nine days after the robbery in question, he wrote that the official vehicles affiliated with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Head of Civil Defense Organization were used during the related raid.

While he was known as nationalist and patriotic by the Turkish politicians and his circle in Cyprus, he was a dissident of Rauf Denktaş, the then TRNC President. His house was targeted in an armed attack after penning an article about Denktaş titled "The lunatic at the minaret."

In his articles, Kutlu Adalı was talking about a series of paramilitary organizations operating in Cyprus. He was alleging that several murders committed before Turkey's "Cyprus Peace Operation" in 1974 were in fact committed by them and the Cypriot Greeks were blamed.

On April 2, 1996, Kutlu Adalı announced that he was receiving threats. The complaints of Adalı were not taken into account by the security officers. Adalı was shot to death in front of his house on July 6, 1996.

The investigation launched by the Northern Cypriot authorities remained inconclusive and it could not be found who had committed the murder.

So, his wife İlkay Adalı applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and filed a suit against Turkey. Handing down its judgement on March 31, 2005, the ECtHR convicted Turkey on the grounds of "the failure to carry out an adequate and credible inquiry into the murder." (KÖ/SD)