Susurluk Scandal - Chronology

Chronology

A brief summary follows:

3 November 1996

A traffic accident in Susurluk near the city of Balikesir, in which Abdullah Çatlı, a former ultra-rightist militant wanted by police for multiple murders and drug trafficking; Huseyin Kocadag, a senior police official; and a beauty queen are killed and Sedat Bucak, a Parliament deputy from the DYP is injured. The accident creates political uproar and some charge that this incident highlights the illegal relationship between state officials and the mobsters.

8 November 1996

Interior Minister Mehmet Agar, smarting under an opposition and media campaign against alleged police links with the underground crime bosses after the car accident in Susurluk, resigns and is promptly replaced by Meral Akşener, a female politician from the DYP.

12 November 1996

Parliament rules for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to probe into links between senior police officials, organized crime bosses and politicians exposed the Susurluk accident.

22 November 1996

Suleyman Demirel, who at the time was the President of Turkey, brings party leaders together at a round table summit to seek a consensus on a method of investigating alleged state-mafia connections unearthed after the breaking of the Susurluk scandal.

5 December 1996

Recently appointed Interior Minister Aksener explains that she discharged Istanbul Chief of Police Kemal Yazicioglu and several Special Team members. Moreover, acting Police Security Department Chief Hanefi Avci was discharged.

11 December 1996

Agar and Bucak are stripped of their immunities in a vote in the Parliamentary general assembly.

10 January 1997

The Parliamentary Investigation Commission set up after the accident listens to 41 people, among whom were Bucak and Agar, as witnesses. Later, the chairman of the Commission, Mehmet Elkatmis, apparently says, "I got confused."

13 January 1997

The Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) had ÖHD members Carkin, Ersoy and Yorulmaz are taken into custody.

14 January 1997

Sedat Bucak's driver Abdulgani Kizilkaya, Mustafa Altunok and Enver Ulu are arrested in connection with the Susurluk incident.

23 January 1997

Photographs showing Abdullah Catli, one of those killed at Susurluk and the one who was wanted for murder, together with special team members were published in a newspaper. These historical documents were evidence of relations between police and fugitives from the law.

11 March 1997

Special Operations Department head Ibrahim Sahin is arrested. He is put in Metris prison together with special team members.

26 May 1997

Susurluk truck driver Hasan Gokce was sentenced to pay damages.

22 June 1997

Yasar Oz and Abdulgani Kizilkaya were set free.

19 September 1997

Police and politicians accused in the Susurluk scandal were absolved.

24 November 1997

Motherland Party (ANAP) Chairman Mesut Yilmaz is attacked in Budapest in which his nose is broken. It was claimed that he was attacked because he had delved to foar into Susurluk.

8 December 1997

Judge Akman Akyurek, who helped to prepare the documents related to the Susurluk case and is investigating the criminal gang and its relationship with the state, is the victim of an automobile accident just like Susurluk.

6 February 1998

Narcotics smuggler Sami Hostan was arrested.

4 May 1998

Hostan was set free.

16 August 1998

Çakıcı was arrested in France.