Court Will Hear New Witnesses in Zirve Massacre Case

A Malatya court has called 10 more witnesses in the case regarding the murder of three Protestants in Zirve Publishing House.

The judge ordered Onur Dulkadir, Erkan Yılmaz, Mustafa Günaydın, Zeki Dağ, Burcu Polat, Hamit Özpolat, Ruhi Abat, Mehmet Ülger, Salih Demir and Mehmet Çolak to be brought to court on April 13th.

A group of nationalists had planned and murdered Tilman Ekkehart Geske, Necati Aydın and Uğur Yüksel on April 18th, 2007, for their alleged “missionary activities.”

The main murder suspect, Emre Gunaydın, and other detainees Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yıldırım, Salih Gürler and Hamit Ceker attended the hearing on February 20.

Two others, Varol Bulent Aral and Huseyin Yelki were arrested recently on allegations of soliciting the murders. The police investigation, which led to the development, is continuing alongside the court hearings. Aral and Yelki will be interrogated during the next hearing.

Lawyer Ozkan Yucel had welcomed this last development, as it proved that “the murders weren’t attributed to just five youngsters, that the state agencies supported the murders, or at least that protection was offered to them.”

The case would eventually lead and merge to the Ergenekon case, Yucel had predicted.(EÖ/AGÜ)