Abdullah Çatlı

Abdullah Çatlı (1 June 1956 – 3 November 1996) was a Turkish secret government agent,[1][2][3] as well as a contract killer for the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).[4][5] He led the Grey Wolves, the youth branch of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), during the 1970s.[6] His death in the Susurluk car crash, while travelling in a car with state officials, revealed the depth of the state's complicity in organized crime in what became known as the Susurluk scandal. He was a hitman for the state, and was involved in the killings of suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

Abdullah Çatlı
Born	1 June 1956 Nevşehir, Turkey
Died	3 November 1996 (aged 40) Susurluk, Turkey
Resting place	Nevşehir Kaldırım Cemetery
Occupation	MİT agent, espionage
Spouse(s)	Meral Aydoğan (1974–1996)

Career

Growing up in Nevşehir, a small province in Central Anatolia. Çatlı was familiar with the views of the far right MHP, and Turkish ultra-nationalists, which were strong in this area.

1978–1984

Çatlı was responsible, along with Haluk Kırcı and several other MHP members, for the 9 October 1978 Bahçelievler Massacre in which seven university students, members of the Workers Party of Turkey (TIP), were murdered.[1][7]

He is also said to have helped Mehmet Ali Ağca murder the left-wing newspaper editor Abdi İpekçi on 1 January 1979, in Istanbul,[8] and helped Ağca escape from an Istanbul military prison later that year.[1] According to investigative journalist Lucy Komisar, Çatlı "reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from an Istanbul military prison, and some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the 1981 Pope's assassination attempt".[8] In February 1982, he was caught with heroin in Switzerland, but he managed to escape detention.[9] In 1998 the magazine Monde diplomatique alleged that Abdullah Çatlı had organized the assassination attempt "in exchange for the sum of 3 million German mark" for the Grey Wolves.[2] In 1985 in Rome, Çatlı declared to a judge "that he had been contacted by the BND, the German intelligence agency, promised him a nice sum of money if he implicated the Russian and Bulgarian services in the assassination attempt against the Pope".[6]

Çatlı then went to France, where, under the alias of Hasan Kurtoğlu, he planned a series of attacks (18 in France and the rest in Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Germany, Canada, USA and Austria) on Armenian interests and on the ASALA, with help from MİT. These included the Alfortville Armenian Genocide Memorial Bombing on 3 May 1984 and the attempted murder of activist Ara Toranian.[2][10]

According to Alparslan Türkeş, the founder of the Grey Wolves and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), "Çatlı has co-operated in the frame of a secret service working for the well-being of the state".[11]

1984–1996

The Turkish intelligence service (MIT) paid Çatlı in heroin, and he was eventually arrested in Paris on 24 October 1984 for drug trafficking. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and in 1988 he was handed over to Switzerland, where he was also wanted on charges of drug dealing. However, he escaped Bostadel prison[9] in March 1990 with the assistance of the Grey Wolves. He returned to Turkey, and was then recruited by the police for "special missions" while he was officially being sought by the Turkish authorities for murder.

Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller declared on 4 October 1993: "We know the list of businessmen and artists subjected to racketeering by the PKK and we shall be bringing their members to account." Beginning on 14 January 1994, almost a hundred people were kidnapped by commandos wearing uniforms and travelling in police vehicles and then killed somewhere along the road from Ankara to Istanbul. Çatlı demanded money from people who were on "Çiller’s list", promising to get their names removed. One of his victims, Behçet Cantürk, was to pay ten million dollars, to which casino king Ömer Lütfü Topal added a further seventeen million. However, after receiving the money, he then went on to have them kidnapped and killed, and sometimes tortured beforehand.[2]

According to Mehmet Eymür, a team led by Çatlı was responsible for the 1995 deaths of Iranian spies Lazım Esmaeili and Askar Simitko.[12] Çatlı's fingerprint was also allegedly found on the drum of one of the machine guns used to assassinate Ömer Lütfü Topal.[13] In 1996, Çatlı kidnapped the TV businessman Mehmet Ali Yaprak and demanded a ransom of four million deutschmarks.[14]

Death

Çatlı died in a car crash on 3 November 1996 in Susurluk, a town in the province of Balıkesir. Also killed in the crash were Hüseyin Kocadağ (a famous police officer) and Gonca Us (Abdullah Çatlı's girlfriend). Sedat Bucak, a Member of Parliament of the True Path Party (DYP) for Şanlıurfa province and a Kurdish village guards leader, was the sole person to survive the crash. His militia, funded by the Turkish state, was active against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[9] The Susurluk scandal exposed the deep state in Turkey.[9][15]

At the time of his death, Çatlı was a convicted fugitive, wanted for drug trafficking and murder and such carried on him 6 different identifications of which one was an official diplomatic passport on the name Mehmet Özbay.[9] Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu from the far right Great Union Party attended his funeral and Mehmet Ali Ağca sent flowers from prison in Rome.[16] Annual memorial ceremonies are held at his grave, to which also the members of the Grey Wolves attend.[15]

Personal life

Çatlı's father was Ahmet Çatlıoğlu; the "-oğlu" suffix is a patronymic. Çatlı had a brother, Zeki. Abdullah Çatlı married his neighbor Meral Aydoğan on 10 August 1974.[17][18] On 22 May 1975, they had a daughter named Gökçen, who is currently a doctoral student in politics and international relations.[19] Later he had another daughter, Selcen.[20]

Bibliography

His daughter Gökçen wrote a biography, referring to diaries stretching back ten years, in order to correct alleged inaccuracies that were circulated after his death.[21] Gökçen said "My father had his own understanding of justice. He was trying to achieve this justice with his group on behalf of his nation."[22]

• Çatlı, Gökçen (2000). Babam Çatlı. Timaş. ISBN 975-362-573-1.

Another book was written by Soner Yalçın and Doğan Yurdakul, titled Reis: Gladio'nun Türk Tetikçisi ("The Chief: Gladio's Turkish Hitman").

Abdullah Çatlı in fiction

• Bruce Sterling's 2000 novel Zeitgeist includes a major character ("Mehmet Ozbey") loosely based on Çatlı.

References

1. Kinzer, Stephen (10 December 1996). "Scandal Links Turkish Aides to Deaths, Drugs and Terror". The New York Times. pp. A1, A14.
2. Nezan, Kendal (5 July 1998). "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade". Le Monde diplomatique.
3. Kinzer, Stephen (10 December 1996). "Scandal Links Turkish Aides To Deaths, Drugs and Terror". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
4. Jenkins, Gareth (28 December 2008). "Susurluk and the Legacy of Turkey's Dirty War". Terrorism Monitor. Jamestown Foundation. 6 (9). Retrieved 28 December 2008. ...Abdullah Catli, a wanted Mafia hitman and convicted heroin smuggler...
5. Korkmaz, Tamer (27 July 2008). "Kim, kimin nesi oluyor?". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 28 December 2008. Çatlı da NATO-ABD orijinli 'Mister Kontrgerilla'nın 'sağcı' tetikçisiydi. (English)
6. Martin A. Lee, Les liaisons dangereuses de la police turque, Le Monde diplomatique, March 1997 (in French)
7. Yalçın, Soner; Yurdakul, Doğan (1997). "The Bahcelievler Massacre". Reis: Gladio’nun Türk Tetikçisi (in Turkish). Su Yayinlari.
8. Lucy Komisar (6 April 1997), The Assassins of a Pope Archived 11 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Albion Monitor.
9. "TÜRKEI : Hochachtung vor einem Killer". www.spiegel.de. October 1997. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
10. Dündar, Can (5 December 1996). "Biraz Daha Gayret, Çözülüyor..." Milliyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 23 December 2008. Saint-Pierre'in Kurtları kitabıyla tanıdığımız Fransız gazeteci Stoerkel, Abdullah Çatlı'nın 1982 yılında İtalyan Gladio ajanı Chiaie ile birlikte Amerikan koruması altında Miami'ye girdiğini açıklıyordu.
11. Yeni Yuzyil, 5 December 1996. Quoted in "Turkish Press Scanner". Turkish Daily News. Hürriyet. 6 December 1996. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
12. Today's Zaman, 8 December 2011, Mehmet Eymür exposes more of web of dirty liaisons Archived 15 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
13. Hurriyet Daily News, 16 December 1996, Turkish Press Scanner
14. Sterling, Bruce (10 December 2008). Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next 50 Years. Random House Publishing Group. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-307-49199-2.
15. "Who's who in Politics in Turkey" (PDF). Heinrich Böll Stiftung. pp. 6–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
16. Hakan Aslaneli and Zafer F. Yoruk (6 November 1996). "'Traffic Monster' reveals state-mafia relations". Turkish Daily News. Hürriyet. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
17. "Dügün Davetiyesi". Official Web site of Abdullah Çatlı. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
18. "FOTOĞRAF ALBÜMÜ". Official Web site of Abdullah Çatlı (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
19. "Gökçen Çatlı hakkında (About G. atlı)". Official Web site of Abdullah Çatlı (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
20. "Reis'in kızına dolarlı nişan". www.hurriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 1 December 2020.
21. Özturk, Neslihan (3 July 1997). "Abdullah Catli's daughter to write book on her father". Turkish Daily News. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007. Alt URL
22. Beki, Mehmet Akif (10 November 1997). "Two portraits of 'The Chief': Which Catli?". Turkish Daily News. Alt URL

External links

• Bozarslan, Hamit (1999), Network-Building, Ethnicity and Violence In Turkey