Türkiye says 2009 crash that killed opposition leader Yazıcıoğlu was assassination

Türkiye’s justice minister said new evidence indicates that a 2009 helicopter crash that killed opposition politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was an assassination carried out by the network Ankara designates as the FETÖ terrorist organisation.

Speaking to TRT Haber, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said investigators had uncovered “serious evidence” linking the crash to FETÖ, which Türkiye accuses of orchestrating the 2016 failed coup attempt.

Yazıcıoğlu, leader of the opposition Great Unity Party (BBP) and a member of parliament, died in March 2009 when his helicopter went down in Kahramanmaraş province in southeastern Türkiye. The bodies of Yazıcıoğlu and five others were recovered 48 hours after the crash.

Gürlek said that an F-4 fighter jet had flown over the area shortly before the incident. He added that forensic findings connected individuals linked to the aircraft with Adil Öksüz, described by Turkish authorities as the “FETÖ imam in the Turkish Armed Forces” and currently wanted.

“The evidence obtained during the investigation indicates that this was carried out by FETÖ. Yazıcıoğlu was a target of this organisation,” Gürlek said.

The case was reopened 17 years after the crash, leading to the detention of 19 suspects, according to officials.

By Tamilla Hasanova