Birkan Bulut
Even as allegations surrounding the arming of Salafi Associations in Turkey is being discussed, it has transpired that the ISIS Antep [a city in south eastern part of Turkey] leader Emir Yunus Durmaz was not arrested despite being watched step by step after organising bomb attacks. Durmaz was wanted for organising the suicide bombings in Diyarbakir, Suruç, Ankara and Taksim, and his location was identified between 29 April – 18 May 2016 but no arrest was made. He wasn’t arrested even after the bombing of the Gaziantep Police Station.
The ISIS organised attack in Ankara on 10th October 2015 at the “Labour, Peace and Democracy” Meeting saw the death of 103 people and approximately 500 injured. Proving to be the bloodiest attack in the recent history of Turkey, 5 years on it has come to light that the plans and preparations were known, yet the necessary measures were not taken to prevent it, nor were public officials prosecuted. Jihadists were able to wave their arms freely and organise their attacks which intensified in 2015 – 2016. Often mentioned in the bombing attacks of ISIS and the organization's Antep cell, Yunus Durmaz was followed step by step yet still not caught.
CLOSELY FOLLOWED VIA PHONE
Gaziantep 1st High Criminal Court decided in 2016 to follow Yunus Durmaz in relation to the Diyarbakır, Suruç, Ankara and Taksim attacks under the grounds of “communication
listening, recording and evaluating the signal information”. In addition, Durmaz also planned to attack HDP Istanbul Provincial Directorate, Cumhuriyet Newspaper Ankara Office, Antalya G20 Summit, Antalya 2016 Expo, May 19 events in Anıtkabir [Atatürk’s grave] and attack on AKP Congress. It was stated that along with the law change of 2016/491, Durmaz began to be followed on the 05349682984 phone number.
19 LOCATIONS WERE IDENTIFIED IN 20 DAYS
Listening in onto the conversations of Yunus Durmaz between 29 April-19 May 2016, the telephone signal was identified 19 times. On some days the locations was found multiple times but mostly located around Ender Plastik.
HE WAS NOT CAUGHT EVEN AFTER THE ATTACK ON ANTEP POLICE STATION
Yunus Durmaz did not feel the need to flee in those days and he went to plan new bomb attacks. worked. Even leading onto the death of 3 police officers with vehicle bomb attack on the Gaziantep Police Department on 1 May 2016. Yet all of those linked to ISIS were taken into custody following the attack.
DATA WAS DESTROYED ON THE GROUNDS THAT HE HAD DIED
What triggered the security forces to catch Yunus Durmaz was the 19 May events and the intelligence of a planned attack on the AKP congress on 22 May. On May 19, in Gaziantep, Yunus Durmaz was found dead after blowing himself up during the raid on the cell house. The measure was lifted on June 6, 2016 on the grounds of the death of Durmaz and it was decided for the data to be destroyed.
FOR YEARS THEY SIMPLY VIEWERS
The name Yunus Durmaz was heard by the public after the 10 October Massacre, was no stranger to intelligence and judicial authorities. Durmaz, who went to Iran in 2006, then to Afghanistan to join the jihadists. Caught in Pakistan in 2009, Durmaz was caught and sent to Turkey to be met at the airport by the police, to then be released upon gaining information. Al Qaeda members in many cities in 2012, while watching the Gaziantep Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, with the investigation numbered 2012/44540, many jihadists, including Durmaz, were under physical pursuit for two years.
INTELLIGENCE WAS NOT GATHERED UNTIL THE AKP CONGRESS ATTACK
Erkan Sabri Ünüvar, one of the lawyers of the 10 October Case, answered our questions about what happened in this process. He said, after the bomb attack in Gaziantep Police Department on May 1, 2016, a large number of detentions were made in the city, but until the day he died from the attack, Durmaz's location was determined 13 times, but not caught. Ünüvar, "We do not know why Yunus Durmaz was not touched. If he is not being captured on the basis of being able to reach someone else then something else must be done. Yunus Durmaz was not even caught even after the attack on Police Department, but it seemed that they obliged to catch him after having the information on attack to the AKP congress. Despite it was known what he did and was to do, and his location being found, Yunus Durmaz was, in a sense, allowed to continue with his actions”.
Ünüvar reminded that his brother Hacı Ali Durmaz was caught alive at home and that, considering the preparations that the police had undergone before the operation resulting in the monitoring and deaths of so many people, the police had the means to capture Yunus Durmaz alive. Ünüvar drew attention to the fact that suspicions around the death of Yunus Durmaz still remain, saying “yet information from the autopsy report was not received for a long time. Communication records were destroyed due to death. The tapes of the suicide bomber Yunus Emre Alagöz at the 10 October massacre had also been destroyed. We wanted Durmaz to be listened to and for the file of communications to be brought. There is a decision to review the communications of all defendants in relation to the 10 October Massacre. But we cannot get hold of these tapes. They have either been destroyed or they are being withheld”.
Aras Coşkuntuncel
