Mehmet Ağar
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Mehmet Kemal Ağar (born 30 October 1951 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish politician and former leader of the Democratic Party.
[edit] Political career
The True Path Party (DYP) lost the 2002 parliamentary elections and Tansu Çiller resigned as leader of the party and retired from politics. Mehmet Ağar was the only representative of the party elected in the 2002 election from Elazığ and entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly. After Çiller's resignation, Ağar was elected as the new president of the True Path Party.
On 5 May 2007 it was announced that DYP and the Motherland Party (ANAP) would merge to form the Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti). For that occasion, DYP renamed itself (based on the previous party of the same name), and it was planned that ANAP would join the newly founded DP.
Mehmet Agar resigned from his position as the leader of DP following the 22 July 2007 election.[1]
[edit] Susurluk scandal
With the Susurluk Scandal of 1996 his political carrier ended for some time. He famously said "I will talk if the state wants me to" to a commission investigating the affair. He escaped justice at the time due to his immunity, however he will be retried starting on 9 February 2009 at the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court.[1] If he refuses to attend his hearing, he will be escorted by the police.[2]
The Susurluk report contained the following information:[3]
On 19 October 1984, when he was İstanbul Deputy Chief of Police, he held a meeting with ultra- nationalist activist Celal Adan.
On 3 July 1985, while serving as Public Order Branch Director at İstanbul Police HQ, he contacted owners of a company, İbrahim Aslan and Mahmut Şahin, who were followers of the Süleyman Sect, and gave them the files and other information about the investigation carried out against members of the Süleyman Sect, which should have been kept secret.
On 4 September 1986 ultra-nationalist activist Selim Kaptanoğlu declared that “they had been engaged in collecting of checks and vouchers; they had collected money from the Mafia bosses in the name of Alpaslan Türkeş; they had given part of this money to Alpaslan Türkeş and another part to the ultra-nationalist activists in the prisons; and while doing this they had been in close contact to the Deputy Chief of Police, Mehmet Ağar.”
It was determined that on 5 December 1990 he took a bribe from Kemal Kaçar from the Süleyman Sect.
He pushed for ultra-nationalists candidates to be chosen to the Police Academy in the examinations of the Academy held on 29 September 1993.
He was elected DYP Elazığ MP in the general elections held on 24 December 1995.
He was assigned the post of Minister of Justice in the cabinet of the 53rd Government (the Coalition Government of ANAP and DYP) in 1996.
He was assigned the post of Minister the of Interior in the 54th Government (the Coalition Government of REFAH and DYP) formed in the same year; and he resigned on 8 November 1996.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Mehmet Ağar to appear in court in February". Today's Zaman. 2008-12-25. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=162246&bolum=100. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
- ^ "Ağar'ın Susurluk davası 9 Şubat'ta" (in Turkish). Sabah. 2008-12-25. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/12/25//haber,52A40DA12FCB4FDA80EC2EFFAC94AC39.html. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ^ "1998 Report". Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. http://www.tihv.org.tr/tihve/data/Yayinlar/Human_Rights_Reports/Ra1998HumanRigthsReport.pdf. (contains the Susurluk reports in English)
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tansu Çiller |
Leader of the True Path Party (DYP) Dec 14, 2002 – Jan 6, 2008 |
Succeeded by Süleyman Soylu |
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