A trial over the murder of a former Turkish far-right group leader opened on Monday with some of the 22 defendants saying the killing - which has stirred political tension - stemmed from a personal dispute over money.
Sinan Ates, an academic who led the ultra-nationalist youth organisation Idealist Hearths - known as the "Grey Wolves" - from 2019-2020, was shot dead in an Ankara street in December 2022 © Mena Today
A trial over the murder of a former Turkish far-right group leader opened on Monday with some of the 22 defendants saying the killing - which has stirred political tension - stemmed from a personal dispute over money.
Sinan Ates, an academic who led the ultra-nationalist youth organisation Idealist Hearths - known as the "Grey Wolves" - from 2019-2020, was shot dead in an Ankara street in December 2022. His family says the killing was politically motivated.
The "Grey Wolves" is the youth branch of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which for six years has been in an alliance with President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, but the case has caused strains in their pact.
MHP deputy leader Semih Yalcin has said the case was being used by leftist media to incriminate his party without evidence, denying the involvement of MHP officials.
Erdogan hosted the victim's widow Ayse Ates at the presidential palace last month and the justice minister said at the time that Erdogan was committed to ensuring justice and that "nothing will remain in the dark".
DISPUTE OVER MONEY
The youth group, established in the 1960s, was involved in political violence between leftists and nationalists that killed some 5,000 people around the time of a 1980 coup.
Highlighting tensions over the case, more than 100 police officers were in the courtroom on Monday and Ayse Ates arrived there in a bullet-proof vest which she removed at the door, Turkish media reported.
All of the defendants who spoke in court on Monday said the shooting was the result of a personal dispute over money between one of the defendants and Ates.
Lawyers for the victim's family say the man behind the shooting had ordered Ates killed, but the alleged hit man Eray Ozyagci told the court he was instructed to shoot Ates in the feet.
During an interval in the hearing, Ayse Ates said on social media platform X that the defendants' statements and similar recent comments on the case by MHP officials were at odds with evidence and part of a "theatre of conspiracy".
She sat in the courtroom with the main opposition CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel, among several prominent political figures at the hearing in Sincan, outside of Ankara.
Among the defendants is a former official from the "Grey Wolves" and a lawyer who is an MHP member.
By Huseyin Hayatsever
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will repeat Turkey's offer to host talks between Russia and Ukraine on a visit to Moscow this week at which he will also discuss Black Sea shipping safety and the South Caucasus, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
Somaliland's President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Sunday, in what marks the breakaway territory's first-ever state visit to a foreign country, and a milestone in the unlikely but deepening partnership between the two nations.
When Iran's Team Melli takes to the field in Los Angeles on Monday against New Zealand, the game will be about far more than football. It will be a confrontation between a theocratic regime desperate to control its image abroad and the millions of Iranians - at home and in exile - who refuse to let it.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.