10 October Ankara train station massacre: The phone of the person who brought the bombers was tapped

Alican Uludag

The Ankara Train Station massacre case, in which 103 people lost their lives, continued today at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court. With the petition submitted by the lawyers at the hearing, it was revealed that the phones of ISIS member Yakub Şahin, who escorted the vehicle that brought the two suicide bombers to Ankara before the massacre, were tapped and physically followed by the Police 3 days before the massacre.

One of the biggest massacres in the history of the Republic occurred as a result of the terrorist attack targeting those who gathered for the Labor, Peace and Democracy rally in Ankara Train Station Square on October 10, 2015. In the massacre in which 103 people lost their lives and more than 500 people were injured, the negligence of public officials was frequently brought to the agenda.

He tried to buy ammonium nitrate 11 days before the massacre

The 10 October Ankara Massacre Case Lawyer Commission has obtained another important document regarding that negligence. That document was about Yakub Şahin, who was reported trying to buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer used to increase the effect of the explosive from a fertilizer dealer in Gaziantep’s Nizip district 11 days before the massacre, and was not taken into custody even though his identity was identified by the police.

Yakup Şahin also escorted the vehicle that brought ISIS member Yunus Emre Alagöz and the foreign ISIS member with him to Ankara during the massacre.

Police were listening three days before the massacre

It was understood that Yakup Şahin was followed by the police within the scope of technical surveillance while he was bringing the bombers to Ankara. According to the documents obtained by the lawyers of the station case, Gaziantep Police Department initiated proceedings against Yakub Şahin in October 2015, after it was reported that he was trying to buy ammonium nitrate from the fertilizer dealer in Nizip.

Upon the letter of Nizip Police Department, Gaziantep Intelligence Branch Directorate reported the information about Yakup Şahin to the General Directorate of Security Intelligence Department on October 1, 2015.

Phone tapping request five days ago

At the same time, the Gaziantep Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office requested an injunction to interfere with communication regarding Yakub Şahin from the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court, 5 days before the massacre, that is, on 5 October 2015.

Ankara 4th High Criminal Court decided to interfere with communications about Yakup Şahin on 7 October 2015. In other words, 3 days before the massacre, Yakup Şahin, who was escorting the bombers, had his phones tapped and was physically monitored.

Lawyer Ünüvar: The massacre was carried out under police surveillance

Erkan Ünüvar, one of the complainant’s lawyers, who spoke at the hearing of the station case held today, filed a petition with the court and requested the injunction to interfere with communication regarding Yakub Şahin and all the investigation documents that are the basis for this decision. The petition states, “Accordingly, it is understood that Yakub Şahin’s phones were tapped by the police before the massacre, but he continued his activities related to the massacre, and as a result, the massacre took place on October 10, 2015. The meaning of this is quite clear. Yakub Şahin, one of the perpetrators of the massacre, carried out this massacre under police surveillance and the Police Department “He was content to watch this.”

“This truth has been hidden for years”

In the petition, it was emphasized that the fact that Şahin carried out the massacre under the technical surveillance of the police was “mainly hidden by both the Police, the judicial authorities and the government officials immediately after the massacre, but it has been hidden together and with great care until today.”

Who are the other three ISIS members whose phones were tapped?

The petition also stated that, in addition to Yakub Şahin, there were three other ISIS members whose phones were tapped before the massacre, but their names were kept secret for 8 years. Lawyers wrote to the General Directorate of Security and requested the names of these three ISIS members.

On the other hand, it was pointed out that the one-day phone number used by ISIS member Halil İbrahim Durgun, who was driving the vehicle in which the bombers were, and Yakub Şahin, who was escorting this vehicle, on October 9-10, was easily detected by the Police on October 14, after the massacre. The petition said, “This situation creates the impression that the phones and communications of these defendants were under control before the massacre.”

Request from MİT and Police Intelligence

In the petition, it was stated that the perpetrators of this massacre were under intelligence surveillance, and it was also noted that the case files coming from Gaziantep had been monitoring the massacre defendants step by step since 2012. For this reason, the lawyers wrote to MİT, Police Intelligence and Gendarmerie Intelligence and asked for all intelligence reports of Şahin and Durgun to be brought to the file.

Senem Doğanoğlu, one of the lawyers of the October 10 case, stated that these documents would cause the responsibility of public officials in the massacre to be discussed once again and said, “For this reason, the correspondence in the denunciation file was persistently hidden because it would bring the discussion of the responsibility of public officials to the agenda. Now, 8 years after the massacre, a fact has become obvious.” ” said.

No permission to investigate negligence was granted

On the other hand, it was also understood that the General Directorate of Security Inspection Board did not allow an investigation into the complaint made about Yakub Şahin not being caught despite trying to buy ammonium nitrate in Nizip 11 days before the massacre. The preliminary examination report prepared as a result of the administrative investigation carried out in this context was entered into the court file. In the report dated December 29, 2023, it was decided not to grant permission to investigate public officials. In the report, it was argued that after Yakub Şahin’s name was identified, the necessary actions were taken, no disruption was caused, and there was no fault or negligence on the part of the police officers.