KurdistanObserver.com

The First Head To Roll In The Semdinli Mystery

Hurriyet/  Mar 23, 2006

The head of the Turkish Police Bureau's Intelligence Department, Sabri Uzun, was removed yesterday from his job following a comment regarding the Semdinli incidents late last year in which he said "When the thief is inside the house, locks are no good."

The comment provoked a strong reaction from the military at the time, with the target of the statement widely understood to be the military itself. Statements made by Uzun in front of the Turkish Parliament's (TBMM) Semdinli Commission are thought to have opened the way to an atmosphere in Ankara that favored the idea that the Semdinli gendarmes were involved in the bombing of the Kurdish-owned Umut Bookstore in Semdinli.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on his way back to Ankara from Istanbul yesterday, responded to reporters' questions about Uzun's dismissal from his posting, commenting only "Leave the reasons up to us.