Levent Ersöz

Levent Ersöz (born 19 April 1954) is a former Turkish general in the Turkish Gendarmerie, who was head of the Gendarmerie's JITEM intelligence department.^[2] He was considered a key defendant in the Ergenekon trials, and on 5 August 2013 was sentenced to 22 years and six months.^[3][4] A trial charging Ersöz with the death of Turkish President Turgut Özal in 1993 began in September 2013.^[5]

Prosecutors have accused Ersöz of being behind the 2001 assassination of Diyarbakır Police Chief Gaffar Okkan and a 2006 attack on Faruk Çelik,^[6] and of having had a role in the 1993 death of President Turgut Özal.^[7] The prosecution has shown a video of Ersöz talking to Bedrettin Dalan in 2004, saying "You are number three. Why don't you go out and talk like you're number one."^[8] Police searching Ersöz' home had found nearly 2500 recordings of conversations.^[8] A witness to the Ergenekon trials testified that Ersöz had had frequent contact with PKK commander Cemil Bayık.^[9]

Prosecutors have charged a hitman with a December 2009 attempt on Ersöz' life, describing it as an attempt to silence Ersöz.^[10] Shots were fired into the ceiling during a confrontation between the would-be assassin and gendarmes guarding Ersöz' room.^[11]

A suspect in the Ergenekon trials told prosecutors that Ersöz was his instructor in TUSHAD.^[12]

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