Atilla Olgac has reignited the debate about Turkey's conduct during its 1974 invasion of Cyprus, writes Nicholas Birchin Istanbul
A WELL-KNOWN actor risks being the first Turk to face war crimes charges after an Istanbul prosecutor opened an investigation yesterday into his admission that he killed a Greek Cypriot prisoner of war during Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
“The commander told me to kill on his orders,” Atilla Olgac, who plays a mafioso on a ratings-smashing television series, said on a Turkish chat show last week.
“The first kid I shot was a 19-year-old prisoner. His hands were tied behind his back. When I pointed my gun at him, he spat in my face. I shot him in the forehead.”
Istanbul prosecutor Ali Cakir said he launched the investigation under the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, to which Turkey is party. Should evidence of wrongdoing emerge, the dossier will be sent to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Cakir said.
Olgac confirmed his story in an interview with a Turkish newspaper the day after his television appearance. Amid outrage in Cyprus and Turkey, he later retracted, saying he had been testing public reaction to a film script he was writing.
If his retraction is true, he got more than he bargained for. Punning on the name of his screen character, Turkish nationalist newspapers branded him a “tactless wolf” and accused him of damaging the country’s honour. In Cyprus, he has topped headlines for a week.
On Tuesday, Cyprus filed a case against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights demanding that it clarify the fate of citizens who went missing during Turkish military operations in 1974. “Turkey must co-operate to determine under which conditions people disappeared; this is something Turkey has not done,” Cypriot government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou said.
Olgac’s comments come amid renewed talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots aimed at reuniting an island which has been divided on ethnic grounds since 1974. Failure to reach an agreement before the end of the year could spell the end for Turkey’s EU accession hopes.
Analysts doubt the scandal over Olgac’s confession will undermine talks. But there are widespread concerns that it could affect one of the most striking symbols of growing co-operation between Cypriot Greeks and Turks – a landmark bi-communal initiative that has been exhuming and identifying Cypriot dead since August 2006.
About 1,500 Greek Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots vanished during the 1974 invasion and inter-ethnic clashes in the 1960s. The UN-backed Committee on Lost Persons has exhumed more than 450 bodies and identified 110 – 78 Greeks and 32 Turks.
“The programme is a victory of scientific collaboration over politics,” says Elias Georgiades, who heads the Greek Cypriot half of the 40-person team. “But we depend on information, a lot of which can only come from Turks who fought in Cyprus in 1974. My fear is that angry reactions in Cyprus and Turkey will not encourage others like [Atilla Olgac] to come forward and talk.”
Georgiades added that he hoped to accompany Turkish Cypriot counterparts to Istanbul to interview the actor.
“I hope he does talk,” says Andreas Paraskos, a leading Greek Cypriot journalist who has followed the search for missing people closely. “Roughly 300 19-year-olds went missing in 1974. For the past week, 300 families have been wondering whether it was their son Mr Olgac shot. If this helps just one family find their son’s body, that is good.”