04 April 2010
Metin Alatas
Strangulation
34-year-old Metin Alatas, a journalist working for Azadiya Welat daily newspaper published in Kurdish, was found dead in the Had?rl? district of Adana in the predominantly Kurdish region of south-eastern Turkey on 4 April.
Nobody had heard from Alatas since he had gone to the district and distributed copies of the daily on 3 April. Alatas was found hanged in a tree. Alatas had been subject of an assault four months earlier. Five unidentified people approached him in a car with an Adana number plate when the journalist distributed newspaper copies in front of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) building on 22 December 2009.
Atalas was beaten and had to undergo medical treatment in hospital. bianet, the independent media forum website, spoke to diplomacy service editor Hakk? Boltan who said: "There are contradictory aspects in our opinion. It will be clear soon. In times when our employees are encountering such intense pressure, we think there is still the possibility that Alatas was killed by illegal forces or that he was forced to commit suicide." Police are investigating.
