14:18 12/12/2012 » LAW
The exhumed body of Turkey’s late President Turgut Ozal, who led the
country out of military rule in the 1980s, contained poison but the
cause of death was unclear, local media reported an autopsy as showing
on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
There have long been rumors that Ozal, who died of heart failure in
1993 aged 65, was murdered by militants of the “deep state” – a
shadowy group within the Turkish establishment of the day. Ozal had
angered some with his efforts to end a Kurdish insurgency and survived
an assassination bid in 1988.
Turkey’s forensic institute completed the autopsy on Tuesday and the
results will be sent to prosecutors investigating suspicions of foul
play, state-run Anatolian news agency said.
“Poison was detected in Ozal’s body during the analysis but experts
could not agree on whether the cause of death was this poison,”
broadcaster NTV reported.
Previous media reports have said Ozal’s body, dug up in October on the
orders of prosecutors, revealed traces of insecticides, pesticides and
radioactive elements.
“Toxic materials were found in Ozal’s body but these poisons were
present in a form which could be found in any person’s body,” one
official who had seen the autopsy report was quoted as saying by
Hurriyet newspaper on its website.
Forensic institute officials were not available to comment.