Levent Ersöz

Levent Ersöz
Personal details
Born	19 April 1954
Military service
Allegiance	Turkey
Service/branch	Turkish Army
Years of service	1974-2009
Rank	General
Unit	Army Aviation

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. He was considered a key defendant in the Ergenekon trials, and on 5 August 2013 was sentenced to 22 years and six months. A trial charging Ersöz with the death of Turkish President Turgut Özal in 1993 began in September 2013.

Prosecutors have accused Ersöz of being behind the 2001 assassination of Diyarbakır Police Chief Gaffar Okkan and a 2006 attack on Faruk Çelik, and of having had a role in the 1993 death of President Turgut Özal. 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." Police searching Ersöz' home had found nearly 2500 recordings of conversations. A witness to the Ergenekon trials testified that Ersöz had had frequent contact with PKK commander Cemil Bayık.

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

A suspect in the Ergenekon trials told prosecutors that Ersöz was his instructor in TUSHAD.

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