Former Turkish President Ozal poisoned with 4 substances

Findings of forensic tests conducted on the remains of eighth President Turgut Özal, whose death 19 years ago is now the subject of a new investigation, indicate that four different poisonous substances were detected in former president's remains, sources at the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) said as the date for finalizing the report is approaching. Sources from the ATK have confirmed to Today's Zaman that Özal may have been poisoned with four different poisonous substances. Late President Turgut Özal, whose body was exhumed from his ?stanbul grave as part of an investigation into the circumstances of his death, was killed by a highly deadly poison, according to a report that appeared in a Turkish newspaper earlier this month. An autopsy report prepared by the ATK said Özal was poisoned by “strychnine creatine,” a powerful poison that leads to respiratory arrest in 15-20 minutes and could also cause a heart attack. An investigation into the suspicious death of the former president began earlier this year after a number of witnesses spoke of unusual circumstances on the day of the death of the then-president, who was reported to have suffered a heart attack. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office recently issued a warrant to exhume the remains of the president for toxicological testing. Among poisonous substances which were found Özal’s remains, there were DDT (dikloro difenol trikloroethan), which is used in killing insects and was forbidden in Turkey in 1980, DDE, which causes huge damage to liver after absorbed by body. Experts noticed that the poison which never ceases to exist in the nature and human body, was present at Özal’s body 10 times more than the normal level it should have been. Experts detected existence of Cadmium (Cd), a chemical element, in his body. Additionally experts also detected radioactive elements in remains of the former president. Americium, transuranic radioactive chemical element and Polonium, were detected in Özal’s remains. According to experts, former president’s body was weakened with Americium and Polonium in the long run and with use of DDT the process of his death was accelerated. The DDT might have been injected to Özal’s body with some drinks or food, experts pointed out. Experts are now investigating what kind of food the former president had consumed in his meal during his last days. Özal, the eighth president of the Turkish Republic, died of heart failure in April of 1993 at an Ankara hospital at the age of 65 while serving in office. Prosecutors decided in September that Özal's remains should be exhumed and an autopsy performed after a state supervisory board, acting on the orders of President Abdullah Gül, released a report in June that voiced suspicions about the death. The report was ordered in response to the suspicions of Özal's family and friends over the cause of his death and the conduct of the subsequent investigation.