Although the early 1990s were a period of great violence in Turkey due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, 1993 saw a series of suspicious deaths: of President Turgut Özal, leading military figures, and journalists.
Fikri Sağlar, a former member of the parliamentary commission which investigated the Susurluk scandal which first began to shed light on the Turkish deep state, is one who has made such claims, describing "a covert military coup".
In the early 1990s, President Turgut Özal agreed to negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the events of the 1991 Gulf War having changed some of the geopolitical dynamics in the region.
[3] Under the new Presidency of Süleyman Demirel and Premiership of Tansu Çiller, the Castle Plan (to use any and all means to solve the Kurdish question using violence), which Özal had opposed, was enacted, and the peace process abandoned.
Former General Levent Ersöz, who was head of JITEM and is considered a key suspect in the Ergenekon trials, was charged in 2013 with having had a role in the 1993 death of President Turgut Özal.