Following the investigation of Baver Şeyhanoğulları (18) and Süleyman Kale (19) who lost their lives in the Kobanê protests in Diyarbakır, Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch Legal Commission, Att. Ercan Yılmaz evaluated the investigations opened for those who lost their lives in the protests.

 

Stating that six years have passed since the protests and there was only a few investigations into the deaths of a few people who died in the protests, Attorney Yılmaz said the most 'popular' of these files are into the deaths of Yasin Börü, Ahmet Dakak, Riyat Güneş and Hasan Gökguz. 

 

Stating that some defendants were punished and some were acquitted, and the investigation was not a very healthy one, Attorney Yılmaz said: "Because it was revealed that one of the defendants who stayed a long time in prison turned out to be at his mandatory military service at the time and one was in prison."

 

'PROSECUTOR DIDN'T WORK HARD ENOUGH'

 

Explaining that Baver Şeyhanoğulları was killed on October 6 and Süleyman Kale has lost his life as a result of gun fires and knives on October 7, which they applied to the prosecutor's office for an investigation to he launched into their deaths, shared the information on these files, "When their families applied to us for the both men, we started investigating. The prosecutor didn't work hard enough to shed a light on these deaths. As a matter of fact, there is a permanent warrant against Süleyman Kale at the moment. There is no intelligence work done on the case or any surveillence video, or any action taken by the prosecutor so far."

 

'THEY ARE NOT LOOKING FOR THE REAL PERPETRATORS'

 

Attorney Yılmaz stated that in cases like these, that aroused indignation in the society, the prosecutor often carry out the investigation through the suspects in hand, rather than finding the real perpetrators. Stating that this approach leads to unhealthy trials, Attorney Yılmaz gave the example of the murder of two police officers in Urfa, Ceylanpınar that was eventually made a reason to terminate the solution process. Many people were targeted at that time, the press lied about them being killed in their sleeps, those arrested were in prison for a long time but eventually they were all acquitted and we still don't know who killed those police officers. It is the same with the Kobané protests. People who have nothing to do with Yasin Börü's murder were arrested. This is what I was talking about when I told the trial period was not healthy. The material facts are not being investigated in all its details. And the end, like in the Kobané protests, there are no real perpatrators even though 6 years have passed.

 

Underlining that the sensitivity for the Yasin Börü file should be displayed for the cases of the deaths of the remaining 50 people, Attorney Yılmaz asked, why the remaining deaths weren't investigated.

 

SİİRT DURING THE PROTESTS

 

Davut Nas (19), Kamil Taş (28), Kurtalan ilçesinde ise Mehdi Erdoğan (35) Mehmet Zakir Çal (39), baba ve oğul olan Necmettin Çelik (45) ile Yusuf Çelik (17) was killed and more than 150 people were injured in the protests in Siirt.

 

Serdar Batur, Spokesperson of Siirt Democracy Platform and Head of Eğitim-Sen Branch of the period, explained the efforts they made in that period to prevent the events in the city from growing.

 

BATUR: WE TOLD THE POLICE WHO FIRED THEIR GUNS THAT WE WERE THERE ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNORATE

 

Stating that they went to the neighborhood to calm the people down and tell them that there was a curfew declared by the governorate, Batur said they were attacked by the police doing that. Batur said: "While we were talking to the people, the police kept attacking us. Our lives were in danger in the cross fire. We told the police that we had permission from the governor and we were there on behalf of the governorate but they kept attacking and those who killed the people that day unfortunately have never been punished for it."

 

İHD Siirt Chair and journalist Zana Aksu said they reported all the violations of the right in the city back then. 

 

Stating that the most concrete evidence into the case of Kobané protests are in the files of the 3 people killed in Kurtalan, Aksu said: "People from the family of the AKP's Kurtalan Municipality President Nevzat Karatay and his bodyguards opened fire with long-barreled guns on the public. Three people were killed and many were injured as a result of the fire. We have all the images, recordings and evidences are there in our file in İHD Headquarters. The prosecutor of the time told that they were going to investigate. Then the file was sent to Ankara for security reasons and eventually closed."

 

Stating that the impunity continues despite the passing six years, Aksu said: "We prepared a report as the İHD. If those reports were taken into consideration, the whole thing would be cracked open. But the government did not want it to be cracked open. And the reason for it was that they were going to use it against HDP and non- governmental organizations in the future. And when we look at the current developments, we see that they were.

 

 

MA / Aydın Atay - Metin Yoksu