No Significant Progress in Murder Case of Ahmet Yıldız

The Istanbul Üsküdar 1^st High Criminal Court decided to continue the search for Yahya Yıldız, father of killed university student Ahmet Yıldız and prime suspect of his son's murder case. Yahya Yıldız stands accused of having killed his son because of his being homosexual.

The case was continued yesterday (1 April) at the Bağlarbaşı Courthouse in Istanbul. The court took the statement of İbrahim Can, Ahmet Yıldız's boyfriend. Can testified as a witness and stated, "After Ahmet's family had learned about his homosexuality, they cracked the code of his computer and got hold of his pictures".

No entry to the courtroom on "directive of president judge"

Many people came to seek justice for murdered Yıldız. The crowd was not allowed into the courthouse though by the mere reason of a "directive of the court president".

The Istanbul LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transsexual) Formation, Women's Gate and the Workers Movement Party (EHP) had requested to become involved as joint plaintiffs, claiming that they had been harmed by the crime. However, the court declined the request as it did with the same demand of Lambda Istanbul (an LGBT organization advocating for LGBT people's human rights) in the previous hearing.

Search for father and gallery owner

Lawyer Osman Yayla from the Istanbul Bar Association was appointed for the legal defence of fugitive Yahya Yıldız. He said he had no requests to make since he had not been able to study the file yet. Witness Orhan Aymelek, alleged owner of the car rental the vehicle used for the murder was hired from, could not be found yet and thus did not appear at the hearing.

President Judge Burhan Karaloğlu decided to launch an investigation into the whereabouts of Aymelek. The case will be continued on 30 June.

Ahmet Yıldız was shot in front of a café in Üsküdar on Istanbul's Anatolian side on 15 July 2008. After the murder, it emerged that Yıldız had complained about his family because of "threats", but authorities had not taken any action. Yıldız's family had not taken his body from the morgue for weeks. Eventually, he was buried anonymously.

Can: Ahmet aracında vuruldu

Yıldız's boyfriend Can described what happened on the day of the murder as follows:

"Ahmet was studying at home. I was at home too. The windows were open. I heard the shots. When Ahmet was not at home before, the door bell rang but nobody came in. When I heard the gun shots, I had a look out of the window and I thought the car driving away was a taxi. Ahmet was shot in his car. Then he tried to run the engine. He moved the car and hit the car behind. When he changed the gear and went forward, the car got out of my sight. When I went downstairs I saw that the car which had been standing behind was gone. The car driven by Ahmet had hit the wall of the pharmacy and stopped there. Ahmet looked into my face and died right there".

LGBTT Istanbul, Women's Gate and EHP announced in a joint statement that they are going to follow the case up. The statement was made with Kaos GL, Lambda Istanbul, the Socialist Feminist Collective (SFK) and members of the Istanbul organization of Amnesty International in attendance.

"Discrimination, hatred and homophobia must stop"

Can urged Yıldız's father to surrender to the police. He demanded to stop discrimination, hatred and homophobia and to secure the lives of homosexuals. "The law and the media should not protect murderers", Can stated. (EÖ/VK)