Protest in Mersin University for Berkin Elvan

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Mersin University Communication Faculty students have organized a demonstration to repeat their demands for justice with regards to Berkin Elvan who had been killed by police hit in the head by a gas bomb canister during Gezi protests.   

The students who have gathered in the shopping area located on Çiftlikköy Campus in lunch break have reiterated their demand for justice through a sculpture performance by Barış Akgül.

Laying an emphasis on what had been happening in Kurdish provinces, Communications faculty student Barış Akgül who has carried out the sculpture performance has explained their motivation for the performance as follows:

“Two years have passed since the death of Berkin Elvan. Yet still, the murderers of Berkin Elvan, the perpetrators of the incident of are pacing around freely. Maybe the ones who are responsible for the massacres in Kurdish provinces are the same ones, same mindset which has shot Berkin Elvan. Today, we have tried to make such a theatrical performance to commemorate Berkin Elvan.

“The students have connoted that the police who have shot Berkin Elvan were being protected by the AKP (Justice and Development Party) Government”.

The protest has ended with applause from the students and slogans.

What had happened?

On June 16, Berkin Elvan has been hospitalized due to grave head injuries after the police intervention in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı district. When he was admitted to the Okmeydanı Research Hospital, his heart has reportedly stopped already.

Suffering from brain hemorrhage, Elvan went through at least five surgeries.

On January 5, Elvan turned 15 in his comatose. He died on Day 269.

While Istanbul Chief Prosecution currently investigated the case, prosecutors allegedly denied to follow charges related to “attempted police killing and torture” - a complaint submitted by Elvan’s family advocates.

On the other hand, the suspected policemen have been charged with “excessive use of their right to exercise force” according to Turkish Penal Code Article 256/1.

“Did Berkin carry items like molotov cocktail, stone or torpedo along with him?” the former prosecutor Adnan Çimen reportedly asked the eyewitnesses. (İUE/BK/DG)