‘3 people massacred in a hospital, no court case filed for 3 years’

* Photo: JinNews

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Şenyaşar family have been demanding justice in front of the Urfa courthouse for 232 days as of today (October 26).

Emine Şenyaşar lost her spouse and two sons in an attack by the security guards and relatives of İbrahim Halil Yıldız from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Urfa. She and her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the attack, have been seeking justice since then.

As reported by JinNews, the family came to the "Şenyaşar Family Justice Corner" in front of the Urfa courthouse in the early morning hours today and started keeping their justice watch on the 232nd day.

'The ruling party protects this MP'

Speaking about their quest for justice, Ferit Şenyaşar said that their struggle has been going on for 8 months, adding that it has been 3.5 years since the incident happened in the Suruç Public Hospital:

"If the judiciary, the prosecutors are not given an instruction, why hasn't any prosecutor launched an investigation for three and a half years for the three people who were massacred in a hospital? Why don't they summon anyone to depose and ask who committed this massacre and why?

They cannot do it because an MP is involved in this murder and as this MP is an MP of the ruling party, no prosecutor can dare to do it. They completely act upon political instruction. The entire Turkey is watching this atrocity.

"The whole world is following our watch in front of the courthouse. We will continue with our struggle until this atrocity ends, the ones who carried out this massacre are caught and my brother, who has been unlawfully held in solitary confinement for three and a half years, is released.

"The ruling party is losing as long as it protects this MP, it is rotting and it is condemned to lose."

'Who killed these three people in hospital?'

In a social media message addressed to President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Court of Cassation, the Justice Ministry and Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the family have asked:

The ones talking about Article 138 of the Constitution should first look at the Şanlıurfa Courthouse, then talk. When perpetrators are pro-government, you openly give instructions to the prosecutor. Who killed these three people in the hospital? Why? Why is no court case filed in 3.5 years?

Article 138 of Turkey's Constitution

Independence of the Courts

(1) Judges shall be independent in the discharge of their duties; they shall give judgment in accordance with the Constitution, laws, and their personal conviction conforming to the law.
(2) No organ, authority, office or individual may give orders or instructions to courts or judges relating to the exercise of judicial power, send them circulars, or make recommendations or suggestions.
(3) No questions shall be asked, debates held, or statements made in the Legislative Assembly relating to the exercise of judicial power concerning a case under trial.
(4) Legislative and executive organs and the administration shall comply with court decisions; these organs and the administration shall neither alter them in any respect, nor delay their execution.

What happened?

During the election campaign of ruling AKP Urfa MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız in Suruç, Urfa on June 14, 2018, an attack turned into an armed conflict, which claimed the lives of Yıldız's brother Mehmet Şah Yıldız, shop owner Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar.

Having lost his father and two brothers and been wounded himself in the incident, Fadıl Şenyaşar was discharged from hospital and detained on June 17. He was then arrested and sent to prison.

Demanding justice for two sons, husband and her arrested son, Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the attack, have been keeping a "justice watch" in front of the courthouse.

There has been a confidentiality order on the file of the investigation into the attack for 3 years, 3 months. The second appeal of the Şenyaşar family against the "confidentiality" order on the investigation into the second attack at the Suruç Public Hospital was rejected on April 21, 2021.

The Constitutional Court, to which the family appealed, has not yet given its decision. One of the demands raised by the family on their justice watch is the removal of this "confidentiality" order. (EMK/SD)