Lice Massacre Witness: ‘We Will Burn Down Lice Today’, Soldier Says

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Today’s hearing of the Lice trial in regards of the massacre which took place in Lice district of Diyarbakır province 22 years ago where 16 persons had lost their lives, was held in the absence of retired Colonel Albay Eşref Hatipoğlu in İzmir 1st High Criminal Court.

In his statement to bianet, Attorney Yunus Muratakan has noted that the court has ordered the attendance of suspect in the next hearing which will be held on March 16, 2016.

First hearing without Tahir Elçi

The hearing has been held for the first time without the presence of Tahir Elçi, who had strived for clarifying the massacre as an attorney of the victims. Colleagues and relatives of Tahir Elçi have attended the hearing with photographs of Elçi on their collars.

A photograph has also been placed on his vacant position on the defendant’s sidebar. The Chief Judge has opened the hearing with offering condolence to the attorneys. Attorneys of the victims have read Elçi’s defence text from the last hearing.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Vice Chairperson Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Vice Co-Chair Meral Danış Bektaş and “Lice Seeks for Justice Platform” have followed the hearing.

Witness: “Rockets launched by troops at schools”

Mahmut Cantekin; then teacher at the Demir Çelik Elementary School has been heard as a witness.

“As our school garden is located a bit higher, we could look down upon the troop command easily. On the day of the incident, we left home with my three daughters at 8 a.m. We dropped one of my daughters at school, my elder daughter went to high school and the younger one came with me as a guest.

“We walked around in the school garden. All the soldiers were joking around each other, there was nothing.

“While leaving after the first class, artillery shootings have been launched. Artillery shootings used to happen all the time but only heading to the direction of the mountains. As I asked the janitor, I saw that the shooting were headed to the district, downside. I called out other teacher colleagues.

“We couldn’t see anything when we looked at the direction where the artillery shooting originated. I wanted to send one of my students to my home to catch my binoculars.

“On the way out, a soldier had stopped a student and said ‘Son, we will burn down Lice today, go, tell your teacher’. I couldn’t believe what I heard when my student came back.

“First panzers and commandos launched fire, then the troops. We brought the students and the teachers to somewhere sheltered.

“Looking out of the window I could see the soldiers wandering around normally. If there was an armed conflict, how could the soldiers wander around like that?

“A soldier who saw me looking out of the window, shot at me, just in time I lay flat and survived. I saw some buildings in around were on fire.

“A rocket had been launched from the troops at the school. We stayed stuck in for hours. I gave cube sugar to the students who got hungary.

“The fire was ceased around 4 p.m. At that time we changed to the high school building. From the third floor of the building we could see the shops burned down and plundered.

“We were stuck in the school till the morning hours of the next day. I took the risk of death and took my two children and ran home hiding.

”With unstitched epaulettes, military officers and soldiers were passing through the streets, burning down the houses. They also came down to my house, when I told them that I was a teacher and from Mersin, they made a search and left.

“There was a terror there, people have been burned alive. Hüseyin, one of my students and his sibling have been killed in the incidents. I still feel guilty for not being able to protect him.”

“The victims are coming from a 1,500-km distance”

Attorney Yunus Muratakan has shown his reaction regarding the suspect not attending the hearing expressing “Let your panel of judges make a decision regarding the suspect already. Is this suspect going to be brought here?”

“People come a 1,500-km long way, with the hope of facing the suspect here. We have hundreds of questions, what should we do, bring a life-size model and ask it?

In their interlocutory judgement, İzmir 1th High Criminal Court’s Panel of Judges have ruled for the attendance of the suspect Hatipoğlu in the next hearing. (AS/DG)

What had happened?

On October 22, 1993 16 persons had been killed and a vast number of houses and workplaces had been burned down In Lice District of Diyarbakır. Hundreds of people had been forced to immigrate. Also Brigadier General Bahtiyar Aydın was also among the dead.
The indictment concerning the massacre had been approved one day before the end of period of limitation, the trial launched 21 years later on January 16. According to the indictment, the attack was not carried out by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on contrary to how it had been announced by then authorities.

The suspect of the incident; then Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment Commander retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu and Lieutenant Tünay Yanardağ have been put in trial with charges of "willful murder", "inciting people to riot and murdering each other" and "creating a criminal organization for the purpose of engaging in criminal activity", requiring an "aggravated life imprisonment and imprisonment up to 24 years". The suspects are being tried without arrest.

The trial has been transferred from Diyarbakır to Eskişehir and then back to Diyarbakır where it has been brought to İzmir due to the absence of a High Criminal Court with competence on the basis of Article 19 of the Anti-terror Law. On June 13, 2014 the trial was paused.

Following abolishing courts with special competences, İzmir 1st High Criminal Court has paused the trial on the grounds of its decision that judging the suspects would require an authorization.

Yet according to High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) Law, the highest-ranking police chiefs are subject to judge's and prosecutor's judgements. But the court has decided that an authorization of then Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment Commander retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu and other suspects would be required and has paused the trial on the basis of the Memorandum No. 17 of the HSYK.

In its decision, HSYK 3rd Department has acknowledged the attorneys to be right and has reversed the judgement of pausing the trial and has ruled the trial to be proceeded on İzmir 1st High Criminal Court.

The suspect Tünay Yanardağ lost his life in August 2015 and the only remaining suspect of the trial is Hatipoğlu.

* Photograph: Relatives of those who have been murdered in the Lice massacre have visited the murdered Diyarbakır Bar President and Lice Trial Attorney Tahir Elçi's office before heading for the hearing and have commemorated him.