2015 Ankara massacre: Lawyers apply for trial of public officials responsible for bombings

No public officials have stood trial for the bombings despite evidence indicating neglect of duty, lawyers say.

İstanbul

2015 Ankara massacre: Lawyers apply for trial of public officials responsible for bombings

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A group of lawyers have filed a criminal complaint demanding the trial of public officials responsible for the 2015 bombings during a rally in the capital city of Ankara, which claimed the lives of 103 people and left hundreds injured.

"Since the beginning of the investigation, we have said that those who carried out this massacre were not only those who stood trial," said the October 10 Ankara Massacre Case Lawyers' Commission. "The murderers carried out massacres so easily because of the public officials who aided, allowed and turned a blind eye to them."

Pointing out that no public officials have stood trial for the massacre so far, the lawyers demanded an investigation for "intentional killing by an act of omission" (Turkish Penal Code article 83), "destruction, concealing or altering evidence (article 281) and "misuse of public duty" (article 257).

The petition of complaint was submitted by the attorneys of the organizations that held the rally, the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB/UCTEA), and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), as well as the families of some of those who were killed and wounded in the bombing.

In the case concerning the bombings, some defendants were handed prison sentences and the trial of the fugitive defendants is continuing.

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The evidence delivered to the courthouse

After submitting the complaint, the lawyers' commission released a statement, noting that nine folders of evidence were left at the prosecutors' floor of the Ankara Courthouse in what it called "a legal scandal."

"The fact that the folders comprise the correspondence of the investigating prosecutors and very important evidence about the investigation and their emergence years after the start of the trial indicate that [the evidence] was deliberately concealed by the investigating prosecutors and not included in the case.

"After it was understood that the investigating prosecutors hid and spoliated evidence, complaints were filed against them to the HSK a while ago.

"The most important evidence in these folders was a document regarding an investigation opened by the Nizip Public Prosecutor's Office, which showed that Yakub Şahin, who escorted the suicide bombers from Antep to Ankara, tried to buy ammonium nitrate, a bomb ingredient, 10 days before the massacre."

The Nizip Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation after a fertilizer retailer in Nizip, Antep, tipped off the police on September 30, 2015, about two people who wanted to buy ammonium nitrate from him.

After the investigation started, Yakub Şahin and Hüseyin Tunç, two people involved in the plot, and the vehicles they used were identified, the lawyers noted.

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"The Nizip Security Directorate on October 2, 2015 (eight days before the massacre) notified the Gaziantep Provincial Security Directorate's Anti-Terror and Intelligence Branches about Yakub Şahin and requested the necessary inquiry be carried out

"However, as understood by the information and documents in the case file, the Gaziantep Security Directorate did not take any action regarding Yakup Şahin.

"Not taking seriously such a tip in a period when ISIS was carrying out bomb attacks one after another and it was known that these actions were being organized from Antep makes one think that the perpetrators of the massacre were deliberately not touched.

"The Gaziantep Security Directorate's lack of action against Yakub Şahin, who had a notice about him and whose identity and actions were known and monitored clearly constitutes a crime.

"Had Yakub Şahin was caught by talking into account this notice, maybe the October 10 Ankara Massacre would not have happened."

The Ankara Massacre

A suicide attack was launched against the Peace Rally in Ulus, Altındağ in the capital city of Ankara at around 10.04 a.m. on October 10, 2015.

While 69 people lost their lives at the scene of incident, a total of 103 people and two attackers lost their lives.

After the bombs exploded, police officers used pepper gas on the wounded and the ones trying to held them. As a result of this intervention, the wounded could not be referred to hospitals quickly and the survivors were also traumatized by this intervention.

The scene of incident was not placed under protection, crime scene investigation teams and prosecutors did not come to the scene immediately. The teams arrived after 1.5 hours and deputy public prosecutor after 2.5 hours.

The indictment concerning the attack was approved on July 13, 2016. The indictment stated that the attack order was given by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) representative to Turkey İlhami Balı.

It was stated in the indictment that it was the same people who organized the Suruç attack, which killed 33 people. 14 suspects including Balı face from 5,083 to 7,820 years in prison on charges of "attempted murder for multiple times" and "attempting to annihilate constitutional order". The trial started on November 7, 2016 and still continues.

The families of the deceased hold a commemoration ceremony on the 10th day of every month in front of the Train Station.

The peace rally participants who lost their lives in the massacre are: Abdülkadir Uyan, Metin Kürklü, Gökhan Akman, Orhan Işıktaş, Gülhan Karlı Elmascan, Yılmaz Elmascan, Nevzat Sayan, Bilgen Parlak, Hacı Kıvrak, Rıdvan Akgül, Rıdvan Akgül, Hacı Mehmet Şah Esin, Gökmen Dalmaç, Elif Kanlıoğlu, Hakan Dursun Akalın, Ercan Adsız, Ayşe Deniz, Berna Koç, Fatma Esen, Gülbahar Aydeniz, Eren Akın, Canberk Bakış, Tayfun Benol, Nizamettin Bağcı, Kasım Otur, Başak Sidar Çevik, Nilgün Çevik, Resul Yanar, Mehmet Ali Kılıç, Tekin Arslan, Sezen Vurmaz, Dilaver Karharman, Onur Tan, Umut Tan, Sarıgül Tüylü, Dilan Sarıkaya, Ali Kitapçı, İsmail Kızılçay, Muhammet Demir, Korkmaz Tedik, Veysel Atılgan, İbrahim Atılgan, Emine Ercan, Kübra Meltem Mollaoğlu, Meryem Bulut, Seyhan Yaylagül, Ebru Mavi, Ali Deniz Uzatmaz, Ziya Saygın, Vahdettin Özgan, Cemal Avşar, Ahmet Katurlu, Selim Örs, Azize Onat, Dicle Deli, Güney Doğan, Binali Korkmaz, Mehmet Zakir Karabulut, Leyla Çiçek, Metin Peşman, Mesut Mak, Adil Gür, Gökhan Gökbönü, Şebnem Yurtman, Osman Turan Bozacı, İdil Güneyi, Abdullah Erol, Mehmet Hayta, Özver Gökhan Arpaçay, Şirin Kılıçalp, Uygar Coşgun, Ahmed Alkhadi, Nurullah Erdoğan, Gözde Arslan, Aycan Kaya, Yunus Delice, Sevgi Öztekin, Mehmet Tevfik Dalgıç, Sevim Şinik, Emin Aydemir, Fatma Karabulut, Ramazan Tunç, Erol Ekici, Feyyat Deniz, Necla Duran, Osman Ervasa, Ramazan Çalışkan, Vedat Erkan, Abdülbari Şenci, Niyazi Büyüksütçü, Gazi Güray, Sabri Elmas, Erhan Avcı, Ümit Seylan, Serdar Ben, Nevzat Özbilgi, Hasan Baykara, Fatma Batur, Bedriye Batur, Ata Önder Atabay, Mustafa Budak, Ağa Bayar.

(AS/VK)