ANNIVERSARY OF ANKARA BOMBINGS

Lawyers scrutinize authorities' neglect in Ankara Massacre trial

In a statement marking the seventh anniversary of the bombings that killed 104 people, a commission of lawyers addressed multiple points about the case that have not yet been shed light on.

İstanbul

Lawyers scrutinize authorities' neglect in Ankara Massacre trial

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Today marks the seventh anniversary of the deadliest bomb attack in Türkiye's modern history.

On October 6, 2015, at 10:04, the attack unfolded just outside the Railway Station in the capital city of Ankara. Two ISIS militants detonated their vests during the "Labor, Peace, and Democracy Rally" three weeks before the parliamentary elections.

The explosions killed 104 people and injured hundreds. The rally was organized by several unions, associations and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) against the urban conflict that had been going on in the country's predominantly Kurdish regions for months.

While nine ISIS members have been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for having orchestrated the attack, the discontent about the trial remains as plaintiff lawyers say it has not shed light on public officials' neglect that led to the massacre.

"Concealing the real perpetrators"

Releasing a statement to mark the anniversary of the massacre, the Lawyers Commission of the October 10 Ankara Massacre Trial said, "It wouldn't be wrong to define this process, which has been going on for seven years, as a process to conceal the real perpetrators, those who had a role in the massacre, and those who instigated the massacre, despite our efforts for the real perpetrators to be revealed."

"We call on everyone who is aware of how important and necessary the unravelment of the October 10 massacre is for a democratic Türkiye, to stand up for our cause and support our struggle with the same determination from now on. We know the perpetrators; we are after the murderers," it said.

Earlier this year, the Ankara 15th Administrative Court ruled that the state had been at fault in the massacre, in a lawsuit filed by Abdül Kadir Ünlü, who was wounded in the bombing.

It concluded that the Ministry of Interior had not acted on intelligence it had received from multiple departments regarding ISIS preparations for the attack. This was the first time that a judicial decision stated that the state was considered negligent.

What is missing in the case?

In today's statement, the lawyers addressed multiple points that have not yet been resolved:

● The organization and activities of ISIS have been known by the police since 2012, meaning that one's who carried out the massacre were not secret militants.

● Intelligence reports clearly indicated that there might be a suicide bomb attack on gatherings such as rallies just before the massacre, but the Ankara Police did not take this intelligence into account.

● Nusret Yılmaz, one of the perpetrators of the massacre who is still a fugitive and sought with a red notice, was extradited to Türkiye twice and was released from detention both times.

● Yunus Durmaz, who organized the ISIS attacks in Türkiye in 2015, was not nabbed even though there is an arrest warrant against him and his location and phone were detected.

● Ahmet Güneş, a defendant, was released and fled to Syria even though footage showing the execution of a prisoner was found on him.

● The authorities turned a blind eye to the associations used by ISIS to train militants despite being aware of their activities

● Women who had stayed in conflict zones with their ISIS member spouses for years, received salaries from ISIS and had been involved in training activities of the organization.

● An ISIS member codenamed Abu Zaynab was not included in the case despite giving the order for the Ankara Massacre.

● No action was taken against Yakub Şahin despite a report to the police 10 days before the massacre that he had obtained materials to make a bomb, the documents regarding the report were removed from the case file, and, therefore, the evidence was hidden from the court.

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 the incident, a total of 104 people and two attackers lost their lives.

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

The scene of the incident was not placed under protection and crime scene investigation teams and prosecutors did not come to the scene immediately. The teams arrived after about one and a half hours and deputy public prosecutor after two and a half hours.

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

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

On August 3, 2018, the Ankara 4th Heavy Penal Court handed an aggravated life sentence for "violating the constitutional order" and 100 aggravated life sentences for "wilful murder" to nine defendants. They were also sentenced to 10,557 years in prison each for "attempted murder" (Abdulmubtalip Demir, Talha Güneş, Metin Akaltın, Yakup Şahin, Hakan Şahin, İbrahim Halil Alçay, Resul Demir, Hüseyin Tunç and Hacı Ali Durmaz). The trial of the fugitive defendants is continuing as their cases were separated.

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/WM/VK)