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Over 10 years ago, on May 31, 2011, the police attacked a protest demonstration in Artvin's Hopa in the Black Sea region before the rally of the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Affected by the pepper gas, Metin Lokumcu had a heart attack and lost his life at the hospital.
The trial over the death of retired teacher Metin Lokumcu continued with its third hearing at the Trabzon 2nd High Criminal Court today (February 18). The hearing was attended by the family of Metin Lokumcu's family, their lawyers and the lawyers of the defendants.
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs Ahmet Kaya and Ali Öztunç and Left Party's Party Assembly member Alper Taş also followed the hearing.
The court has handed down its interim ruling and ruled that two defendants who do not come to court shall be brought to the hearing by force while it has rejected the requests for hearing Abdullah Aktaş and Mehmet Yüksel at the hearing. The next hearing will be held on April 8.
NOTE: At the second hearing, the-then Security Director of Hopa Fatih Ü. said the real responsible parties were not at the court hall and the one who gave the order was the-then Hopa Sub-Governor.
'The people of Hopa attacked us
Defendant Muhammed U. took the floor first at the hearing today.
Defendant U. briefly said, "While we were on duty in Erzurum province in 2011, they directed us to Artvin's Hopa. An announcement was made to urge the group to disperse. Construction materials were thrown at our friends. The group did not disperse, we intervened against the group. I never drifted away from the group. I did not make any individual gas use. I used a sprinkler. You can use it to sprinkle five or six times. I was given training about gas. Erol Darcan gave us the authority to use gas."
Further in his statement, U. said, "The ones at the warehouse know how much gas is used, I cannot. You spray whatever gas is given to you. You can receive 10. I was not given a rifle. Only model 5 was given."
Referring to late Lokumcu, he said, "I don't remember Metin Lokumcu. There was such a commotion. I did not act with anyone other than my own team. The gas was out at the beginning of the intervention."
Defendant's lawyer requested acquittal
When the presiding judge asked him questions, the defendant answered with expressions of "I don't know" or "I don't remember".
After the defendant's defense, his lawyer took the floor: "If there is an incident of death, a lawsuit is filed against the person who caused it. A lawsuit is not filed against everyone who used gas like here."
The lawyer added, "He did not use gas anyway but a lawsuit was filed against him, too. He came a long way. Exempt him from hearings."
The lawyer demanded the defendant's acquittal.
'Sub-governor gave the order'
Afterwards, retired security director Muhsin A. spoke.
A. did not accept the charges and said:
We went to the Sarp gate to welcome Mr. Prime Minister. They told me, 'You go and take a look at it, too.' When I went to the square and looked around there, I heard that the police officers were making an announcement from the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP building. In the meantime, news of tension came from the hospital. They said, 'Someone has died.' I didn't see Metin Lokumcu, I don't know him. There was apparently a hue and cry of Metin Lokumcu. There was such a storm of stones that we moved away from there. I don't know if there were so many stones in Hopa. They threw stones all the time. But as I was not there when the incidents happened, I don't know, I cannot tell. As far as I know, the order to use gas was given by the sub-governor.
Further in his statement, A. said:
"The death of Metin Lokumcu made me sad. I did not even slap a person all through my 35 years in office. Because they are humans, everyone is a human. Those warnings were apparently made three times. There was a right and law. Wouldn't it have been better if they had dispersed?"
Meriç Eyüboğlu, the lawyer of the family, spoke afterwards. She asked, "Would you answer as the Artvin Security Director at the time of the incident: Is the province or the district responsible for gas use?"
The lawyer of the defendant was unable to give a clear answer to this question. The lawyer said, "My client was not at the scene of the incident. He did not give the order, either. We request his acquittal. We request my client to be exempted from attending the hearings."
'Were stones thrown at the police?'
After the defendants, witnesses made statements. First, Kamil Ustabaş from Hopa took the floor after the recess. He said, "Upon the call of environmental organizations, a press statement was going to be held in Hopa on May 31. Before the hour of the press statement, the police attack began. While people were running around, they were thrown gas bombs."
Noting that "the people who took shelter in shops were also thrown gas bombs", Ustabaş said, "A woman friend of ours was wounded in her head and taken to a hospital. I know teacher Metin in person."
When the judge asked, "Were stones thrown at the police," Ustabaş answered, "No". Lawyer Eyüboğlu asked him, "Would you give information about the gas use?" Ustabaş said, "The entire city was in gas."
When the lawyer of one of the defendants asked the witness, "Do you have another court case against you for [violating the Law no.] 2911 [on Meetings and Demonstrations]", Ustabaş answered, "I am a witness at this court case, I am not a defendant." He said, "I don't know how the police were wounded" when he was asked a question about it by the same lawyer.
Witness Mustafa Özgüven took the floor after Ustabaş. He said, "We wanted to fulfill our civic duty. We wanted to calm down the police. But we could not prevent them. I am lucky, I got out healthy. They threw excessive gas; dozens of people were lying on the ground. Metin Lokumcu might not have been the only one. It was impossible to walk or breathe on the street."
Witness Yalçın Kaptan spoke at the hearing afterwards. "A press statement was going to be held with the aim of expressing our requests. There was a process all of us knew about. We were subjected to an intense violence and gas bombs," said the witness.
The defendant of the lawyer addressed told him, "No intervention is made against a demonstration if it complies with the law. Intervention is made when it does not. Did you know it?" The lawyers of Lokumcu family objected to this question, but the court board did not accept.
Kaptan said that they were very close with teacher Metin and they had their last picture taken. He asked, "Is it a crime to express our requests?"
'Police didn't warn'
Taking the floor afterwards, witness Zeki Yakut said that he has a shop in the place where the incident happened and added:
The Security Chief of the President started the incident. The Security Chief of the President took the pepper gas, he cursed at both the police and people. He did everything to start an incident. He called on the police to 'spray water' on people. The ones who intervened faced a physical intervention and intervention with water. After the news about his death came, police became harsher and people got nervous. Gas was thrown at our elder brother Metin several times as well. Then, the news of his passing case. Police did not make a warning.
Witness Necdet Altunkaya spoke afterwards: "Chaos was created in Hopa on May 31. I don't know why it was done. They even threw gas at the ambulance while it was taking Metin Lokumcu to hospital."
'You will see what will happen to Little Moscow'
Taking the floor afterwards, witness Şenol Çevik said:
"I am an environmentalist. We had decided to go to Hopa that day. The Sub-governor of Hopa also requested our presence at the site. So, we went there early. [...] When I went there, there was an election vehicle at the Hopa square, folk dances were being performed. We met with friends. We looked at the site. Then, a security official said, 'You will see soon what will happen to Little Moscow.' I did not understand.
"There were two banners on a building, they were about the problem of brooks and tea. Police officers rushed and wanted to take them down. They threw intensive gas shortly afterwards. They did not throw only at the site. They threw it at all the tea houses. They also threw it at the hotel by breaking the window. Afterwards, after we had lost teacher Metin, they took me into custody in the evening. I was held in detention for five days.
At the night when we were detained after the incidents, I saw that the name of Metin Lokumcu was also on the list. The name of another friend of ours was also on the list, that friend was in Ankara during the incident. So, apparently, the lists were prepared beforehand.
Lastly, witness Recep Demirci said, "I submitted several empty cases to the prosecutor's office. No investigation has been launched into this."
The Lokumcu family took the floor afterwards and said, "There is nothing to say about the witness statements."
'Defendants should come to court'
Lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu said:
"What the witnesses said has proved what we have been saying for 11 years. With the Prime Minister saying 'May no one stay in the street' in his own works, gas was thrown wherever there were three people.
The footage shows this. That Prime Ministry's Personal Security Chief Mehmet Yüksek took a gun from the waist of a police officer and told the riot police to stand here and there shows us that something special was planned in Hope. And your court shows that there are many more responsible ones to be put on trial.
"Defendants have not come to this trial where lawyers, families, the people of Hopa and people from different cities have come.
"Defendants should come to court. Because witnesses have to recognize them. If we want to obtain the material fact, defendants should appear before the judge. We also understand that an excuse is always being found for the defendants who do not come.
"You may understand it, too. But you have to finalize the case for which we waited for years. Two people have still not testified at your court. They want to testify somewhere else. We don't accept this. We want them to be arrested. If you don't issue an arrest warrant, it is not certain for how many more hearings we will be unable to see these people."
Lawyer Sercan Aran also said that the-then Hopa Governor Abdullah Aktaş should also be put on trial or at least be summoned as a witness.
The court has handed down its interim ruling and ruled that defendants Erol D. and Taner B., who do not come to court, shall be brought to the hearing by force and rejected the requests for hearing Abdullah Aktaş and Mehmet Yüksel. The next hearing will be held on April 8, 2022.
What happened?
Retired teacher Metin Lokumcu lost his life after having a heart attack as he was affected by the pepper gas used by the police and the blows he received during the incidents that occured during and after the rally of the then PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Hopa, Artvin on May 31, 2011.
On the day of the incident, Lokumcu stood in front of the police with his hands behind his back, calling out to the police, "Come on, take me and save the country." This picture was then reported in the press.
70 people were detained as part of the investigation into the incidents and 16 of the detained were arrested. These persons were released afterwards.
Following Lokumcu's death, the then Prime Minister Erdoğan talked about him at the publicity meeting of the "Turkey is Ready, Target is 2023" project in İstanbul. "And, in the meantime, one of them had a heart attack... I don't know his identity... But I don't feel the need to dwell on it... He has died of a heart attack," said Erdoğan about Lokumcu.
Case transferred to high criminal court
Upon the request of the local court in Hopa, the 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation gave a decision on December 21, 2020 and ruled that the trial over the death of Metin Lokumcu should be transferred to the Trabzon Penal Court of First Instance "for security reasons."
In the justification of this decision, the Court of Cassation referred to the "possibility that social incidents and provocation might arise."
The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation transferred the case to Trabzon as it came to the conclusions that "social incidents might erupt and the parties might face serious threats even when security measures were taken, which might lead to a failure to hold the trial in an orderly manner and pose a clear and imminent danger to public security."
At the hearing in June 2021, the Trabzon 2nd Penal Court of First Instance gave a decision of lack of jurisdiction. The police officers who were on trial over the death of Lokumcu appealed against this decision foreseeing the case to be held by a high criminal court. With their appeals rejected, the trial is now held at the Trabzon 2nd High Criminal Court. (EMK/SD)
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