Verdicts of Acquittal Upheld in Ceylanpınar Case

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In the case of the murder of police officers Feyyaz Yumuşak and Okan Acar, which caused the resolution process of the Kurdish problem to end, the court of appeals has upheld the verdicts of acquittal.

Urfa 2nd Heavy Penal Court acquitted all nine defendants on March 1, 2018.

Upon the appeal against the verdict by the prosecutor of the case, an appeal hearing has been held at the Antel Regional Court of Justice.

The court has upheld the verdict of the local court, ruling for the acquittal of all the defendants.

What happened in Ceylanpınar?

On July 22, 2015, in the district of Ceylanpınar in the mostly-Kurdish populated southeastern province of Urfa, police officers Feyyaz Yumuşak and Okan Acar were found dead in the home they live together, being shot in their necks.

The Fırat News Agency reported that the People's Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), claimed the attack.

PKK Executive Committee member Murat Karayılan said, "The killing of two police officers in Ceylanpınar is not an act that was done upon our orders. It is not even an act by an official unit of ours. It is an act that was done by a group who call themselves, 'Self-Sacrificing Apoists.'

One day after the attack, the army of Turkey conducted air raids against PKK targets in northern Iraq.

On July 24 and 24, a police operation was launched against the Islamic State, DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front), PKK, and YDG-H, the youth movement of the PKK.

In August, the military operations called the "trench operations," which mark the end of the resolution process, were launched.

What happened in the trial?

One day after the attack a car with five passengers was stopped and the passengers were brought to a police station. At the same time, the police received a notice that claimed the five people were affiliated with the killings.

In the investigation into the attack, a lawsuit was filed against 13 defendants, seven of them were under arrest. The indictment requested a life sentence for the defendants.

After the court requested the HTS (Historical Traffic Search) data acquired by the phones of the defendants, it was revealed that the anti-terror department of the police destroyed the report it previously prepared without creating a copy of it.

In the process of the trial, identities of the most of the people who notified the police could not be determined.

The notice that caused the seven defendants to be arrested was turned out to be false. The person who allegedly noticed the police said in his statement before the court that somebody registered 10 mobile phone lines using his credentials. He said that he did not the mentioned notification.

One witness said that the killed police officers came home with their friends on the night of the incident.

The presiding judge of the case was arrested upon charges related to the FETÖ (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, the group held responsible for the 2016 coup attempt).

On March 1, 2018, Urfa 2nd Heavy Penal Court acquitted all the defendants. (EKN/VK)