Constitutional Court petitioned after lack of prosecution for police in 2015 Ankara Massacre

Following the decision of non-prosecution for Ankara Security Directorate personnel concerning the 2015 Ankara Massacre, intervening lawyers have made an application to the Constitutional Court.

Some 108 people were killed and hundreds of others were wounded  in the double suicide bombing carried out by ISIS near the Ankara Train Station during a rally of left-wing political organizations.

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The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued a decision of non-prosecution on February 16, 2023, regarding the investigation file against Ankara Security Directorate personnel for the crimes of "abuse of duty, destroying, concealing, or changing evidence, protecting the guilty." Lawyers intervened against this decision on March 6. After their objections were rejected, they applied to the Constitutional Court last week.

In the appeal petition signed by intervening lawyers Senem Doğanoğlu and İlke Işık, it was noted that the documents related to the notification were found by chance years after the incident:

"It came to light after these 9 folders of documents were sent to the Ankara 4th Heavy Penal Court, which is trying the fugitive defendants of the October 10 Ankara massacre, upon the discovery of some investigation documents in the prosecutor's cabinet who conducted the investigation years after the incident that the documents were concealed by Ankara Security Directorate."

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Fertilizer seller’s report to the police

The petition described the content of the documents as follows:

"Yakub Şahin and Hüseyin Tunç, perpetrators of the October 10 Ankara massacre, went to Nizip to purchase bomb materials. Here, upon the suspicion of a fertilizer seller who reported to the police, their identities were determined by the Nizip Security Directorate. On September 30, 2015, a notification document was issued concerning these individuals, and correspondence was made with the relevant units, requesting an investigation regarding these individuals.

However, no action was taken by the police regarding Yakub Şahin and Hüseyin Tunç, and subsequently, the October 10 Ankara massacre occurred."

Document missing in the investigation file

After the massacre, Nizip Chief Public Prosecutor's Office sent the notification document to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ankara Security Directorate on October 21, 2015.

However, intervening lawyers stated that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ankara Security Directorate did not include this notification document in the investigation file:

"When the indictment and the bill of indictment regarding the October 10 Ankara massacre are examined, it is seen that there is no information or document related to this notification document concerning Yakub Şahin and Hüseyin Tunç, which was issued in Nizip on September 30, 2015. These documents were found years later among the 9 folders of documents that came out of the prosecutor's cabinet who is conducting the investigation into the Ankara massacre."

For this reason, lawyers claimed that the police personnel had committed a crime by concealing evidence.

"Fertilizers were used in the bombs"

The petition stated that the said document was related to "the provision of fertilizer for the production of the bomb to be used in the massacre, which is known to be committed by an ISIS member, Hüseyin Tunç":

"If the notification had been evaluated in accordance with the requirements of the criminal investigation, and the necessary research had been carried out, in other words, if the investigation had not been covered up, the massacre would not have occurred. If these pieces of information and documents related to this notification had entered the October 10 Gar Massacre file, were not concealed, many new defendants would have been added to the case, and the criminal liability of the existing defendants would change."

Statement from the Ankara police

Ankara Security Directorate claimed that they received the notification document from Nizip on October 21, 2015, and they sent all the documents they received to the Prosecutor's Office.

However, intervening lawyers stated that according to Ankara Security Directorate's claim, if the notification document had been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office, it should have been in the indictment, but it was not.

In the appeal petition against the decision of non-prosecution, it was emphasized that the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office assigned the Ankara Security Directorate Anti-Terror Branch personnel who were complained against to investigate. (AS/VK)