Court Announces its Interlocutory Judgement in Çorlu Train Derailment Case

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The trial of Çorlu train derailment, which claimed the lives of 25 people and wounded 340 others on July 8, 2018, continued with its third hearing at the Çorlu 1st Heavy Penal Court on September 11.

The second hearing of the case was held on September 10. In the third hearing, the court board heard the statements of aggrieved families.

A 600-person court hall was prepared at the Çorlu Public Training Center for the third hearing of the case, as it was also the case yesterday.

In the second hearing, four defendants from the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), namely Turgut Kurt, Özkan Polat, Çetin Yıldırım and Celaleddin Çabuk, presented their statements of defense.

Both Railways Maintenance Manager of the time Turgut and Road Maintenance Chief Polat indicated that "the line maintenance controls are still conducted in the same way as it was done before the accident".

Court pronounced its interlocutory judgement

The Çorlu 1st Heavy Penal Court announced its interlocutory judgement after the second and third hearings of the case on September 10 and 11.

Accordingly, the court has ruled that the requests of the aggrieved parties and plaintiffs for involving in the case shall be accepted, an official letter shall be written to the TCDD to request their organizational chart and their maintenance and repairs works of the past 50 years, an expert investigation shall be conducted, the requests for criminal complaint shall be examined after the evidence is obtained and expert report is reviewed in detail, the judicial control measures on defendant Celaleddin Çabuk shall be lifted.

The next hearing of the case will be held on December 10.

CLICK - Second Hearing in Çorlu Train Derailment Case

'They said there was signalization, but there was not'

The families made the following statements in the third hearing:

Aysun Köse, the mother of Sena Köse:

"If this incident had not happened, we would be dead without coming to court halls. Within the first week, a physician, an officer and an official from the TCDD came. I indicated that road guards were laid off. I asked them whether they could not afford their wages. And the TCDD official told me that as there was signalization now, there was no need for them anymore.

"I made further research on that, it was indicated that signalization would be set up where we were in the beginning of 2020. There was no signalization. I was deceived from the very beginning, I was misdirected. The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) told us that our children had been discharged from hospital. AFAD misinformed me. We could not enter the hospital. I complain about the Ministry of Health. I would have perhaps died of an heart attack. I complain about all institutions."

'What offended us most was that they lied to us'

Gürkan Köse, the father of Sena Köse:

"We want to trust your [court] board. We heard about the accident and went there in an hour. There was no transportation, we went there in torment. We went to Çorlu State Hospital. They said that everyone was alive. What offended us the most was these false news. We waited there till morning. What was said to my wife offended me a lot. They told my wife, 'You are still young.' I complain about everyone from A to Z."

'There were standing passengers on board'

Funda Dikmen, the mother of Yurdagül and Günce Dikmen:

"I was there during the incident. I was on the train. We went to the wedding ceremony in Saturday morning. There were no passenger trains for a long time. They were curious. My big daughter said, 'The train was going fast.'

"We set off, the train got slower near Sarılar, it slowed down in Muratlı. There were several standing passengers on board. There were more people than 360 passengers.

"I complain about the State of Republic of Turkey. I am asking: Are there in these positions because they deserve it or because they greeted [certain people]? I complain about them all."

'I want real justice'

Cabbar Laçin, the father of Yağmur Laçin:

"I heard about it on TV. I was with my brother. They called him. They told him that they had lost Yağmur Laçin and could not find the other one. I fainted at that moment. I was in vegetative state. I don't know what happened. There is huge negligence. It is a murder. The TCDD is an institution of the state. The state is guilty from the top to the bottom. The superiors are the guiltiest.

"I am done. What would you do if your daughter, your child died? I want real justice. An official letter came to me from the TCDD. They told us to come and take our compensation. I would beg before I would accept that money."

'I want the ones at the top'

Ekrem Tuna, the husband of Melet Tuna:

"There were too many dead people, the figure is not 25. We live at God's mercy. They all lie: The Minister of Transportation, Mustafa Karaşahin, Sıddık Binboğa, İsa Apaydın, the Regional Director... They cut the trees, saying that a high-speed train would come. It took eight years. Did it take eight years so that 25 people would lose their lives and 100-150 people would get wounded? I want to see these architects and engineers before me. I have nothing to do with these poor people here. I want the ones at the top."

'They washed my clothes as the minister would come'

Melike Can, the mother of Ömer Alper Can:

"I, my daughter, my mother-in law and my son got on the train in Uzunköprü. My daughter and mother-in-law could get out, my son could not. No one helped us. We were in mud. I was in an unrecognizable state. I stood up because I could not see my children.

"The help came around one and a half hour later. When the medical teams came, they told me, 'Let's inject you a tranquilizer.'

"Doesn't have the state a helicopter that it can send in two hours? They washed [my clothes] as the Minister of Health would come. They made me wear surgical scrubs. I complain."

'Engine drivers called their superiors, not ambulance'

Erkan Duman, the husband of Emel Duman:

"I heard about the incident at around 5.10 p.m. I was at the Çorlu Station. The ambulance and fire brigade teams going before us could not find the scene of incident. The engine drivers informed their superiors instead of informing the ambulance. I arrived in the scene of incident 25 minutes later, at around 5.40 p.m There were no police or gendarmerie officers.

'We know who the real culprits are'

"They kept people away from the scene of incident on purpose because they would start working immediately. Why? So as not to pay money to foreign countries... It is probably because this money is more valuable than our lost lives. People died there in agony. We don't have an emergency action plan. Ambulances and fire engines could not find the scene of incident. We know who the real culprits are."

'TCDD should be here'

Melih Kurtuluş, who lost his wife Derya and daughter Beren:

"I lost my 6-month-old daughter. That the TCDD is not here today, that not such an indictment exists is an utter shame. I don't accept that only four people are tried and the TCDD is kept out of this trial.

"As long as the TCDD is not here, I don't want to say anything to these four people here. The TCDD should be here."

'If real justice had been served in Pamukova massacre, all these would not have happened'

Zeliha Bilgin, the mother of Bihter Bilgin:

"If real justice had been served in Pamukova massacre, Çorlu massacre and the massacre in Ankara would not have happened. I want the Director General of the TCDD. I did not raise them [my children] so that they would die out of negligence. I trust the justice." 

Prosecutor demanded the rejection of bar's intervention request

After the statements of aggrieved families and their attorneys were concluded, the prosecutor expressed his demands.

Accordingly, the prosecutor demanded that the requests of Tekirdağ Bar Association and Directorate General of TCDD Transportation Inc. for intervening in the case be rejected, requests for criminal complaint be discussed after the expert report isw issued, witnesses such as Mümin Karasu, Tevfik Baran and Levent Kaytan be heard, evidence be obtained, judicial control measures be imposed on defendant Turgut Kurt again, judicial control measures on other defendants Çetin Yıldırım and Özkan Polat continue and judicial control measures on defendant Çabuk be removed.

Next hearing on December 10

Announcing its interlocutory judgement, the court board has ruled that the requests of the aggrieved parties and plaintiffs for involving in the case shall be accepted, a writ shall be written to the Çorlu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to request further information on the investigation and on whether a criminal complaint has been filed against experts, an official letter shall be written to the TCDD to request their organizational chart and their maintenance and repairs works of the past 50 years, an expert investigation shall be conducted, the requests for criminal complaint shall be examined after the evidence is obtained and expert report is reviewed in detail, the judicial control measures on defendant Celaleddin Çabuk shall be lifted and the request of Directorate General of TCDD Transportation Inc. for involving in the case shall be rejected.

The next hearing will he held on December 10.

(HA/SD)

* Source: Artı Gerçek news website