Court of Cassation prosecutors seek overturn of sentences in 2015 Ankara Massacre case

Some 103 people lost their lives in the ISIS bombings during the "Peace Rally" in Ankara in October 2015.

İstanbul

Court of Cassation prosecutors seek overturn of sentences in 2015 Ankara Massacre case

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has requested the overturn of prison sentences for two defendants in the case concerning the suicide bombings in Ankara on October 10, 2015.

The 18-year prison sentence for Erman Ekinci was longer than what should be and Yakup Yıldırım, who was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison, should be acquitted, the Prosecutor's Office said in a letter of notification.

Some 103 people lost their lives and hundreds were wounded in the bombings targeting the "Peace Rally" organized by trade unions and professional organizations.

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).

Only some of the ISIS members responsible for the massacre stood trial while the responsibility of public officials and the state was covered up and crimes against humanity were ignored. The trial of the fugitive defendants is continuing as their cases were separated.

The main case was brought to the Court of Cassation after the appeals court upheld the judgment.

CLICK - Lawyers apply for trial of public officials responsible for 2015 Ankara bombings

"Not harmed" by the massacre

In the letter of notification, the prosecutor's office alleged that the following organizations, which organized the rally and whose request to intervene in the trial were previously approved, did not have the right to intervention because they were not harmed by the massacre: The Turkish Medical Association (TTB), the Confederation of Public Employees' Unions (KESK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), the United Transport Workers Union (BTS), Office Laborers' Union (BES), Halkevleri, the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the October 10 Peace and Solidarity Association.

The October 10 Ankara Massacre Case Attorneys' Commission said, "The letter of notification, with its current form, clearly shows the judicial organs' point of view towards the massacre," daily Evrensel reported.

"In the examination it carried out on more than 200 case files, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of The Court of Cassation focused on only two issues at the end: First, those who were aggrieved should not pursue this case and second, ISIS members should not be punished too much!" said the attorneys.

Noting that the letter of notification was prepared very rapidly and all demands, even the demand for an appeal, were ignored, the attorneys stated that there were hundreds of pages of petitions for evidence collection, the extension of prosecution and for the revelation of those who were really responsible for the massacre.

"As we have said since the beginning, the October 10 Ankara Massacre happened because those who should prevent this didn't perform their duties while the massacre was in the making from the borders to Gaziantep, from Adıyaman to Ankara.

"In the subsequent trial process, investigation prosecutors suppressed some evidence to prevent the revelation of those who are really responsible for the massacre. Very important evidence was not collected and many points regarding the massacre were left in the dark."

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 incident, a total of 103 people and two attackers lost their lives.

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

The scene of incident was not placed under protection, crime scene investigation teams and prosecutors did not come to the scene immediately. The teams arrived after 1.5 hours and deputy public prosecutor after 2.5 hours.

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

It was stated in the indictment that it was the same people who organized the Suruç attack, which killed 33 people. 14 suspects including Balı face from 5,083 to 7,820 years in prison on charges of "attempted murder for multiple times" and "attempting to annihilate constitutional order". The trial started on November 7, 2016.

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/VK)