Lawyers demand that Ahmet Davutoğlu be heard at Tahir Elçi murder case

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Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Future Party Chair and the then Prime Minister from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), visited Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır at the weekend.

Speaking in Diyarbakır, Davutoğlu also mentioned the assassination of Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi:

"One of the incidents that hurt my heart in that period was the massacre of Tahir Elçi. I am of the opinion that he fell victim to a political assassination. I had met him on several occasions. Tahir Elçi was a cultured person who would openly say his thoughts and earn the praise of us all."

After Davutoğlu made these remarks, the 23 lawyers of the Elçi family have submitted a joint petition to the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court and demanded that Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was the Prime Minister at the time, be heard as a witness in the trial over Tahir Elçi murder.

Tahir Elçi, the then Diyarbakır Bar Chair, was murdered while making a statement in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015.

'First time that such a statement is made'

As reported by BBC Türkçe, the petition of the lawyers has indicated that while Ahmet Davutoğlu had made several statements about the issue right after the murder and in the following periods, it is the first time that Davutoğlu has made such a statement of "Tahir Elçi fell victim to a political assassination", which is not based on comments or beliefs.

The lawyers have recalled that Davutoğlu - as the Prime Minister of the time - had been informed about the incident by the Justice Ministry, Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Security and Gendarmerie Intelligence on the day of the murder and during the investigation.

Accordingly, the lawyers have noted that "it is highly likely that Davutoğlu's statement is based on real information or witnessing."

"Considering his position and status at the time of the murder and his ease of accessing information, it cannot be ruled out that the statements of the witness may be effective statements that would effect the result of the file," the lawyers' joint petition has underlined further.

What did Türkan Elçi say?

Making a statement on her Twitter account about the statement of Ahmet Davutoğlu, Türkan Elçi, the spouse of late Tahir Elçi, has said:

If this is a conclusion that has been drawn as a result of a heart-searching, we will wait for what will come next; but if is the start of a policy aimed at receiving Kurdish votes, we watched similar films so many times before and they all ended in disappointment. I hope that they will not make us watch the same films again.

First statements of Ahmet Davutoğlu

In his statement as the Prime Minister on the day of the Tahir Elçi murder, Ahmet Davutoğlu said that there were two possibilities, namely an assassination against Elçi or Elçi being caught in a conflict:

"It might be a planned assassination against Tahir Elçi. The target is obvious, the target is Turkey. There have been no unidentified murders in our period, there will not be any. The administrative investigation will be carried out quickly and it will be shared with the public."

Indictment after 4 years, 5 months

The indictment was lodged by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on March 26, 2020 and accepted by the 10th Heavy Penal Court on April 3, 2020. The trial over Tahir Elçi murder began on October 21, 2020 and three hearings have been held since then.

There are four suspects in the file, four of whom are police officers. Police officers S.T., M.S. and F.T. face the charges of "causing death by culpable negligence" as per the Article 85/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The indictment demands 2 to 6 years in prison for the officers.

The court has rejected the requests for their arrest.

Uğur Yakışır, the other suspect, also faces the charges of "wilful killing, killing with eventual intent, opposition to Law no. 6136 on Firearms and Knives, disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country, damaging property." The indictment demands an aggravated life sentence for Uğur Yakışır, who is also accused of murdering police officers Cengiz Erdur and Ahmet Çiftaslan, who were killed on the same day as Tahir Elçi.

What happened?

Tahir Elçi attended a live TV program on CNN Türk hosted by Ahmet Hakan on October 15, 2015. Elçi said, "The PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] is not a terrorist organization." While the channel was fined 700 thousand lira over these words, Tahir Elçi was detained in his office in Diyarbakır Bar Association and taken to İstanbul on November 20.

While the prosecutor's office referred Elçi to court with a request for his arrest, the Bakırköy 2nd Heavy Penal Court released him on probation. A bill of indictment was brought against Elçi on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization." Elçi faced up to 7.5 years in prison.

Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi was murdered while making a statement for the press in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Sur, Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015. (KÖ/SD)