Police officer who shot Kemal Kurkut to death not arrested again

* Photo: Abdurrahman Gök

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The first hearing of the retrial over the killing of 23-year-old university student Kemal Kurkut, who was shot to death by police during the Newroz celebrations in Turkey's Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province in 2017, began at the Diyarbakır 7th High Criminal Court today (March 22).

As reported by Failli Belli social media account, the court board has ruled that the disciplinary investigation file shall be requested from the Provincial Disciplinary Board, the police officers who bore witnesses shall be heard again and the requests for arresting the defendant shall be rejected. The next hearing of the case will be held on September 15, 2022.

Appeals court: Murder within 'legal frame'

Upon the appeal of the opposing party, the 1st Penal Chamber of the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice, the appeals court, has recently overturned the ruling of acquittal handed down for defendant police officer Y.Ş. by the local court, the Diyarbakır 7th High Criminal Court.

Discussing whether the killing of Kemal Kurkut was "within legal boundaries or not", the appeals court has concluded that the failure of the local court to base the acquittal on this consideration posed a deficiency on procedural grounds and overturned the related local court ruling.

The Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeals, has said that "no offense can be attributed to the police officer on trial" and concluded that the murder was committed "within legal framework".

Expert: No conditions for using force

As reported by Ömer Çelik from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), upon the request of the Kurkut family, Dr. Timuçin Köprülü prepared an expert report on the matter. The report has concluded that the state has not fulfilled its obligation to conduct an effective investigation into the murder.

Examining the appeals court ruling, the report has referred to the conviction that the conditions for using force did not arise and noted that the related conviction was also cited in the report prepared by the Interior Ministry's Chief Inspector's Office. The report has added:

"On the other side, even when it is acknowledged that the conditions for using force and weapons arose, the victim, who left his bag at the checkpoint, apparently did not have or carry an explosive device, was bare chested and held nothing other than a knife against his own chest in his hand, could have been caught at the scene of the incident, where there were dozens of police officers and vehicles of intervention such as anti-riot water cannon vehicles and armored vehicles, with other material methods of force cited in the Article 16 of the PVSK Law such as spraying gas and water or throwing a bludgeon to the victim's legs to make him fall..."

The report has noted that while such different methods of intervention were available, they were not used and shots were fired at Kemal Kurkut. Citing the relevant Constitutional Court rulings, the report has indicated that the elements of proportionality, use as a last resort and the condition of being absolutely necessary were not the case in the given incident.

The expert report has also drawn attention to the failure to hold an on-site examination and the copy-pasted police statements.

What happened?

Kemal Kurkut was shot dead by the police at the security checkpoint on Evrim Alataş street near Newroz Park in Diyarbakır on March 21, 2017.

In the photos taken at the incident time, Kurkut was seen bare-chested quarreling with police at the checkpoint and starting to run passing through the checkpoint. Some police officers fired in the air, some fired on him.

Dihaber reported that Kemal Kurkut was shot despite a police chief ordering "Don't shoot". Diyarbakır Governor's Office declared that Kurkut had a knife in his hand, he was "suspected to be a suicide attacker", and an investigation was launched into the incident.

Put on trial for killing Kemal Kurkut "with eventual intent", police officer Y.Ş. has been acquitted by the court. In the hearing of the lawsuit held at the Diyarbakır 7th Heavy Penal Court on November 17, 2021, the court ruled that police officer Y.Ş. should be acquitted and criminal complaints should be filed against 72 police officers to identify the possible suspects.

An appeals court has also overturned a ruling that the Ministry of Interior should pay compensation to the family of Kemal Kurkut.

Born in Adıyaman, Kemal Kurkut was a student at the İnönü University Fine Arts Faculty Department of Music. His funeral was held on March 22 in Battalgazi district of Malatya province. (AS/SD)