Suspicious death of soldier on Parliamentary agenda

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MP Hüda Kaya has submitted a Parliamentary question regarding the suspicious death of private soldier Caner Sarmaşık, who allegedly committed suicide.

In her Parliamentary question addressed to Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar regarding the death of Sarmaşık during his mandatory military service, Hüda Kaya has indicated that the public does not accept the allegation that the soldier took his own life.

Kaya has shared the following remarks by Orhan Tangel, the Chair of the Sakarya Romani People Association:

"Caner Sarmaşık called his family and said, 'This commander is giving me a really hard time. I don't know what to do.' His family went to the neighborhood head's office and the neighborhood head called the commander. Then, the commander used such remarks as 'Why did you call your family? You complained about us.' He was subjected to such insults as 'pikey, moron' because he was Romani. He called his family again following this talk and said, 'Because I called you, he said to me again, "You will see what I will do to you, I will kill you here, if necessary, I will bury you here and I will not let your family have this honor, this martyrdom".'"

Questions to Minister Akar

HDP's Kaya asked the following questions to Akar:

• It is alleged that Caner Sarmaşık committed suicide. Is this allegation true? Has it been investigated? If it is true, was an autopsy carried out? What is the result of the autopsy?
• Did the friends and commanders of soldier Caner Sarmaşık have the impression that he was suicidal? Were the statements of his friends and commanders taken with regards to this issue?
• Has an investigation been launched into the suicide of soldier Caner Sarmaşık? If yes, what is its current stage?
• How many soldiers have lost their lives at the barracks in the last five years? What is their distribution by ranks and family registers?
• Has your Ministry undertaken any work to prevent the incidents of suicide taking place at the barracks?

'He is left-handed, he cannot shoot himself'

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Özcan Purçu has also spoken to Yaprak Akbaba from daily Cumhuriyet about the issue. He has underlined that Sarmaşık's death is suspicious:

"We have learned that he lost his life with the weapon of another person, we have learned that it is a suspicious death. His family has said that there had been serious pressure on him for the past month. Caner went to İdlib voluntarily. It is a very suspicious situation that a person who made such a statement and said, 'I will die in İdlib with my friends' committed suicide.

"We, as the CHP, will closely follow up this incident. We will struggle for the judicial process. This man went there, risking his life, died there for the security of this country and he is not recognized as a martyr. His family says, 'Rehabilitate my son's honor, my son was martyred.' He was sent here in a coffin without a flag around it, he is not even recognized as a martyr.

"I think that it is a suspicious death. While keeping watch, he died with a bullet fired from another weapon, not from his own. He is left-handed, he cannot shoot himself in the heart. Why would he commit suicide with the weapon of another person if he had not been psychologcially well?"

Ministry said it was 'suicide'

In a statement by the Ministry of National Defense on May 3, it was announced that infantry Caner Sarmaşık, who was on duty at the 1st Commando Brigade Command, committed suicide while keeping watch, adding that a legal and administration investigation was launched.

The statement of the Ministry also referred to the news about the allegations that "infantry Sarmaşık's death was not a suicide, but a suspicious death." The Ministry said that the results of the judicial and administrative investigation would be shared with the public.

On the other side, Romani people in Kocaeli and Sakarya provinces have protested the suspicious death of Sarmaşık. (EKN/SD)