Anniversary of Suruç Massacre: 'Perpetrators have not been brought to justice'
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
Today marks the 8th anniversary of the Suruç Massacre, where 33 people lost their lives and more than 100 others were injured in a suicide bombing in Suruç, Urfa.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) releases a statement to commemorate the losses.
"On July 20, 2015, about 300 socialist youths, members of the SGDF [Federation of Socialist Youth Associations] gathered at the Amara Cultural Center in Suruç, Urfa. They were holding a press release when they were suddenly targeted by a suicide bomb attack. Thirty-three young people lost their lives, and dozens were injured. This bombing, which exclusively targeted civilians, is undoubtedly a crime against humanity.
"It should never be forgotten that about one and a half months before this attack, on June 5, another attack targeted an HDP rally in Diyarbakır, and many of our people were killed in this attack carried out by paramilitary groups.
"Over the past 10 years, the state has taken significant security measures under the pretext of public order and has banned all activities that civil society could use to express itself. It is extremely troubling that the state did not take sufficient security precautions against such attacks."
"The state is responsible"
"The state is the main responsible party for this massacre as it failed to take sufficient security measures. Moreover, the perpetrators of this massacre have not been truly revealed and brought to justice.
"The strongest suspect behind the mass killing attack in Suruç, Urfa, is the religious extremist mercenary group named ISIS. The fact that a border town like Suruç, located next to the Mürşitpınar border crossing, was subjected to an attack under intense security measures indicates that there are ongoing relations between some groups in Turkey and ISIS.
"As human rights defenders, we have been criticizing Turkey's Syria policy from the very beginning. Unfortunately, Turkey's policy has continuously provided a fertile ground for ISIS's inhumane attacks and the Republic of Turkey, unfortunately, captured the Jarablus city between the Rojava cantons of Afrin and Kobanî, and led to a very dangerous organization there.
"The fact that socialist youths of Turkey, showing an example of international solidarity by wanting to travel to the Rojava canton to assist and support the children there, were brutally murdered in a bomb attack by ISIS is a crime against humanity. Therefore, the true identities of the perpetrators and their supporters must be exposed, and they must be punished accordingly. As human rights defenders, we will continue our struggle relentlessly on this path."
The bombing and the trialUpon the call of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), around 300 young people came together in Suruç in Turkey's southeastern province of Urfa on July 20, 2015. They were there to bring toys and humanitarian aid to the Kurdish town of Kobanî in northern Syria. While they were in front of the Amara Cultural Center for a statement for the press, a suicide bomb attack was carried out. Thirty-three people lost their lives and more than 100 were wounded. ISIS operative Şeyh Abdurrahman Alagöz was identified to have carried out the bomb attack. A confidentiality order was imposed on the file on July 23, 2015 because "the examination of the documents in the file would jeopardize the purpose of the investigation." Filed by the Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office 18 months after the massacre, the indictment demanded that three defendants, one of whom was arrested, be given life sentences aggravated for 104 times each. Yakup Şahin, one of the defendants, was arrested as a suspect. According to the indictment, Deniz Büyükçelebi and İlhami Ballı, the other two defendants, were in Syria. The lawsuit filed into the Suruç Massacre started 21 months after the incident at the Şanlıurfa 5th Heavy Penal Court on May 4, 2017. The only defendant of the case who was not a fugitive did not attend the hearing. In the final hearing of the case filed against the public officials on January 9, 2017, Mehmet Yapalıal, the then district security director of Suruç, was fined 7,500 lira for "neglect of duty and misconduct in office." The court ruled that he shall pay the fine in 12 installments. On October 22, 2021, the only defendant under arrest was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment 34 times, as well as 1,890 years in prison. |
(AÖ/VK)