‘There are paramilitary forces behind the Konya massacre,’ says lawyer

Click to read the article in Turkish

Seven people from the same Kurdish family, Yaşar Dedeoğulları, İpek Dedeoğulları, Serap Dedeoğulları, Serpil Dedeoğulları, Sibel Dedeoğulları, Metin Dedeoğulları and Barış Dedeoğulları, were massacred in Konya's Meram district in central Anatolia on July 30, 2021.

The first hearing of the trial over their killing of the family was held at the Konya 4th High Criminal Court on December 14, 2021.

Speaking to bianet about the trial of 11 people from the Keleş and Çalık families, along with assailant Mehmet Altun arrested pending trial, lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut has said that the attack on the family was "organized" and "there were paramilitary forces behind it."

'Requests for merging the files rejected'

Representing the Dedeoğulları family at court, lawyer Karabulut has also talked about the previous attack on the family on May 12, 2021. "The May 12 attack was a beginning; as for the July 30 massacre, it was a desired result on the part of the defendants," he has said.

In the attack that preceded the deadly attack in July, the lawyer has recalled, seven members of the family had been seriously wounded.

Speaking about the ongoing judicial proceedings into both attacks, Karabulut has said, "At the hearing on December 14, we requested that the trials over the attacks on May 12 and July 30 be merged. Because the defendants of both cases, except for Mehmet Altun, are the same. There is openly and clearly a de jure and de facto connection between the two incidents."

According to the lawyer, even though the related provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) foresee the merging of the two cases, the request for merging them was rejected by the court.

'New arrests are barred'

Lawyer Karabulut has recalled that the trial over the attack on May 12 is held at the Konya 8th High Criminal Court. In this trial, the defendants are charged with "attempted killing". The lawyer has said:

"If the files had been merged, the defendants should have been arrested in the trial over the attack on July 30. In our opinion, the only reason for rejecting the request for merging the files is to bar new arrests.

"Following the attack on May 12, the assaulters were not given a sentence and they were released one by one. There is a desire to apply this mindset to the trial over the attack on July 30 as well."

'Attacks cannot be considered separately'

Lawyer Karabulut has indicated that the rejection of their request for merging the two files should be overturned:

"We do not accept that the request for merging the files has been rejected. We will keep taking legal action about this. We believe that this decision will be overturned at the appeals court or the Court of Cassation.

"We will first demand the defendant's arrest at the hearing over the May 12 attack on January 14. There must be new evidence to rule for arrest, but hearing these cases separately is against the law. It is unacceptable that the two attacks are considered and portrayed separately."

'Unity in action is apparent'

Karabulut has said that they also made a request when the file was pending before the prosecutor's office and added:

"We made requests for arrest during the process at the prosecutor's office. They were neither accepted nor rejected. No response was given to these requests. The indictment is already like a petition requesting the release of the arrested defendant. It is very weak and reluctant; it is as if the indictment was based on not arresting the defendants.

"Besides, we also made new requests for arrest. There is the written correspondence of the defendant who opened the WhatsApp group. That person says, 'Send the intermediary; I hope they will get scared, come to reason and withdraw their complaints.'

"Here, with this written correspondence, it is openly and clearly understood that there is a unity in thought and action between these words and what Mehmet Altun said in his statement: 'I went there to dissuade them from their complaints, I went there to scare them.'

"But these defendants are not arrested. We requested arrest due to these material facts; however, the court rejected the requests for arrest on the grounds of the state of the evidence in the file."

'Requests for involvement rejected'

As recalled by lawyer Karabulut, at the hearing held on December 14, 2021, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) and the Human Rights Association (İHD) requested involvement in the trial; however, these requests were also rejected by the court board. As the reason for the rejection, the board stated that "they had not been directly aggrieved by the crime."

Karabulut has said, "This has no equivalence in law because this is not a judicial case" and added: "We have shown with concrete evidence that the crime was committed with racist motives. We had made requests for the protection of the family, but they were not protected."

According to Karabulut, for the above reasons, the violation of the right to life was the case here and, therefore, the requests of the TBB and the İHD should have been accepted: "As this attack concerns not only the family, but society as a whole, they should have been able to intervene in this trial. In these cases, who is aggrieved by the committed crime is society."

'A serious cash flow to his account'

Lawyer Karabulut has noted that the court has accepted the requests about arrested assailant Mehmet Altun.

"We are talking about an unemployed person. There is a serious cash flow in his account. He rents a car for 25,000 lira. He stays in luxury hotels. Who is behind the assailant? These are the issues that have to be brought into light," the lawyer has said and concluded as follows:

"The necessary written correspondence will be made to tap Altun's phone again, to reexamine the digital materials and about the hotels where he stayed before the incident. We requested a direct writ to the US to examine the database of the social media accounts of other defendants. It was accepted. But our three important requests were not accepted.

"From the very beginning, we have been saying that there are others behind this attack. There are serious cash flows in his account. Even though he is unemployed, he goes to several cities, he stays in luxury hotels. We requested an examination and inquiry into these."

What happened?

An armed assailant raided the house of Dedeoğulları family in Konya's Meram in the evening hours on July 30. He shot seven family members to death, set the house on fire and ran away.

Several police and paramedic teams were referred to the scene of the incident upon reports. The dead bodies of Yaşar Dedeoğulları, Barış Dedeoğulları, Serpil Dedeoğulları, Serap Dedeoğulları, İpek Dedeoğulları, Metin Dedeoğulları and Sibel Dedeoğulları were found at home which was first raided by the perpetrator, then set on fire before leaving.

As part of the investigation launched into the attack, 10 people from the Keleş and Altun families and murder suspect Mehmet Altun were arrested.

Along with the assailant, 13 people in total were arrested. But except for Mehmet Altun, all defendants were released in following weeks.

In the indictment, a life sentence aggravated for seven times has been requested for nine defendants for instigating the crime; Mehmet Altun, the murder suspect, also faces a life sentence aggravated for seven times for "premeditated murder with monstrous feelings."

In the trial of 11 people from the Keleş and Çalık families, the hearing has been adjourned until February 8, 2021

Attack on May 12

Living in the same neighbourhood for 24 years, the Dedeoğulları family was subjected to the racist attack of nearly 60 people on May 12. "We are [ultranationalist] idealists, we will not let you live here," a racist group threatened the family and severely wounded 7 family members, including four women. Of the 7 people arrested after the attack, 5 were released.

Lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut filed a criminal complaint against the local authorities and provincial and district security directors who had not taken adequate measures to protect the family before the attack and the prosecutor and penal judge of peace who had not responded to the requests for protection on charge of "neglect of duty". (RT/SD)