Second Hearing in Çorlu Train Derailment Case

"We demand justice"

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The trial of Çorlu train derailment, which claimed the lives of 25 people, including 7 children, and injured 340 others on July 8, 2018, continued at the Çorlu 1st Heavy Penal Court today (September 10).

A 600-person court hall was prepared at the Çorlu Public Training Center for the second hearing of the case.

In the first hearing held on July 3, the police attacked the aggrieved families inside and outside the courthouse and the Çorlu 1st Heavy Penal Court withdrew from the case stating that "there are allegations that the relatives of the deceased were battered upon our instruction". However, the Çorlu 2nd Court, the upper court, rejected this withdrawal.

CLICK - 'Families' Demand for Justice Responded with Torment'

Before the second hearing started today, the aggrieved families came together in front of the Çorlu Public Training Center.

Mısra Öz, the mother of nine-year-old Oğuz Arda Sel, who lost his life in the incident, made a brief statement there. "The fact that the trial began one year later is an indication of the value given to our people. This trial cannot proceed with four defendants", Öz stated.

İsmail Kartal, who lost his mother and father in the derailment, also said, "These seats of yours are so comfortable that you have turned us into victims while running after unearned income. You will be brought to account for that. When the day comes, justice will be necessary for all of you."

After the families were admitted into the court hall, the names of aggrieved parties and plaintiffs were read out.

Defendants of the case Turgut Kurt, Özkan Polat, Çetin Yıldırım and Celaleddin Çabuk, who are employees of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), appeared in court.

The requests of bar associations to get involved in the case have been rejected by the court board.

Atalay: No action taken against the officers

The court attempted to impose a 3-lawyer restriction on each aggrieved family. The lawyers objected to this attempt.

Can Atalay, a lawyer for the families, indicated that no action has been taken against the police officers who attacked the families in the first hearing, especially against the Security Director of Çorlu.

Lawyer Atalay said, "While an investigation is being conducted against us, no action has yet been taken against the police officers who battered us. There is no investigation against the officers who ordered the doors to be locked. The 3-lawyer restriction should be abandoned, it is not within your jurisdiction. We demand recourse from that."

Gökmen Yeşil, another lawyer for the aggrieved families, indicated that the deposition of defendant Çetin Yıldırım was taken without the presence of the presiding judge, claiming that the court forged a legal document.

Lawyer Mürsel Ünder also stated that there are missing points in the bill of indictment and requested its return to the court. 

Kurt: They were not informed about rainfall

Presenting his statement of defense, defendant Turgut Kurt, who was Railways Maintenance Manager at the time, stated the following in brief:

"The scene of incident was 130 kilometers away from my home. The sky was clear and it was sunny where I live. I was not in any way informed about the rainfall. Our road maintenance and repair chief was in Çerkezköy for track change. (...) They were authorized to intervene at the moment of rainfall. However, they were not informed about the rainfall, either.

'The position of road guard has been vacant for years'

"The position of a road guard has been vacant for years. If there had been a road guard, I cannot know whether this accident would have occurred or not. There used to be nine road guards; there are, unfortunately, not any now.

"Additional measures were not taken. Technological support was not provided. Warning signals were not installed. No works were done. General directorate was supposed to work on it. I am only a maintenance worker."

Polat: I performed the last control two days before

After the defense of Kurt, defendant Özkan Polat, the Road Maintenance Chief in Çerkezköy Road Maintenance Chieftaincy, made his defense. In his defense, Polat stated the following in brief:

"I performed the last maintenance and repair control of the road on July 6, a Friday two days before the accident.

"I was on duty along the line of Çerkezköy, Balaban and Çorlu. I had a team. We were doing road maintenance and repair works. We were attending to the broken tracks and changing them. Depending on the scale of the problems, we were either taking care of them ourselves or informing the regional directorate. I was not directly authorized for procurement. I performed my last control on Friday, July 6. I did not see any problems.

"We did not have any contact with the [General Directorate of] Meteorology and [General Directorate for] State Hydraulic Works. We work upon reports. We have started receiving short messages after the incident. We are closely following the condition of the rainfall. The message comes from the Meteorology. The line maintenance controls are still conducted in the same way as it was done before the accident.

"There were not any problems in the culvert where the accident occured, but the filling had to be reinforced. We requested ballast retainer for the culvert, but it was not done. If a ballast retaining wall had been constructed, the accident might not have occured". 

Polat also indicated that they were pressured so that the railway line could be opened as soon as possible.

Çabuk: No people working as road guards left

After Polat presented his statement of defense, defendant Celaleddin Çabuk, a Railway Line Maintenance and Repair Officer, made his defense. Çabuk stated the following in brief:

"I am a road maintenance and repair worker. It is Özkan Polat who assigns me duties. He says, 'Do it', I do it; he says, 'Don't', I don't. I am not a worker working without orders. We were changing tracks on Sunday. When we reached the warehouse at around 5 p.m., we heard about the accident.

"Polat gave me the order to open the road. I am not authorized to take an action if he does not order me to do so.

"We cover 22 kilometers on foot everyday. No people working as road guards have been left back there since 1985. We performed our controls on January 5 and May 9, there were not any problems."

Attorney: Indictment is hiding the real culprit

Taking the floor after his client, Çabuk's lawyer said, "A person who does not have the authority to act on his own or sign anything is tried before you." The lawyer continued as follows:

"My client is the lowest level worker of the TCDD. He does not have any authority, he just receives orders. This indictment which is based on expert reports is an indictment hiding the real culprit and attempting to fabricate a criminal. That my client is tried in this court means that a page has been turned over in the legal system of Turkey". 

Afterwards, last defendant Çetin Yıldırım also presented his statement of defense. The hearing has been adjourned to continue tomorrow. (HA/SD)