‘Metin Lokumcu case is just beginning now’

* Photo: Evrim Kepenek / bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

Nearly 10 years ago, on May 31, 2011, police officers intervened into a protest demonstration in Artvin's Hopa before the rally of the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Affected by the pepper gas, retired teacher Metin Lokumcu had a heart attack and lost his life at hospital.

At the first hearing of the case held in Trabzon, another Black Sea province, yesterday (April 21), the board of the Trabzon 2nd Penal Court of First Instance rejected all requests of the defense, who then raised a request for recusal. Following the hearing, the attorneys, MPs and the Lokumcu family made a press statement in front of the Trabzon Courthouse.

CLICK - Request for recusal in Metin Lokumcu case

'The case is just beginning'

Speaking first, family's attorney Meriç Eyüboğlu said:

"We wish we had seen this crowd for the past 10 years. Our search for justice has vanished into thin air. If you ask, we were welcomed kindly. But that was not what mattered, what mattered was that our search for justice be reciprocated. We wanted the defendants to come, that was our request. What the law required was also that. The court has rejected even this simple request of ours without justification.

"You filed a lawsuit 10 years later, we say that the indictment is deficient. We will not let them proceed in this case like that. We have no chance of coming to terms with you, you have already come here with a conviction and we have raised a request for recusal before it is too late.

"We do not know whether it will proceed with another judge, which is hard in a country where the judiciary has been politicized.

"We are expecting everyone who came here today from now on as well. It is just the beginning of another 10 years. The case is just beginning. This is a respect for the memory of Metin Lokumcu.

'Justice will come for everyone'

After Eyüboğlu, Metin Lokumcu's son Ulaş Lokumcu said:

"I was not expecting that much. Late politician Kamer Genç once came to the Parliament with a lantern and said he was looking for justice. This is exactly our situation. I hope that justice will come to this country, it will come for all of us. Not only for Metin Lokumcu, but for all of us..."

'Defendants are protected'

Main opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu also addressed the crowd and briefly said:

"In the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) era, court cases are transferred so that defendants can be protected. This case has been transferred from Hopa to here so that the defendants can be protected. The defendants are protected in a very obvious manner.

"They enforced procedures and methods that are not written in the criminal code. We will definitely create an environment where those defendants will stand trial. I am addressing the ones who violated human rights from here: No one stands on the side of those who violate human rights."

'We will not stop struggling'

CHP Vice Chair Gökçe Gökçen also said, "We found it important that such a case was filed after 10 years" and briefly added:

"There is a great struggle for justice here, there are practices that are not lawful. A family has been struggling for 10 years, saying, 'You cannot kill a person with pepper gas.' We waged a struggle with patience and solemnity with our colleagues, we were not expecting such a decision that would go beyond the law and conscience to such an extent.

"But we will not stop struggling. This case is the case of everyone defending nature rights. We will struggle to ensure that culprits are penalized."

'Justice will be served in Hopa'

Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) MP Erkan Baş also said:

"If there is a court case today, it is thanks to the struggle of the people of Hopa and our fellow lawyers. We have come here today thanks to the struggle of those who struggled against the state that said, 'No one can ask me a question, I kill or slaughter whomever I want.'

"Justice will not be served behind stone walls, it will be served on the soil of Hopa. The Metin Lokumcu case is a case of the country. We will not let this case be closed. We will always be on the side of our friends. Justice will come to this country one day."

'They say "People can be killed" with this case'

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Murat Çepni said:

"Metin Lokumcu is our history, may this bother them. With this case, it is said, 'People can be killed.' In this country, there is the law of the oppressed against the law of the rich. This struggle will continue until justice is served for Metin Lokumcu."

'Lokumcu would be devastated if he saw it'

CHP MP Ahmet Kaya also said:

"I watched what happened inside with embarrassment. If Metin Lokumcu saw what happened here today, he would be devastated again. If a person is killed with pepper gas because he claimed his right to life, the conscientious people of this country must follow this case.

"We want rulings to be handed down with justice in this country. I hope that we will bring justice to this country all together."

'Lokumcu will die when we stay silent'

Lastly, Left Party's Alper Taş said:

"We are at a loss for words, words would not suffice to explain it. We are not surprised. We have seen that Turkey is not a state of law.

"They came to power, saying, 'Let humans live so that the state can live.' They want to keep the state alive by killing people.

"We do not accept this. Metin Lokumcu will die when we stay silent. Metin Lokumcu will live as long as we struggle. Our voice is his breath. I swear that we will carry on this voice." (EMK/NÖ/SD)