LAWYERS OF ANKARA MASSACRE CASE
‘Qadi’ has been arrested, what about other ISIS members in Turkey?
* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)
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The Lawyers' Commission of the October 10 Ankara Massacre Case has released a written statement about the legal proceedings against the ISIS members in Turkey in the wake of the arrest of Abu Abdullah Al-Shami code named Jamal Abdulrahman Alwi, the "ISIS qadi" (a magistrate or judge of a Sharia court) who gave the order of executing Turkey's soldiers Sefter Taş and Fethi Şahin by burning them on December 22, 2016.
The Commission of Lawyers has stated that the so-called ISIS "qadi" was arrested as a result of the public reactions sparked by the news that he had been released pending trial. The lawyers have said:
"When the news reported in the press is considered, it is seen that there are several statements and news indicating that the senior executives of ISIS were caught; these statements and news have one thing in common: Following the news on getting caught, there is not a single statement made by the officials regarding the fate and whereabouts of these people."
Arguing that the law enforcement is "treating ISIS members with tolerance," the lawyers have cited the October 10 Massacre as an example:
"In the trial over the October 10 Ankara Massacre, we detected at the very beginning of the trial that the ISIS members had been strictly followed by the police, but nothing had been done about them and we endorsed this finding with every new document submitted.
"It was to such a degree that Ahmet Güneş, one of the perpetrators of the Ankara massacre, had video footage showing him while executing a captive in Syria; however, he was still released in the trial in Gaziantep, fled to Syria and joined the organization of the massacre.
We have shared with the public with its documents over the course of the trial for five years that both courts and law enforcement treat ISIS members with an extreme tolerance.
'Disclose their fate and whereabouts'
Addressing the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and relevant institutions, the lawyers have called on them to disclose the fate and whereabouts of the ISIS members and the fugitive defendants of the massacre. The lawyers have asked the following questions:
"The fate and whereabouts of how many caught ISIS members have been unknown since 2015? Where are they and what are they doing?
"What legal action has been taken against the identified high ranking ISIS militants? Which of them have been on trial? Which of them have been released or deported? Has any of them given information about the organizations and actions of ISIS in Turkey and massacres?
"Are there any other high ranking ISIS militants who have been caught, but not reported in news? What legal action has been taken against them?
"Considering that it is sometimes announced that some ISIS members are caught in Syria and brought to Turkey, are there any efforts to catch the fugitive suspects who are wanted as the perpetrators of the massacres in 2015-2016 and detected to be in camps in Syria?
"Who decides which ISIS members are to be caught and based on what?
"Why have the security forces who have been boasting that they caught the wife of Baghdadi, the highest ranking ISIS member, been unable to catch even a single one of the fugitive defendants who have been walking around freely for 6 years as the perpetrators of massacres?"
The Ankara MassacreA suicide attack was launched against the Peace Rally in Ulus, Altındağ in the capital city of Ankara at around 10.04 a.m. on October 10, 2015. While 69 people lost their lives at the scene of the incident, a total of 103 people and two attackers lost their lives. After the bombs exploded, police officers used tear gas on the wounded and those who were trying to help them. As a result of this intervention, the wounded could not be referred to hospitals quickly and the survivors were also traumatized. The scene of the incident was not placed under protection and crime scene investigation teams and prosecutors did not come to the scene immediately. The teams arrived after about one and a half hours and deputy public prosecutor after two and a half hours. The indictment concerning the attack was approved on July 13, 2016. Accordingly, the order for the attack was given by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) representative to Turkey, İlhami Balı. It was stated in the indictment that it was the same people who organized the Suruç bombing, which had killed 33 people. Fourteen suspects including Balı face from 5,083 to 7,820 years in prison on the charges of "attempted murder multiple times" and "attempting to annihilate constitutional order". The trial started on November 7, 2016. On August 3, 2018, the Ankara 4th Heavy Penal Court handed an aggravated life sentence for "violating the constitutional order" and 100 aggravated life sentences for "wilful murder" to nine defendants. They were also sentenced to 10,557 years in prison each for "attempted murder" (Abdulmubtalip Demir, Talha Güneş, Metin Akaltın, Yakup Şahin, Hakan Şahin, İbrahim Halil Alçay, Resul Demir, Hüseyin Tunç and Hacı Ali Durmaz). The trial of the fugitive defendants is continuing as their cases were separated. The families of the deceased hold a commemoration ceremony on the 10th day of every month in front of the Train Station. The peace rally participants who lost their lives in the massacre are: Abdülkadir Uyan, Metin Kürklü, Gökhan Akman, Orhan Işıktaş, Gülhan Karlı Elmascan, Yılmaz Elmascan, Nevzat Sayan, Bilgen Parlak, Hacı Kıvrak, Rıdvan Akgül, Rıdvan Akgül, Hacı Mehmet Şah Esin, Gökmen Dalmaç, Elif Kanlıoğlu, Hakan Dursun Akalın, Ercan Adsız, Ayşe Deniz, Berna Koç, Fatma Esen, Gülbahar Aydeniz, Eren Akın, Canberk Bakış, Tayfun Benol, Nizamettin Bağcı, Kasım Otur, Başak Sidar Çevik, Nilgün Çevik, Resul Yanar, Mehmet Ali Kılıç, Tekin Arslan, Sezen Vurmaz, Dilaver Karharman, Onur Tan, Umut Tan, Sarıgül Tüylü, Dilan Sarıkaya, Ali Kitapçı, İsmail Kızılçay, Muhammet Demir, Korkmaz Tedik, Veysel Atılgan, İbrahim Atılgan, Emine Ercan, Kübra Meltem Mollaoğlu, Meryem Bulut, Seyhan Yaylagül, Ebru Mavi, Ali Deniz Uzatmaz, Ziya Saygın, Vahdettin Özgan, Cemal Avşar, Ahmet Katurlu, Selim Örs, Azize Onat, Dicle Deli, Güney Doğan, Binali Korkmaz, Mehmet Zakir Karabulut, Leyla Çiçek, Metin Peşman, Mesut Mak, Adil Gür, Gökhan Gökbönü, Şebnem Yurtman, Osman Turan Bozacı, İdil Güneyi, Abdullah Erol, Mehmet Hayta, Özver Gökhan Arpaçay, Şirin Kılıçalp, Uygar Coşgun, Ahmed Alkhadi, Nurullah Erdoğan, Gözde Arslan, Aycan Kaya, Yunus Delice, Sevgi Öztekin, Mehmet Tevfik Dalgıç, Sevim Şinik, Emin Aydemir, Fatma Karabulut, Ramazan Tunç, Erol Ekici, Feyyat Deniz, Necla Duran, Osman Ervasa, Ramazan Çalışkan, Vedat Erkan, Abdülbari Şenci, Niyazi Büyüksütçü, Gazi Güray, Sabri Elmas, Erhan Avcı, Ümit Seylan, Serdar Ben, Nevzat Özbilgi, Hasan Baykara, Fatma Batur, Bedriye Batur, Ata Önder Atabay, Mustafa Budak, Ağa Bayar. |
(KÖ/SD)