Tarkan and Sezen Aksu Sing For Ceylan Önkol Killed in Lice

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Musicians Sezen Aksu and Tarkan have sang the song "Ceylan" (Gazelle) telling the story of Ceylan Önkol who lost her life aged 12 in an explosion that took place as she was pasturing sheep in Lice district of Diyarbakır province in southeastern Turkey.

The song "Ceylan" on Yaşar Gaga's album "Irrelevant Songs" was written and composed by Sezen Aksu in 2012 and was sang by Nükhet Duru previously.

What had happened?

Ceylan Önkol lost her life in an explosion while she was pasturing sheep in Hambaz (Xambaz) hamlet of Şenlik village in Turkey's southeastern Lice district in Diyarbakır province on September 28, 2009.

Ceylan Önkol lost her life in an explosion she was pasturing sheep in Hambaz (Xambaz) hamlet of Şenlik village in Turkey's southeastern Lice district in Diyarbakır province on September 28, 2009.

Her body was left at the scene for six hours, the prosecutor went to crime scene for investigation only three days later due to "life safety".
Democratic Society Party (DTP) Diyarbakır MP Gültan Kışanak had demanded answers from then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to questions regarding the death of Ceylan Önkol.

However, the Human Rights Association (HRA) voiced their concerns that Önkol might have been killed by being targeted.

On October 13, 2009 Diyarbakır prosecutor Mutlu announced the results of an expert report. According to this report, Önkol died because she played with a knife on a projectile of an unexploded bomb. The expert report could not identify the kind and the source of the ammunition.

On October 19, 2009 Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul MP Çetin Soysal applied to the Head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission to clarify Önkol's death.

In August 2010, Forensic Medicine expert Prof. Biçer prepared the first independent report on the death Önkol upon the request of the Önkol family lawyers. According to the report prepared by Prof. Ümit Biçer Önkol did not set off a bomb on the field by hitting it with a knife but to the contrary died in a position of defence.

Önkol's family applied to the European Court of Human Rights which announced its verdict on January 17, 2017 and and ruled that there was no violation in terms of effective investigation and the right to live.

A lawsuit still hasn't been filed as to the killing of Ceylan Önkol. (NV/DG)