Protest death toll up to two, probe opened into police violence
The number of deaths in the nationwide protests increased to two with the death of a 22-year-old man today, after sustaining a head injury on June 3 in southern Turkey, with the interior minister saying a probe had been opened into police violence.
Cömert was shot in the head with a gas canister, the initial autopsy report said, according to the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Hatay provincial head Servet Muallaoğlu. Thousands of people reportedly attended Cömert’s funeral, which was held yesterday in Hatay.
Hasan Akgöl, a CHP lawmaker, confirmed that Cömert was a member of the youth branch of his party.
“It was said [he was killed] by a police bullet in the beginning, but [doctors] stated that a gas canister had exploded, hitting his head,” Mualaoğlu told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday in a phone interview, adding that he was on his home street when he died.
Abdullah Cömert.
DHA Photo
Hatay Governor Celalettin Lekesiz yesterday confirmed an autopsy report showing that Cömert was not killed by a gunshot. Cömert’s death in Hatay followed the death of 20-year-old Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, who was hit and killed after a car driver ignored warnings to stop for protesters organizing a Gezi Park solidarity demonstration in ümraniye’s 1 Mayıs neighborhood on the night of June 2. The hacker group RedHack also released a statement, saying Ayvalıtaş was a RedHack member and claiming that the killing was the “intentional work of a fascist.”
The last messages Cömert wrote on his Facebook profile stated that he had “escaped death” for the third time during the protest, was tired, but would be “on the streets for the revolution.”
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Muammer Güler has said that probes have been opened into police violence against the “Occupy Taksim” protests. Addressing Parliament, where tension between deputies was high, Güler said two state inspectors and two police inspectors were investigating every claim one by one, and added that images uploaded onto social media would also be the subject of the investigations.
He said 280 businesses, 103 police cars, and 201 private cars had been damaged since the beginning of the protests. Güler defended police violence, saying, “Should we have allowed them to occupy the Parliament instead?”
‘Who is responsible of Abdullah’s murder?”
However, oppposition parties strongly reacted against the interior minister, accusing him of not taking the issue seriously enough. “While you are talking, somebody kills Abdullah. Do you know about this? A very young boy, Abdullah was killed in the spring of his life. Who is responsible for his death?” Emine ülker Tarhan, deputy parliamentary group leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) asked in her reply to Güler. “Why did the prime minister run away? Why did he leave the country after instructing the police to end the protests?” she added.
Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Mersin deputy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), submitted a parliamentary question on June 3, to be answered by Güler, about how Ethem Sarısülük had been shot by the police in Ankara during the Gezi Parkı protests.
Meanwhile, the CHP deputy leader Adnan Keskin claimed that several people detained in Ankara were passersby who were not involved in the protests, adding that around 100 people had been detained at the Ankara Police Department alone. Keskin visited the detained individuals at the Ankara Police Department with a group of CHP deputies, Aylin Nazlıaka, Hurşit Güneş, Veli Ağbaba and Özgür Özel.
Turkish police have detained at least 25 Twitter users for allegedly spreading false reports, as anti-government demonstrations in Turkey continue for a sixth day. Social media activists have been accused of using Twitter to “instigate public hatred and animosity,” according to Turkish media. Police raided 38 addresses to locate the suspects.
The activists were arrested early Wednesday in the western city of Izmir. Police said that their tweets contained “misleading and libelous information,” state-run news agency Anatolia reported. However, Ali Engin, an official from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said that they were detained for urging people to protest.
Police tracked down the activists through their IP addresses, and were reportedly able to locate most of them. CHP said that they have sent lawyers to assist the arrested individuals.
The lawyers revealed to the media that police files on the individuals included tweets about where to meet, about police actions, and about the names of volunteer doctors and lawyers.
Twitter and other social networks have played a big role in helping demonstrators organize and share developments; the Turkish media has been roundly criticized for failing to cover the protests as they unfolded.
Prime Minister Erdogan has condemned social media’s role in the riots, singling out what he called the “scourge” of Twitter.
“There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said on Sunday, dismissing the protests as being organized by extreme elements. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society."
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发表于 3-6-2013 09:57 PM
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