Burcu Karakaş – Three years have passed since Tahir Elçi was murdered in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Diyarbakır's Sur district. The subsequent investigation has shed little light on Elçi’s murder, which may be because it was flawed from the start.
Mahsuni Karaman is a lawyer and member of the Dıyarbakır Bar Association, of which Elçi was the president. Karaman believes that the investigation into Elçi’s death has been carried out improperly. He notes that “the first crime scene investigation was carried out months after Tahir Elçi was murdered, on 17 March 2016,” indicating that “the urgency of the incident was not taken into account at all”. As a result of the delay, remarks Karaman, the gunshot residue and bullet casing could not be found.
Questionable Video Footage
Soon after Elçi’s murder, video footage began to circulate which allegedly shows the events surrounding the tragedy. It is still unclear whether the footage is genuine.
“The memory card and the device that was used to record the incident by the Photo Film Department were not seized even though we made the relevant requests,” remarks Karaman. “The device is still missing. This year, the forensics stated that it was necessary to confirm the genuineness of the recording, to which the prosecution's office responded back by saying they ‘searched for it but were unable to find it’. Whereas we had requested it within the 10-day period after Elçi was murdered.”
The controversial footage appears to show police officers shooting. None of the police officers have been asked to provide statements as suspects in the investigation. Indeed, despite three years having passed since the murder, no suspect has yet been named.
Investigation Instability
The investigation into Elçi’s death has been roiled by administrative instability. Over the past three years, three separate prosecutors have temporarily led the investigation before being replaced. “The perpetrators are still not found,” notes Karaman. “It seems impossible to reach a result with the existing practice of investigation…”.
The Diyarbakır Bar Association has reacted strongly to what they perceive to be malicious negligence. Accordıng to Karaman, they will present their own research into the case in the coming month. “We are planning to take the case before the Constitutional Court in the beginning of 2019 unless we see some progress in the file that would indicate an effective investigation being carried out.”
“There is no mechanism to take the suspects to court”
Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a close friend of Elçi, has lamented that “Tahir’s – knowledge, courage and determination as a lawyer, is not present among us, when we need him the most. There is a chain that has been carried up until that moment. The last link of that chain was the incident that took place in front of the Four-Legged Minaret. Therefore, it is an assassination that has obtained its objective.”
The case has exposed systemic issues. “There is no mechanism to take the suspects to court,” said Tanrıkulu. “Everyone who held a gun during the incident should somehow be considered as a suspect, however, there is none in the case. As Elçi's lawyer friends, we will work together with the Diyarbakır Bar, to not let Elçi's case remain ‘unsolved’.”
Updated: November 28 2018
