It has been 18 years since 10 people, including 7 children, were killed when a bomb placed in a thermos exploded in Koşuyolu Park in Rezan (Bağlar) district of Amed (Diyarbakır) on September 12, 2006. 

 

Şilan (6 months) Zilan (8), Evin (10), Mizgin (12) and their mother Faide Demir (35), Abdullah (6 months) Nazlıcan (4) and Nazar Çetinkaya (2), Hasan Marangoz (14) and Rojhilat Aslan (28) were killed in the attack. 17 people were permanently wounded. 5-year-old Barış Demir, Maide Çetinkaya and Ali Haydar Kaplan lost their feet, while Emine Yetişecek lost her left hand. 

 

THE BOMB WAS GIVEN BY THE FIRST LIEUTENANT

 

Shortly after the attack, the Turkish Revenge Brigade (TİT) claimed responsibility. Ensign Hikmet Topal, Burhan Güneş and Murat Ekin were arrested after the massacre. In his first statement, Hikmet Topal said that the bomb was given to him by First Lieutenant Ahmet Şentürk, whom he had met during his military service in Gemlik, Bursa. Topal stated that he came to Amed on leave through First Lieutenant Şentürk, where he was introduced to a soldier named Sedat sergeant, and that he carried out the explosion in Koşuyolu with the bomb he received from this sergeant. Topal said that they had carried out the bombing “in retaliation against the bombings in the West”. Topal gave this statement on March 24, 2007 at the Diyarbakır Security Directorate in the presence of Public Prosecutor İsmail Aksoy and lawyer Mehmet İhsan Aytekin, who was appointed by the Amed Bar Association.

 

HE RENOUNCED HIS TESTIMONY

 

IHD member Rehşan Bataray

 

Topal gave names of those involved in the incident, but recanted his testimony during the trial at Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court. The demands of the victims' lawyers to investigate the names given by Topal and to reveal the connections of the incident were rejected in every hearing. As a result of the trial, Hikmet Topal and Burhan Güneş were sentenced to 11 times aggravated life imprisonment and 216 years each for “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state and the country”, “delibrate killing with a bomb” and “possession of explosives”.

 

The defendant Murat Ekin was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in total for “knowingly and willingly aiding the organization” and “possession of explosives”. The defendants' sentences were upheld. However, the background of the massacre was not fully clarified. 

 

MANY QUESTIONS REMAINED UNANSWERED

 

Human Rights Association (IHD) Central Executive Committee member lawyer Rehşan Bataray stated that child deaths continue to occur due to impunity policies. Stating that the massacre took place in one of the busiest and most crowded parks in Amed, Bataray stated that many questions about how the explosives were planted in this area, how it was planned and why it could not be prevented were left unanswered. “These questions still remain unanswered. From the moment of the first investigation, as the IHD Legal Commission, we have followed the case and intervened in the case to support the families of the victims. There were defendants who were sentenced as a result of the long trials in the case. However, from the first moment of the incident, the question of who and what structures were behind the incident was being asked. The defendants also made very confusing and questionable statements. However, the investigation never went beyond the defendants on trial, and the investigation into whether there was someone behind the incident was not expanded. Our requests in this regard were also not accepted” she said.  

 

'POLICY OF IMPUNITY'

 

Stating that the explosion could have been prevented if adequate precautions had been taken, Bataray said that the policy of impunity leads to an increase in such incidents and added: “Many children have lost their lives in the region, especially as a result of the negligence or direct actions of security officials. Unfortunately, no effective investigation and trial processes were carried out in any of them. These impunity policies are also very effective in the continuation of these incidents. The impunity practices in the cases of Uğur Kaymaz, Ceylan Önkol and Mehmet Uytun are still on our minds.” 

 

Bataray stated that although only certain defendants were punished during the judicial process, the wider connections of the incident have still not been uncovered.