DIYARBAKIR - In the last 10 years, 22 children were killed as a result of being hit by an armored vehicle on the streets that are the "playground" for children in  Kurdistan. Lawyer Mehmet Emin Gün asked, "How will Turkish State call the perpetrators of the Kurdish children to account while the perpetrators, who are law enforcement officers, are committing crimes in the name of the 'Turkish nation'?"

 

Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey states that “Everyone has the right to live and shelter and develop their material and spiritual existence”. According to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), of which Turkey is also a signatory, regulating the "right to life", it is regulated that “Every individual's right to life is under the protection of the law”. But what is the meaning of law when the right to life, protected by law and contracts, is abolished by the law enforcers themselves, and the perpetrators are left unpunished by the law enforcement?

 

In Şırnak, the police, who tried to kill lawyer Serkan Karakaş on purpose while he was waiting next to his broken down vehicle towed to the roadside, said that he was depressed and he was hearing voices in his head and he came back and ran him over in his defense. This was the latest and striking example of the current situation. In the conditions where Kemal Kurkut was 'legally slaughtered' by the police claiming a half naked man without a shirt to be a suicide bomber, Attorney Karakaş is lucky to be alive.

 

DEATHS THAT HAVE REFLECTED IN THE REPORTS

 

The other frightening aspect of law enforcement violence, which shows itself more and more impudently recently, has been the violations of children's right to life. According to the data of the Human Rights Association (İHD), a total of 228 children were killed in the conditions of armed conflict between 2011 and 2021. Nearly 30 of these children were between the age 0 and 5. According to the information reflected in the report "Child Rights Violations Resulting from Armored Vehicles, Mines and Conflict-War Wastes", which was shared with the public last month by Diyarbakır Bar Association Children's Rights Center, 67 children were killed as a result of being ran over by armored vehicles, mines and explosions caused by explosive left behind in the last 11 years. The fact that 66 of them were killed in the cities of the Kurdistan has a lot to tell on the right of violation.

 

MURDERS BY ARMORED VEHICLE 

 

22 children's lives were taken away from them as a result of being hit by an armoured vehicle on the street where they were playing. Among these children were the 4-year-old Onur Özalp, 7-year-old Muhammet and 6-year-old Furkan Yıldırım brothers, and 5-year-old Efe Tektekin, who, like his grandfather, was hit by an armored vehicle. As in similar incidents that ended in non-prosecution or very small fines, the police who caused these deaths were not even found faulty in the first report prepared by the experts on the incident in the case they were tried. The police officers who caused these deaths were acquitted and are still on duty.

 

RIGHT NOT TO BE KILLED

 

Despite this, Mehmet Emin Gün, Head of Diyarbakır Bar Association Children's Rights Center, underlines that the right to life stands at a key point among other rights, based on the requirement that individuals have to be "alive" in order to have certain rights. Expressing that they prepared their reports, which emerged from the failure of the state, which has positive and negative convictions in this matter, to fulfill these responsibilities, with the perspective of the right to play and the right to live in a healthy environment, Gün drew attention to the fact that they define the right to life as the "right not to be killed" in the region. Gün said, “In the last 10 years, 22 children lost their lives being ran over by armored vehicles and 27 were injured. 45 people lost their lives due to mines, and 135 people were injured.This is just the number of the children. There are adults we did not include who died or got injured under the same conditions. If we include adults, a much more frightening picture emerges."

 

‘NOT A COINCIDENCE!’

 

Noting that another starting point of reports was the “violation of the prohibition of discrimination”, Gün stated the following on this subject: “Almost all of the children who lost their lives or were injured are from a certain region. And these are all Kurdish children. This is no coincidence. It indicates to the intense use of armored vehicles in the region. It indicates that almost all of the mines that were left behind are in this region. It shows that all the war and conflict residues are in this region. This is expected because this is a conflict zone. When we look at the table of violations of the right to life by years, we see that the cases of death or injury increase in periods when the intensity of conflicts increases or when the Kurdish policies of the state change. The issue has peaked in the 2015-2016. This shows us that it is the children who suffer the most from the conflict.”

 

 

‘WHERE DOES THE DEAD CHILDREN STAND’

 

Stating that the people who use these armored combat vehicles lose their ties with reality after a while and act with confidence that they will go unpunished, Gün also underlined the defense of the defendant police officer in the court and said: "When Turkish courts decide, they start with the words 'in the name of the Turkish nation'. The police, who was the perpetrator of Efe, said, 'I am a son of the Turkish nation,' while defending himself at the hearing. So, where are we going put these dead children in these cases? In other words, Efe is a son of the Kurdish nation. Someone who committed a crime on behalf of the state and on behalf of the Turkish nation was acquitted on behalf of the Turkish nation. This was the summary of the event, in fact, the judiciary encourages the police with the armour of impunity. What we call the policy of impunity attracts perpetrators. Law enforcement officers working on behalf of the state are also involved in an action that is a crime but a duty according to them, and they are not punished by Turkish courts while being tried for this because if he is punished, the state will not find anyone to commit a crime on its behalf again. This is the meaning of impunity.”

 

 

FAITH IN JUSTICE

 

Saying that it is not possible to expect justice when the judiciary is controlled by the political power, and they have seen this very clearly lately, Gün said, "We have lost our belief in justice more than other citizens, perhaps" as a lawyer. But this shouldn't pacify us. On the contrary, it needs to increase our determination to fight. Challenges also open up new fronts for struggle. When we look like this, we will only become stronger, otherwise we will collapse quickly.”

 

MA / Omer Celik