DİYARBAKIR - Contrary to his first statement in the Kemal Kurkut case, Police Chief Erdoğan Tetik claimed that Kurkut had a machete, a kind of sword, not a knife in his hand.

 

In the case of university student Kemal Kurkut, who was murdered by the police on Newroz Celebrations in 2017 in Diyarbakır, two police officers, one of whom is a department chief, contradicted both their previous statements and they contradicted each other. In the retrial of the case against police officer Yakup Şenocak on trial for murdering Kemal Kurkut with eventual intent, who was acquitted by Diyarbakır 7th High Criminal Court which was later overturned by Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice 1st Penal Chamber, two witnesses one of which is a Department Chief and the other is a police chief was heard by the court. The statements taken by the police were included in the case file.

 

THEIR STATEMENTS CONTRADICTED EACH OTHER

 

The chief of police, Kerim Sağlık, who is claimed to have been in the area where the incident took place, was heard by the Konya 1st High Court, and Balıkesir Provincial Public Security Branch Director Erdoğan Tetik was heard by the Balıkesir 1st High Criminal Court. Tetik and Sağlık made statements that contradicted each other. While Tetik did not mention that Kurkut said he will blow himself up, Sağlık claimed that Kurkut said he will blow himself up. Claiming that he heard what Kurkut said, Tetik claimed that Kurkut said that he would burn Diyarbakir and kill them all. Sağlık, who claimed to have heard what Kurkut said, claimed that Kurkut said "This is Amed. You all will die here today. I will kill you all. I will blow you all up."

 

DEPARTMENT CHIEF CLAIMED THAT KURKUT HAS A MACHETE!

 

The two policemen, who made contradictory statements, made different statements about what Kurkut had in his hand. While it was clear in the footage and witness statements that Kurkut had a bread knife bought from a grocery store at the time of the incident, Department Chief Tetik claimed that Kurkut had a machete, which is a kind of sword. Police officer Kerim Sağlık said that Kurkut had a knife in his hand.

 

Noting that he was working as a commissioner in Diyarbakır at the time of the incident, Tetik said: "A half naked person with a machete in his hand came towards the barricade we were at. This person swung his machete left and right and said that he would burn Diyarbakir and he would kill us all. We tried to calm him down, even a police officer friend of mine approached him and tried to disarm him with a baton, but the person swung the machete at our friend and the police officer barely saved himself. I saw this myself. Then, when that person started to move forward, passing another barricade, some of our police officer friends shot into the air to stop him. At this stage, we warned them not to shoot, then the person with the machete fell to the ground.”

 

'POLICE OFFICERS SHOT IN THE AIR'

 

Although the murder suspect Yakup Şenocak said in his own statements that he shot towards Kurkut's feet, Tetik drew attention to the fact that all the police officers shot in the air and did not see the person shooting towards Kurkut's feet. Tetik said: “I saw the police officers in the area shooting into the air only with the intention of warning the person, I did not see any police officers shooting at the person or towards his feet. I don't remember the name of the police officer who used a gun because there were many police officers.

 

'KURKUT MAY HAVE BEEN HIT BY A RICOCHETING BULLET'

 

In his statement, Kerim Sağlık stated that he served as the supervisor in charge of the check point during the incident and said: “While we were at the check point, I heard that police officers warned a person to leave the knife in his hand. When I went there, I saw that there was a male person with a knife in his hand, half naked. Kurkut addressed the police officers on duty, he said that it was Amed, we would all die there. I've heard him said that he was going to kill us all and blow us up, so the police on duty fired a large number of warning shots into the air, but the victim passed the check point and went towards Newroz Square. Kurkut attacked our friends with a knife. He could also be a suicide bomber. I ordered the police officers to stop shooting as their chief but they might not have heard since it was a very crowded environment. I did not see with whose gun the victim was shot and in what way, because many guns were fired at the time of the incident; however, I did not see the victim being targeted directly. There is a high probability that he was hit by a ricocheting bullet.”