No one has stood trial in 11 years for 12-year-old Ceylan Önkol's death in an explosion

(File photo)

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On September 28, 2009, Ceylan Önkol (12) lost her life in a mortar shell explosion while she was pasturing sheep in the mostly Kurdish populated southeastern province of Diyarbakır. No one stood trial because of her death.

The explosion occurred in Hambaz (Xambaz) hamlet in Şenlik (Sıpêni) in Diyarbakır's Lice district. Ceylan's mother collected her remains, wrapped them in her skirt and took them to the police station.

Her deceased body was left there for six hours and the prosecutor went to the scene of the incident three days later for reasons of 'life safety'.

"The perpetrators have been protected with the armor of impunity. Out struggle will continue in every condition, until the perpetrators receive the penalty they deserve," Human Rights Association (İHD) Amed (Diyarbakır) Branch said in a statement yesterday (September 28).

Speaking to Mesopotamia Agency (MA) on the anniversary of Ceylan's death last year, her brother Rıfat Önkol said that their mother had become confined to bed because of the diseases she had after Ceylan's death.

"There was no fair approach. They completely covered up the incident. My mother is confined to bed right now. This pain is never forgotten for us," he said.

"It wasn't a landmine"

The spot that Ceylan lost her life was in the middle of a triangle of the Tabantepe military unit on the Bingöl side of the provincial border between Diyarbakır and Bingöl and Abalı and Yayla gendarmerie stations.

Önkol's feet and legs were intact after her death and there were no blast holes on the ground, which indicated that the explosion was not caused by a landmine or other explosive on the ground, the İHD Diyarbakır Branch stated in 2009.

In a report on the incident, the Gendarmerie Command and the Security Directorate stated that Ceylan hit an explosive with a pruning knife.

However, the Önkol family stated that the knife's tip was not damaged but it was bent in the middle, which showed that the child didn't hit a bomb with the knife.

Önkol's family applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which ruled on January 17, 2017, that there was no violation in terms of effective investigation and the right to life.

On April 30, 2014, the Lice Chief Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that the evidence and reports in the case file were not sufficient to identify the perpetrators and issued a "permanent search warrant." Lawyers of the family are concerned that the case might be dropped due to the statute of limitations.

What happened?

Ceylan Önkol lost her life in an explosion while she was pasturing sheep in Hambaz (Xambaz) hamlet of Şenlik village in Turkey's southeastern Lice district in Diyarbakır province on September 28, 2009.

Her body was left at the scene for six hours, the prosecutor went to the crime scene for investigation only three days later due to "life safety".

Democratic Society Party (DTP) Diyarbakır MP Gültan Kışanak demanded answers from then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding the death of Ceylan Önkol.

The Human Rights Association (İHD) voiced their concerns that Önkol might have been killed by being targeted.

On October 19, 2009, Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul MP Çetin Soysal applied to the Head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission to clarify Önkol's death.

In August 2010, Forensic Medicine expert Prof. Biçer prepared the first independent report on the death of Önkol upon the request of the Önkol family lawyers. According to the report prepared by Prof. Ümit Biçer, Önkol did not set off a bomb on the field by hitting it with a knife but to the contrary died in a position of defense.

Önkol's family applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which announced its verdict on January 17, 2017, and ruled that there was no violation in terms of effective investigation and the right to live.

On April 30, 2014, the Lice Chief Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that the evidence and reports in the case file were not sufficient to identify the perpetrators and issued a "permanent search warrant." Lawyers of the family are concerned that the case might be dropped due to a violation of the statute of limitations.

(AÖ/VK)