Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled that security forces violated the rights of Hacı Lokman Birlik, a 24-year-old Kurdish man who was killed in 2015 and whose body was dragged behind an armored vehicle.
The court found that the authorities violated Birlik’s right to life and the constitutional ban on treatment incompatible with human dignity, according to the Yeni Özgür Politika news website. His family and lawyer, who filed the application to the court five years ago, are awaiting the reasoned judgment to assess the ruling’s full implications.
Birlik was killed in Şırnak’s Dicle neighborhood on October 3, 2015, during clashes in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
After footage emerged showing Birlik’s body being dragged behind an armored vehicle, two of six police officers under investigation were temporarily suspended for “damaging the legitimacy of the operation,” but none faced charges over the killing or the treatment of his body.
The family said the investigation stalled for years as prosecutors pursued only a charge of “insulting the memory of a deceased person,” while failing to gather evidence or take statements from the officers involved.
Lawyer Ramazan Demir said prosecutors focused on identifying who leaked the footage to a police WhatsApp group instead of investigating Birlik’s killing or the treatment of his body.
The ruling renews longstanding concerns over impunity in Turkey, particularly in investigations involving the killing of Kurds by security forces. Human rights groups say flawed probes, decisions of non-prosecution and delays in judicial proceedings have repeatedly prevented accountability in such incidents.
