Police summoned the father of a miner killed in a 2024 gold mine disaster in eastern Turkey for questioning on Tuesday after he publicly criticized former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, the Evrensel daily reported.
Ali Ekber Yıldız’s son, Uğur Yıldız, was among nine workers killed in a landslide at the Çöpler gold mine in the İliç district of Erzincan province on February 13, 2024.
The police summons followed remarks Yıldız made outside the courthouse before an October 20 hearing in the criminal trial concerning the disaster. He criticized Yıldırım, who also represented Erzincan in parliament from 2007 to 2011, for failing to visit or offer comfort to his family while they waited for his son’s body to be recovered.
Yıldız also criticized Yıldırım for publicly shedding tears on other occasions while failing to show similar sympathy for the miners killed in İliç and Soma, where 301 workers died in a 2014 coal mine disaster.
Yıldız said someone at the Erzincan Governor’s Office called him after the hearing, telling him his remarks had caused discomfort and asking him to contact Yıldırım to apologize. He refused.
His daughter, Duygu Yıldız, said Yıldırım had complained about remarks her father made out of grief and anger. She described the police summons as an attempt to intimidate the family and discourage them from seeking justice.
“We are equal under the law and the constitution,” she said, questioning why authorities had acted so quickly on what she said was Yıldırım’s complaint while the criminal case over the nine miners’ deaths was still unresolved. She said the family would not be intimidated and would continue seeking justice.
It remained unclear whether Yıldırım had filed a formal complaint, what legal grounds it cited or whether an investigation had been opened. The reports included no response from Yıldırım or the governor’s office.
The body of Uğur Yıldız, 33, was recovered 53 days after the landslide, and he was buried the following day. His wife, Gamze Yıldız, who was pregnant at the time, later lost her baby, which she attributed to the trauma caused by the disaster.
The Erzincan 1st High Criminal Court is trying 43 defendants in connection with the disaster. At its October 20 hearing, the court rejected requests to jail defendants pending trial and maintained existing judicial supervision measures. The next hearing is scheduled for January 26, 2027, pending a new expert report.
