Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who have been protesting in front of the Şanlıurfa Courthouse in southeastern Turkey to seek justice for three members of their family who were killed by the relatives and bodyguards of İbrahim Halil Yıldız, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), have called on lawyers to support their demand, the Mezopotamya news agency reported.
They began a sit-in in March and have continued their protest for 197 days in front of the courthouse, demanding a fair trial and effective investigation of the incident. Their sit-in is expected to be visited by 200 lawyers on Friday.
Speaking to Mezopotamya, Emine Şenyaşar said they were only two people and that need the support of lawyers.
Several lawyers from the bar associations of Batman, Bingöl, Diyarbakır Muş and Şanlıurfa provinces visited the family on Monday, according to the Bianet news website.
A public prosecutor is seeking a jail sentence of up to four years for Emine Şenyaşar. The family has also been fined for hanging a banner. An indictment that was drafted after the Urfa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into Emine Şenyaşar on charges of “insulting a public officer” seeks a jail sentence of up to four years for her.
They were briefly detained in March, and their placards have repeatedly been seized by the police.
Esvet Şenyaşar and two of his sons, Adil and Celal, were brutally murdered on June 14, 2018 in Şanlıurfa province.
They were initially attacked in their store and taken to a hospital. However, they were followed by the family of AKP deputy Yıldız to the hospital, where they were ultimately killed. Eight more people were injured during clashes between the two groups. An older brother of Yıldız was also killed.
According to Ferit Şenyaşar, bullets from 17 different guns were retrieved from the body of one of his brothers.
Two brothers of the Şenyaşar family, Ferit and Fadıl, who were injured but survived, were later detained, and Fadıl Şenyaşar was arrested. However, none of Yıldız’s relatives or his bodyguards were detained despite the fact that three people had died.
Only 15 months later, on September 18, 2020, was Yıldız’s older brother Enver Yıldız arrested.
The Yıldız family claimed the Kurdish Şenyaşar family had links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and that they had been victims of terrorism.
