Turkey was shocked by the murder of a musician at a nightclub in Ankara on Sunday in which some employees from a state ministry and a public agency were allegedly involved, Turkish Minute reported.
Musician Onur Şener, 45, was seriously injured, allegedly by a group of customers, at a nightclub in Ankara’s Çankaya district following a row that erupted over a song request. He later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.
The dispute reportedly erupted when Şener told the customers that he didn’t know the song they requested him to sing.
Haluk Levent, a Turkish rock star and human rights activist, on Monday revealed in a series of tweets that the people who killed Şener, a father of two, were bureaucrats from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security whom he identified as ALİ G. and İLKER K. in addition to Semih S., an engineer at Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).
Şimdi Ahbaplar bildirdi.
Katillerden ikisi Çalışma Bakanlığında müfettiş, bir tanesi TAI da çalışıyor.
Daha da şoktayım.
Onur’un yüzünü bardaklarla parçalamışlar 🙁 #OnurŞener pic.twitter.com/ny6djMukaq— Haluk Levent (@haluklevent) October 2, 2022
“I’m even more shocked [now that I found out] they smashed Onur’s face with [broken] glass,” Levent added.
Five people were detained in connection to the musician’s murder. Three of the suspects, two bureaucrats and an engineer at TAI, were arrested, while two other suspects were released under judicial supervision on Monday.
The development sparked outrage among celebrities and social media users in Turkey, who criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for its policy of impunity for public servants.
“The killers beat and killed Onur Şener because he didn’t know the song they requested! At the end of the night, they waited for him to come out of the bar and ambushed him. It doesn’t matter what we write or say. We should be ashamed at where this country has come to,” Turkish actor Mert Fırat said.
Ankarada bir barda, katiller istedikleri şarkıyı bilmiyor diye #OnurŞener ‘i darp edip öldürmüş! Gecenin sonunda bardan çıkmasını bekleyip pusu kurmuşlar.
Ne yazsan ne söylesen boş. Yazıklar olsun bu düzenin geldiği yere.
Ailesine sabırlar dilerim. Mekanı cennet olsun… https://t.co/phEnVk4XbX— Mert FIRAT (@mert__firat) October 2, 2022
Political oppression in Turkey increased dramatically after an attempted coup on July 15, 2016. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is frequently criticized for establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges. He is also criticized for following a policy of impunity for public servants, especially those among the ranks of law enforcement, which legitimizes the ill-treatment and torture of dissidents in the country.
