Volkan Uyar, a survivor of the Suruç Massacre in Turkey, was detained on the second anniversary of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) fatal suicide attack, which killed 33 people; and he has been placed in a cell next to the ISIL suspects, reported by BirGün daily on Friday.
The 2015 Suruç bombing took place in Suruç district of Turkey’s Şanlıurfa province on July 20, 2015, outside the Amara Culture Centre. As a result of the terrorist attack 33 people were killed and 104 people were injured. Most victims were members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Youth Wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), university-ages students who were giving a press statement on their planned trip to reconstruct the Syrian border town of Kobani. Kobani was destructed by ISIL attacks.
According to the report written by journalist Erk Acarer, since a confidentiality order has been issued on the file against Uyar, even his lawyers have yet to be able to see the content of the probe and charges against him.
Held in İstanbul’s Vatan Police Department, Uyar said the following through his lawyers: “Same practices have continued since the Massacre. Instead of going after public officials whose negligence can even be considered as an act done ‘on purpose’ or going after the suspects of ISIL, authorities have been pressuring the survivors, witnesses, and the families of those who lost their lives. There is a reason behind this. They are using it as a tactic to frustrate those who are going after the case and they are actually telling them to let this go!”
“The fact that a survivor of Suruç Massacre gets taken into custody on the anniversary of the massacre and that he even gets placed in a cell in prison next to the cells where ISIL suspects are held is viewed by lawyers of the case as implied message of authorities in Turkey”, reported BirGün.
Birgün reported that although they have not been able to see the content of the file because of the confidentiality order, lawyers suspect that Uyar will probably be accused of ‘terror support’ – like it has been the case with other similar files – for having attended funerals of those who had died while fighting against ISIL in Kobani.
July 22, 2017
