A Turkish court has acquitted a police officer in the case of Miraç Miroğlu, a 7-year-old boy on a bicycle who was crushed to death by an armored vehicle driven by officer Metin Kiraz in southeastern Turkey, due to the failure of the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) to establish the speed of the vehicle despite available video footage, the Artı Gerçek news website reported on Wednesday.
The court said the child’s actions were the main reason leading to the accident while finding the officer fault-free based on the ATK report.
Lawyers for Miroğlu’s family announced that they will appeal the acquittal, maintaining that the evidence is sufficient to establish the speed of the vehicle.
Miroğlu was hit and killed by an armored vehicle in the predominantly Kurdish-populated Şırnak province in September 2021.
He was riding a bicycle when he was hit and was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Local prosecutors launched an investigation into the incident, which was classified as a fatal traffic accident, without detaining the vehicle’s driver after his testimony.
The police report concluded that Miraç was the primarily negligent party in the accident as he acted with “carelessness” and failed to take notice of a stop sign in the street.
He did not reduce his speed when nearing the intersection and violated the right of way, it said.
The only fault attributed to the armored vehicle’s driver was his failure to reduce his speed when nearing the intersection.
The killing of civilians by military vehicles is common in Turkey’s Southeast, where there is a heavy military presence due to ongoing clashes between the Turkish military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to a report published in 2023 by the Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır branch, 44 people, including 21 children, have been killed in accidents involving armored vehicles over the past 15 years.
In May 2017 two children were killed when an armored police vehicle rammed into their house in the Silopi district of Şırnak province while the children were asleep.
Seven-year-old Berfin Dilek was also hit and killed by an armored police vehicle on her way home from school in the Dargeçit district of southeastern Mardin province in February 2017.
