A Turkish regional appeals court on Wednesday handed down a suspended 18-month sentence to a police officer for the killing of a 16-year-old Kurdish teenager who was shot in southeastern Turkey in 2015, the Mezopotamya News Agency reported.
The Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice convicted police officer Süleyman Esenboğa of causing Mazlum Turan’s death by negligence and barred him from public service for one year. The court suspended the sentence, meaning Esenboğa will not serve time in prison unless he commits a similar offense within the next five years.
Turan was shot in the head and killed on August 29, 2015, in the Kızıltepe district of Mardin province after police opened fire on a car he was driving when it allegedly failed to stop at a checkpoint. Two other youngsters were in the vehicle. His family said at the time that he had tried to drive away because he did not have a driver’s license.
Esenboğa maintained that he did not aim at Turan and that the bullet ricocheted off the ground, passed through the vehicle’s window and struck the teenager. Lawyers for Turan’s family disputed that account and argued that the officer should be convicted of intentional killing.
The case went through several rounds of proceedings over more than a decade. The Mardin 1st High Criminal Court initially sentenced Esenboğa in 2019 to three years in prison for causing death by negligence, reducing the sentence to just over a year.
After that ruling was overturned, the Mardin 5th High Criminal Court convicted Esenboğa of intentional injury resulting in death and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, later reducing the sentence to 10 years.
The Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice subsequently overturned the 10-year sentence and ruled that there were no grounds for punishment, finding that Turan’s death resulted from an unavoidable mistake.
The Supreme Court of Appeals overturned that decision in June, ruling that Esenboğa should have anticipated the risk of death when he opened fire but failed to exercise due care. Following the ruling the regional appeals court held a new hearing and handed down the 18-month sentence on Wednesday.
Erdal Kuzu, a lawyer representing Turan’s family, said they would challenge the latest ruling. Kuzu said similar cases involving children killed by law enforcement officers had frequently ended without effective punishment, describing the handling of such cases as part of a policy of impunity.
Kuzu also criticized the length of proceedings, which lasted more than 11 years, saying prolonged judicial processes can cause cases to fade from public attention and discourage families from seeking accountability.
The case adds to longstanding concerns over impunity in Turkey, particularly in cases involving Kurdish civilians killed by security forces, including shootings and collisions with armored vehicles. In several such cases, police officers have been acquitted or received sentences that were later reduced or converted into fines.
Human rights groups say flawed investigations, decisions of non-prosecution and delays in judicial proceedings have repeatedly prevented accountability in such incidents.
