MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – On September 28, 2009, 12-year-old Ceylan Önkol was killed by a howitzer fired from the Yayla Police Station while she was grazing animals in the Xambaz hamlet of Şenlik village of Diyarbakır’s Lice district. She was buried in Yayla Demirlibağ (Dolek) hamlet, where her family lives. 13 years have passed but Ceylan is still 12 years old. As the “Hiroshima Child’ poem of Nazım Hikmet says, “I am a seven years old girl, when children die they do not grow.” Ceylan was neither the first nor the last killed children in Turkey.

No one has stood trial for killing her

13 years have passed since the incident took place but no one has stood trial for killing her. The investigation launched into the incident resulted in non-prosecution. The lawyers applied to the European Court of the Human Rights (ECtHR) after all domestic remedies were exhausted; however, the ECtHR decided that Turkey had not violated any laws or regulations.

All applications were rejected

The lawyers of the Önkol family were not informed about the investigation launched into the incident due to the confidentiality decision during the investigation. The lawyers’ applications for the abolition of confidentiality in the investigation were rejected. In 2010, the lawyers of the Önkol family applied to the ECtHR, trying to reject the confidentiality decision taken during the investigation. In 2012, the lawyers applied to the ECtHR again because the investigation was not conducted effectively and impartially, requests for deepening the investigation were rejected, and despite the long time span, no suspects were found. On January 17, 2017, after five years, ECtHR decided that Turkey had not violated any laws or regulations.

The cost of a life is 28,208 Turkish Lira!

On 30 April 2014, the Lice Chief Public Prosecutor's office, conducting the investigation, concluded that the evidence and reports in the file were inadequate for the detection of the perpetrators and decided to issue a "permanent search order" for the case. Thereupon, the family filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Interior at the Diyarbakır 2nd Administrative Court, and requested that the Ministry pay them 100,000 Turkish liras in pecuniary and 150,000 Turkish liras in non-pecuniary damages. The Diyarbakır 2nd Administrative Court rejected their request for non-pecuniary damages and ruled that her family should be paid 28,208 Turkish liras in pecuniary damages. On May 16, 2019, the Council of State overturned the court decision. On March 8, 2021, the Diyarbakır 2nd Administrative Court ruled that her family should be paid 283 Turkish lira in pecuniary damages and non-pecuniary damages.

64 children were killed in the last 10 years

In 2021, The Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch released its “Report on Violations of the Right to Life of Children During Armed Conflicts Between 2011-2021”. 228 children were killed, 64 of them were killed by police officers or soldiers in the last 10 years, according to the report. The provinces with the highest number of deaths were Şırnak, Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Mardin and Antep. 64 children were killed as a result of gunfire by law enforcement officers, and 62 children were killed by bombs, the report said.

“Permanent search order was issued after 12 years”

“Ceylan Önkol was neither the first nor the last child to be deprived of her right to life in the region,” said Ezgi Sıla Demir, deputy chair of the İHD Diyarbakır Branch. Ezgi Sıla Demir noted that a permanent search order was issued for the case after 12 years, “The perpetrators were not detected and went unpunished. After the death of Ceylan Önkol, dozens of children have been killed in the region by armored vehicles. We shared the number of children, who were killed by armored vehicles in the last 10 years, in our report.”

Underlining that the reason for children deaths in the region is the policy of impunity, Ezgi Sıla Demir said that this policy encourages the perpetrators to commit crimes. “If Ceylan was alive now, she would be a young woman having dreams. Unfortunately, she died while grazing animals. If the perpetrators of Ceylan had been found and punished, dozens of children would not have been killed by armored vehicles. If the perpetrators had not gone unpunished, they would not openly commit crimes. Unfortunately, law enforcement officers kill citizens instead of protecting them due to the policy of impunity.”

Recalling that people were killed by armored vehicles while they were sleeping at their homes or walking on the streets, Ezgi Sıla Demir said that the perpetrators have gone unpunished.

“Actually, this situation shows the policies being carried out in the region. If there was an effective enforcement process, if the state could bring those who were responsible to account, such incidents would not have occurred. This policy of impunity encourages other law enforcement officers because they see how law enforcement officers go unpunished even if they kill people. They think they will also go unpunished. Unfortunately, the lives of Kurdish citizens are seen as unimportant. They do not have the right to be an equal citizen in this country.”