Justice Vigil of Şenyaşar family on day 317

Since 9 March 2021, Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit have been holding a vigil in front of the courthouse in Urfa every day to demand punishment for the murderers of her husband Hacı Esvet and her sons Celal and Adil. The three men had been killed by AKP MP Ibrahim Halil Yıldız’s armed bodyguards and relatives during a campaign tour in 2018, just days before the parliamentary and presidential elections. Only one of 23 attackers involved is in prison. The trial is delayed, and the Turkish judiciary shows no interest in solving the murders and punishing the perpetrators. Instead, the bereaved families of the dead become victims of systematic repression. Fadıl Şenyaşar, another son of Emine Şenyaşar, survived the lynching attempt and was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the murder of one of the attackers – who was proven to have been shot by his own people.

Today, Emine Şenyaşar could not come to the courthouse due to health problems. Her son Ferit Şenyaşar set off alone from the family home in Suruç district, 42 kilometres away, to Urfa to continue the vigil which is on its 317th day. Snow has fallen in the region and the roads are dangerous. “We have already stated several times that we will stay here in front of the Palace of Justice under any circumstances until justice is done to us. Only when justice is implemented will we go home,” Ferit Şenyaşar said, writing “317th day” in the snow on the wall in front of the courthouse. The police then arrived and demanded that he erase the writing in the snow, because that is forbidden on public buildings. Ferit Şenyaşar refused, whereupon the police officers wiped the wall themselves.

Emine and Ferit Şenyaşar have already been detained several times during their vigil. At the instigation of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu of the AKP and his party colleague Ibrahim Halil Yıldız, a criminal case has been brought against seventy-year-old Emine Şenyaşar for insulting people and she faces up to four years in prison.