Berkin Elvan remembered on the eighth anniversary of his death

Berkin Elvan is the youngest victim of the 2013 Gezi Park resistance. The boy was seriously injured by a tear gas cartridge fired by police while he was trying to buy bread on the fringes of the protests in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighbourhood. Berkin Elvan was in a coma for 269 days and succumbed to his injuries on 11 March 2014 at the age of 15. At the Feriköy cemetery in Istanbul’s Şişli district, many people gathered at his grave today to remember Berkin Elvan.

The graveside service was attended by family members, friends and members of the political opposition, including CHP Istanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu and HDP MP Musa Piroğlu. Berkin’s father, Sami Elvan, gave a moving speech in which he addressed the legal struggle for the just punishment of those responsible for his son’s death. “The policeman Fatih Dalgalı, who fired the grenade at our child, has indeed been sentenced to life imprisonment. But because this decision has not yet been confirmed by the court, he is still at liberty. In contrast, my wife and I are constantly confronted with court proceedings on charges of insulting public officials, because we demand legal consequences for all those responsible: for the perpetrator of the act, those giving the orders, the governor, the police headquarters and all other culprits. We will fight until we win. Not only for justice for our own child, but all victims of state violence.”

Berkin’s mother, Gülsüm Elvan, also addressed a few words to those present. “Sooner or later, those who, out of political opportunism, refuse to enforce the law effectively and undermine the foundation on which everyone depends will have to admit defeat. Those responsible for Berkin’s death will eventually face the accountability we demand. Until then, our struggle for life not death, peace not war, justice not injustice continues unwaveringly.”

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