Killing of Kemal Kurkut by police was ‘within legal framework’, says the appeals court

The trial over the killing of Kemal Kurkut, who was shot to death by police during the 2017 Newroz in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır, has once again ended in impunity.

The Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeals, has said that “no offense can be attributed to the police officer on trial” and concluded that the murder was committed “within legal framework”.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the 1st Penal Chamber of the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice has finalized the appeals lodged by the plaintiffs against the ruling of acquittal given for police officer Y.Ş. by the Diyarbakır 7th High Criminal Court.

Discussing whether the killing of Kurkut was “within legal boundaries or not”, the appeals court has concluded that the failure of the local court to base the acquittal on this consideration posed a deficiency on procedural grounds and overturned the related local court ruling.

Referring to the Article 17 of Turkey’s Constitution on “right to life”, the appeals court has argued that the acts of death and killing in compulsory situations shall not be considered “violations of right to life”.

Background

Kemal Kurkut was shot dead by the police at the security checkpoint on Evrim Alataş street near Newroz Park in Diyarbakır on March 21, 2017.

In the photos taken at the incident time, Kurkut was seen bare-chested quarreling with police at the checkpoint and starting to run passing through the checkpoint. Some police officers fired in the air, some fired on him.

Dihaber reported that Kemal Kurkut was shot despite a police chief ordering “Don’t shoot”.

Diyarbakır Governor’s Office declared that Kurkut had a knife in his hand, he was “suspected to be a suicide attacker”, and an investigation was launched into the incident.

Put on trial for killing Kemal Kurkut “with eventual intent”, police officer Y.Ş. has been acquitted by the court. In the hearing of the lawsuit held at the Diyarbakır 7th Heavy Penal Court on November 17, 2021, the court ruled that police officer Y.Ş. should be acquitted and criminal complaints should be filed against 72 police officers to identify the possible suspects.

An appeals court has also overturned a ruling that the Ministry of Interior should pay compensation to the family of Kemal Kurkut.

Born in Adıyaman, Kemal Kurkut was a student at the İnönü University Fine Arts Faculty Department of Music. His funeral was held on March 22 in Battalgazi district of Malatya province.