Commemorations have been held for university student Kemal Kurkut, who was killed by police in 2017 during Newroz celebrations in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish Diyarbakır (Amed).
The memorial event took place at the site where Kurkut was fatally shot, despite being unarmed and shirtless, at the entrance checkpoint to the celebration area.
A photo of Kurkut was displayed and carnations laid at the site. Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the Peoples’ Democracy and Equality (DEM) Party, spoke at the commemoration and expressed his respect and honour for Kurkut. He emphasised a commitment to the memory of Kurkut and the pursuit of justice.
Abdurrahman Gök, the journalist who originally documented the shooting, took to Twitter on Thursday to retell Kurkut’s story.
Police shot Kurkut even though he was in a vulnerable state and surrounded by various security forces, triggering a series of investigations and court cases.
But despite evidence pointing to police culpability, including eyewitness accounts and forensic analysis, the legal process has been marred by inconsistencies and delays.
The governor at the time said Kurkut had brandished a knife at the police checkpoint on the way to the area where the festival was taking place. The police claimed that the young man was a suicide bomber.
Gök’s series of photographs showed Kurkut, topless and holding a water bottle in one hand and an object that may or may not have been a knife in the other, running with his back to the police and collapsing shortly afterwards after being shot in the back.
One officer was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, while another faced minimal consequences.
Gök, on the other hand, was subsequently arrested and tried several times for his documentation of the police shooting. The prosecution claimed that Gök had taken the photos in question “on the orders of an illegal organisation”.