The number of suspects has increased to 14 over the murder of seven people from a Kurdish family in Konya, a central province in Turkey. The victims family and their lawyer have stated that the attack was racially motivated, planned and organised. The prosecutors in Konya, however, have rejected these claims by stating that there was an ”ongoing dispute/fight between two families”, MA reports.
The lawyer representing the family of the victims of the massacre in Konya said he believed that the massacre wasn’t a spontaneous outcome of events but a carefully orchestrated act that was carried out professionally.
Speaking to MA, Abdurrahman Karabulut based his assumption on two factors. Firstly, considering that the perpetrators in spontaneous crime cases are usually captured very quickly by the police, the fact that the prime suspect of the massacre was at large for three days showed that: “They’d planned for their escape, and someone has orchestrated it carefully.”
“The fact that the perpetrator hasn’t been caught for three days is a clear indication that the massacre was planned, orchestrated,” he emphasized. “It is an indication that the perpetrator didn’t act on his own; that there were other people behind it. It also indicates that there are some very good professionals among those behind this.”
Karabulut also drew attention to the forensic report that indicated that the victims were shot using 20 bullets, therefore using more than a single cartridge, mostly to the head. He stated that this implied a professional act as well.
Noting that the prime suspect of the massacre was the brother of one of the people involved in the previous attack on the family on 12 May, Karabulut quoted some of the statements that were made after that incident. He described how the assailants on that occasion had identified themselves as “idealists,” meaning ultra-nationalist right wingers in the Turkish political context.
“Barış Dedeoğulları, who was attacked on 12 May, had made a statement afterwards. ‘I heard Yahya and Veli say, ‘We’re idealists, we’ll throw you out of here,’ he said. Sibel Dedeoğulları, who was injured on 12 May and was murdered on Friday, had made a statement too. She had stated that everyone, including Ayşe Keleş, started hitting them with sticks. ‘Veli grabbed Serpil by her hair and punched her arm, her head. Then, he turned towards us and said, ‘I’ll throw you out of here. I’m an idealist,’ he said.”
Karabulut underlined that although five of his now murdered seven clients had made statements that the previous attack was committed with racist intent, the Interior Minister, the City Administrator and the Chief Prosecutor ignored all of these statements. Their conclusions that the attack wasn’t committed with racist motives, means they are covering up this crime,” he said.
