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Şanlıurfa (Riha) Bar Association chairman Mehmet Velat İzol on Monday spoke out against the lack of progress made in the Turkish justice system while attending a Kurdish family’s silent vigil on its 526th day.
The Şenyaşar family have been sitting silently everyday for the past 18 months in front of a courthouse in Turkey’s southeastern Şanlıurfa (Riha) province as part of their campaign to attain justice. Three members of the Şenyaşar family were killed four years ago in a violent altercation with the family and security detail of a local Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP ahead of the 2018 presidential elections.
İzol and two other members of the bar association joined the silent vigil with the family on Monday. “If the officials have not implemented the laws for 526 days, they have to explain to the public and the family what they have been doing for 526 days,” İzol said.
No progress had been achieved in the investigation into the brutal murders of the Şenyaşar family members, İzol said, calling for the Turkish authorities to keep their promises. Officials who started the investigation have been appointed to other places in Turkey, causing disruption in the continuity of the investigation, according to İzol.
Human rights groups, who support the Şenyaşar family in their quest for justice, would keep supporting this silent vigil, he concluded.
Human rights associations, lawyers, activists and politicians have all joined the vigil since its start to show their solidarity with the family. .
