A red notice was issued in Turkey on Wednesday for Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez, a special operations police officer implicated in the 2015 killing of 12-year-old Kurdish boy Nihat Kazanhan in Cizre (Cizîr), Şırnak (Şirnex).
The notice was issued at the fifth hearing of the case involving the death of Kazanhan at the Cizre 1st Heavy Penal Court.
Kazanhan’s family and members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Cizre branch were present at the hearing. Osman Cingöz, the lawyer representing Kazanhan’s family, reiterated previous requests for a red notice to be issued for the search of the accused police officer.
In presenting its interim opinion, the prosecution suggested issuing a red notice for Göçmez and advised instructing district governorships to determine the addresses of the accused’s relatives and family in case he is in the country.
The court, without announcing an interim decision, resolved to issue the notice for Göçmez, considering the likelihood of him having left the country through illegal means.
The next hearing in the case has been postponed to 13 March.
Twelve-year-old Nihat Kazanhan was killed on 14 January 2015 in Cizre’s Yafes Mahallesi. The incident occurred when Kazanhan and his friends, accused of throwing stones at an armoured police vehicle, were fired upon by the police. Kazanhan was fatally hit by a tear gas canister.
The Constitutional Court of Turkey (AYM) ruled that Kazanhan’s right to life was violated. Initially, Göçmez was found responsible, and received a sentence of 13 years and 4 months in prison, reduced on the grounds of unjust provocation. However, following the AYM’s decision, which opposed the reduction, a retrial for Göçmez was opened.