A memorial was held in front of the Four Pillared Minaret in Sur for Amed Bar Association President Tahir Elci, who was murdered by the minaret by state forces 3 years ago today. Large groups of lawyers, Elci’s widow Turkan Elci, representatives from bar associations and bar association unions from Antep, Izmir and Ankara as well as Turkish Bar Associations (TTB), Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Amed MPs Remziye Tosun, Selcuk Mizrakli and Musa Farisogullari were present in the memorial organized by the Amed Bar Association.

“HE NEVER TOOK ANY STEPS BACK”

A march was held starting from the Diyarbakir Court House where the group held a banner that read, “There are no murders the state can’t bring to light, there are murders the state doesn’t bring to light”. The march was surrounded by the police as the group advanced towards the Four Pillared Minaret, and when they reached the minaret the group played a voice recording of Elci reading a press statement there before the murder.

Amed Bar Association President Cihan Aydin spoke in the demonstration and said, “His murder made the headlines, those who feed off of the lynch culture raced one another,” and added that Elci never took any steps back despite everything.

POINTING OUT THE GOVERNMENT’S LIES

The Bar Association President said authorities claimed they would bring the murder to light and added: “They said that, but it has been 3 years. They haven’t advanced an inch. They couldn’t even collect the bullet casings. Some video recordings disappeared, some cameras ‘malfunctioned’, some footage was ‘somehow’ deleted. The report the Inspection Committee prepared has been kept from us and it still is. Promises were not kept once again, and the perpetrators continue to walk among us. They want to make everybody forget the Tahir Elci case as another one amongst thousands of unidentified murders. But we won’t allow that. We will continue to follow the case, with the insistence Tahir Elci had, and we will have the perpetrators face justice.”

Aydin stressed that Hrant Dink’s murder had the same mechanics at play.

Pointing out the curfews period, Aydin continued: “Mr. Elci had stressed that we have a great responsibility so this chaotic and dark time doesn’t create even more severe outcomes. As such, according to human rights organizations, 79 children, 71 women and a total of at least 321 civilians lost their lives in curfews in Silvan, Cizre, Nusaybin, Yuksekova, Idil, Sirnak and Sur. One million six hundred thousand people were directly affected by the curfews.”

Aydin added: “The state has made it clear which side they are on, as they chose to ban the righteous, legitimate and legal demonstrations by the Satuday Mothers who have been gathering for years to find out about the fate of their loved ones, instead of bringing the perpetrators of thousands of unidentified murders and forced disappearances to justice. We repeat once again that as Tahir Elci’s friends and allies, we stand with the Saturday Mothers and we share their pain and their demands.”