Eighteen sentenced to life for killing teenagers during clashes in Turkey’s southeast

ANKARA

AA photo

An Ankara court sentenced 18 people to life in prison for their involvement in the murder of four young people, including teenager Yasin Börü, during unrest in 2014 between supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Islamist Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

Ankara’s 2nd Court of Serious Crimes gave 16 convicts five aggravated life sentences each. Two others were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, while six other juveniles were convicted to 110 years in jail each.    
Meanwhile, 13 of the suspects were acquitted.  
 
The court said the sentence had been handed down to the convicts for “killing by torture and with atrocious feelings” as well as “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state.”

Börü’s father, Fikri Börü, said it would be better if the instigator had been sentenced but even so, “this decision is a relief for us.” 

One of the other victims’ father, Mehmet Gökguz, said they had been facing difficulties for two years while waiting for the court decision.

“When the lawyers of the suspects were talking, my heart was about to stop. But finally, my heart started to beat normally tonight. May Allah bless them! The press did not stop following the case,” he added.  
 
On Oct. 5, 2014, 16-year-old Börü and three friends, Ahmet Dakak, Riyat Güneş and Hasan Gökguz, were killed during clashes on the streets that led to the death of dozens of people. 

The unrest began amid street protests calling for the government to take action for the Syrian Kurds trapped by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Kobane in northern Syria. Around 50 people were killed in violence around Turkey.