Gezi victim Ali İsmail Korkmaz commemorated in emotional gathering

ESKİŞEHİR – Doğan News Agency

In an emotional scene, the victim’s father, Şahap Korkmaz, kissed the picture of his son after it was laid in front of the bakery where the beating occurred.

Over a thousand people gathered in Eskişehir to commemorate Gezi victim Ali İsmail Korkmaz on June 2, who was fatally beaten by plainclothes police officers a year ago before dying on July 10 in a coma due to injuries sustained in the incident.

Demonstrators opened a banner in memory of the 19-year-old student reading “Some are buried in dust, some are buried in hearts” as they marched to the spot where Korkmaz was brutally beaten to death.

In an emotional scene, the victim’s father, Şahap Korkmaz, who traveled from the southern province of Hatay for the commemoration, kissed the picture of his son after it was laid in front of the bakery where the beating occurred.

The victim’s brother Gürkan Korkmaz, who is also acting as the family’s lawyer in the trial, vowed that those responsible for the deadly assault would not go unpunished.

“We know that instead of extinguishing the life of a 19-year-old kid as they were thinking, they have on the contrary made him immortal. They might have killed Ali İsmail in this street, but they have created millions of Ali İsmails. They have given us thousands of brothers and sisters, sons and daughters,” said Korkmaz, while calling for non-violence in demonstrations for Gezi protesters.

“We will get Ali İsmail’s rights in time. But as a family, we ask you not to be vile against villains. Be safe. May no more mothers cry. Ali’s account cannot be rendered and claimed with blood,” Korkmaz said.

The trial into the murder started in February in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, after it was controversially moved from Eskişehir following a decision from the Justice Ministry for alleged security reasons.

The eight murder suspects, include four police officers, have denied administrating the fatal beating during the first three hearings.

But footage showing the beating that emerged last year has triggered nationwide outrage, drawing global attention to the amount of impunity with which Turkish police officers are permitted to act.