Istanbul courthouse captors laid to rest

GİRESUN - Doğan News Agency

Gendarmerie forces took security measures around the house of Şafak Yayla’s family in the northern province of Giresun during the funeral on April 2. CİHAN Photo

The two far-leftist militants who were killed by security forces after they took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage on March 31 inside an Istanbul courthouse were laid to rest on April 2. 

Şafak Yayla, one of the captors of 46-year-old Kiraz, was laid to rest in his hometown of Çanakçı’s Karabörk village, which is located in the northern province of Giresun. 

A group of around 20 people objected to Yayla’s burial and chanted slogans stating they did not want a “terrorist” in their village. Yayla was buried near his family home, which the gendarmerie had built barricades around. 

Bulut Yayla was also present at the funeral. He was the brother of Şafak Yayla and was responsible for the formation of the DHKP-C’s youth group. He had been released from prison in 2014 after being detained by security forces while trying to enter the country through the northwestern province of Edirne in 2013.

Bahtiyar Doğruyol, the other captor in the hostage crisis, was laid to rest in Ankara’s Karşıyaka cemetery on April 2, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. While a small group of people consisting of Doğruyol’s family and friends attended the funeral, a few people from the group threw stones at press members, who wanted to take video footage and photos of the burial. 

Meanwhile, sources from the police department said the bullets that came out of Kiraz’s body belonged to the guns of the militants, daily Hürriyet reported on its website April 2. 

Yayla and Doğruyol, who both have alleged links to the DHKP-C, took Kiraz, the prosecutor in the controversial case into the killing of Gezi victim Berkin Elvan, hostage on March 31 in Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse. Kiraz succumbed to injuries sustained during the six-hour hostage drama, while his two captors were killed by security forces.