Slain protester’s body not permitted at murder scene for fear of fresh tensions

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Mourners placed flowers on a desk featuring Gedik’s photo, sang songs and danced folk dances at Gülsuyu Square. DHA Photo

The body of a 21-year-old victim who was shot to death Sept. 30 when drug dealers opened fire on leftists protesting their activity in an Istanbul neighborhood has still not been buried as police refuse to permit any ceremony at the scene of his murder.

A memorial service was held yesterday for Hasan Ferit Gedik at Gülsuyu Square, who was shot and killed over the weekend while protesting the presence of drug gangs in Gülsuyu in Maltepe district, amid tension between police and mourners.

Many locals have accused police of doing too little to crack down on drug gangs in the area and of having destroyed evidence in Gedik’s case.

Friends and family initially sought to bring Gedik’s body to the point where he was killed by anonymous gang members, but the police refused to allow the commemoration, citing the risk of a return to violence between leftists and drug sellers.

A 200-person group protested the police’s actions by chanting slogans.

Mourners placed flowers on a desk featuring Gedik’s photo, sang songs and danced folk dances, in line with Gedik’s will which he had tweeted a day before dying.

They also erected a “Hasan Ferit Gedik Square” nameplate on the wall around the square.

Later, the group boarded a bus for the Armutlu Cemevi, where Gedik’s body was kept, in order to attend the funeral.

Police took tight security measures on the bus’ route as well.

Officers have been seriously criticized for failing to crack down on drug traffickers operating in the neighborhood, while family accused plainclothes police of attempting to destroy evidence in the wake of Gedik’s shooting.

Nine members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) suffered gunshot wounds in August when suspected gang members raked them with bullets during a previous anti-gang protest.