Ten get aggravated life sentence for 2015 Ankara bombing

ANKARA

Ten defendants were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on July 1 in the trial over the 2015 ISIL bomb attack that targeted a crowd gathered in front of the capital Ankara's train station for a rally.

An Ankara court delivered the sentences nearly nine years after the attack, the deadliest suicide bombing in Türkiye's history.

The 2015 attack involved two suicide bombings three seconds apart, resulting in 103 fatalities and over 500 injuries. Out of the 26 defendants charged, 16 suspected ISIL members remain at large.

Yakup Şahin, Hakan Şahin, Resul Demir, İbrahim Halil Alçay, Hacı Ali Durmaz, Erman Ekici, Talha Güneş, Hüseyin Tunç and Metin Akaltın each received 101 counts of aggravated life imprisonment for the murder of 103 people and 379 counts of 18 years in prison each for the attempted murder.

The court acquitted Ekici of crimes against humanity and decided to separate the case against fugitive defendants.

During the hearing, Ekici's lawyer submitted an excuse for his absence, but the court ruled that the lawyer was "trying to prolong the trial" and appointed a defense counsel for him.

The court saw attendance from victims' relatives and representatives from various political parties and non-governmental organizations.

The "Labor, Peace and Democracy Rally" was planned for Oct. 10, 2015, with participants scheduled to gather at the capital's train station at 10 a.m. and march to Sıhhiye Square. However, at 10:04 a.m., two explosions occurred.

The indictment identified the suicide bombers as Yunus Emre Alagöz, born in 1990, and a Syrian national whose identity remains undetermined.

Yunus Emre Alagöz's older brother, Abdurrahman Alagöz, was the perpetrator of a previous suicide attack in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa's Suruç district in July 2015, which killed 34 and injured over 100 people.

The Ankara bombing occurred days before the scheduled general elections on Nov. 1, 2015.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and others condemned the attack and called it an "attempt to cause division within Türkiye."

Various political parties ended up canceling their election campaigns, while three days of national mourning were declared by then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.