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Investigation into girl’s death in Diyarbakır raises doubts
Attorneys on behalf of the Önkol family went to Lice this week only to find they were not allowed to investigate on site and were only able to see photographs taken by journalists.
Önkol, 14, died in an explosion on Sept. 28. An autopsy was performed under the authority of the Lice Chief Prosecutor's Office on the same day at the Abalı Gendarmerie Station. Her family had been complaining about the lack of state authority in the area to investigate the incident properly, as reported by the Taraf daily.
The next day, the Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Medical Doctors' Association and the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (Mazlum-Der) investigated the area. They reported that Ceylan's internal organs were scattered over an area of 150 square meters.
İHD Diyarbakır branch head Serdar Çelebi said if Ceylan had stepped on a mine, there would be a crater; however, no evidence of shell remnants was found on her feet. He also said that if Ceylan had been playing with a mine, her hands and face would have been mutilated, but they were intact.
Additionally, a report that will be prepared based on an investigation of the pieces of the shell is expected to be released soon from the police department.
Meanwhile, some of the members of the Önkol family, father Raif, mother Saliha and brother Rıfat, were recalled to the Lice Chief Prosecutor's Office to testify again. The prosecutor's office also called the village muhtar to give testimony. The family and the muhtar are expected to be asked about their statements in the press. Rıfat Önkol had told the Taraf daily that they had called officials upon finding his sister dead and eventually found out that the officials feared for their safety if they traveled to the region; they asked the family to bring the body of the girl to nearby the Abalı Station.
The girl's family said that a mortar fell from an unknown location overlooking the village and then they found pieces of Ceylan's body in the branches of trees. They waited for six hours for the arrival of a doctor and prosecutor, but no one arrived. The only place located on ground higher than the village is a military outpost overlooking the area. There are suspicions that the mortar shell might have come from the military post.
Members of the relief organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) visited the family, giving them food and clothing. Officials from the relief agency shared the pain of the family, who claimed they were being discriminated against because they are of Kurdish origin.
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