Following Önkol’s death, allegations surfaced that a military mortar shell had caused the tragedy. The General Staff, however, denied these claims. A criminal report released earlier this month found the girl responsible for her own death. The report said she had accidentally detonated an unexploded grenade previously launched by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) while playing with it.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday, Önkol’s brother, Rıfat Önkol, said, “What we want from officials is for them to find the perpetrators as soon as possible.” He also stated that his mother goes to the site of the incident every day to cry. Önkol said: “We, too, are human beings and citizens of this country. They say Kurds and Turks are brothers; then this bloodshed should be stopped. All we ask of the authorities is that this case be illuminated as soon as possible. No statement has been made, even though a month has passed since the incident occurred.”
He said his family members had been summoned by the prosecutor of Diyarbakır’s Lice district and had testified, giving details of the incident. He also said they had pressed charges against the relevant authorities for their inaction in investigating his sister’s death.
Önkol stated that the prosecutor’s failure to show up at the site of the explosion at the time of the initial investigation had marred their trust in justice. “We too are Turkish citizens. We want to see justice applied to us as well.”
Serdar Çelebi, a lawyer for the family, said expert reports regarding the incident had been kept from them. “Initially there was a confidentiality ruling on the case. Then they gave the court a copy of the expert report. We do not know what the contents of the report are. It is impossible for us to raise any healthy objections in this situation. We will review the report first and then raise our objections.”
Meanwhile, an investigation into Lice Prosecutor Mustafa Kamil Çolak filed by the family is under way. An additional probe into gendarmerie officers who allegedly refused to take the prosecutor to the scene of the blast, citing security reasons, is also still under way.
