We commemorate the 9th anniversary of the Suruç Massacre with the same grief. On the 20th of July, 2015, there was a suicide bombing attack in Suruç district of Urfa province, in Amara Cultural Center where 300 young socialists, members of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) were making press release; 33 young people lost their lives, more than 100 people wounded.
This bombing attack was clearly an attack targeting civilians which means a crime against humanity.
Suruç district of Urfa province, is a region next to the border passage point called Mürşitpınar where there are intensive security measures and this is well known by all in the region. The fact that such an attack took place in this region is an indication that the ISIS which carried out this attack has very clear connections in the region.
It is not possible for only one person or several people to get together for planning and conducting such a big attack. On the top of it, it is not possible in a region where we know that there are such strong security measures. As human rights defenders, we expressed and keep on expressing the fallacy of Syrian politics of Turkey at every stage. Therefore, one should never forget the reality of the connection of this attack in Suruç to the false policies of Turkey.
We should regrettably state that in the trial of this attack, where 33 of our people killed more than 100 people wounded, only one defendant was sentenced. It is alleged that three persons involved in the attack have died and the two others are fugitive. Yakup Şahin, who is the only imprisoned defendant in this case, was sentenced to 34 times aggravated life imprisonment. Nonetheless, the planning force, the instigators and the real hitmen behind this attack were never revealed.
For instance, in this case, Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was the prime minister of the time and stated that there was something he knew about this attack, was never summoned to the court to give testimony despite all demands. The case, unfortunately, remains unsolved for human rights defenders.
None of the bereaved families of the victims of this attack was satisfied with the court judgement. Yes, as the public knows, the young people killed in Suruç were those who wanted to take toys to children in Rojava but they did not only want to take toys to children; they were going there also to salute a revolutionary struggle against a structure that posed a great danger to the whole world, to humanity. All of them were very precious. As human rights defenders, on the 9th anniversary of this massacre, we once again feel a deep pain of our people who lost their lives in Suruç and share it with their families.
Human Rights Association