Murder of Tahir Elçi Must Be Brought to Light
27 November 2023
Our dear friend Tahir Elçi, one of the members and executives of the Human Rights Association, was assassinated on 28 November 2015, exactly 8 years ago, while he was making a statement about the destruction caused by the clashes and to protect cultural heritage at the historical Four-Legged Minaret in the Sur district of Diyarbakır province.
Tahir Elçi was a true human rights defender. We were working together at the Human Rights Association. He was a person who served in all the delegations we formed to investigate many unsolved murders, counter-guerrilla massacres, burned villages and rights violations there.
Tahir Elçi was also a lawyer, and as a lawyer, he fought hard to bring to light many unsolved murders and enforced disappearances under custody and to find the perpetrators. He was a lawyer who devoted his entire life to the fight against impunity. He was, thus, also the president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association for a long time.
It has been 8 years since Tahir Elçi was murdered. Yet, there is again great impunity at the judicial stage. As a result of a long investigation, there is no progress in a case that was brought too late. Not enough evidence was collected, the ones in power at the time were not held accountable, and the judiciary has not done its part as of yet.
As human rights defenders and friends of Tahir Elçi, on the 8th anniversary of his murder, we want the Tahir Elçi case to be brought to light. We want the real perpetrators to be revealed and punished. Our struggle on this path will continue until the end.
Human Rights Association