Halil Ç., slained youth’s friend, who was with him at the time of the shooting, says the same police officer threatened to shoot him, too. Alevite Culture Associations describe the incident as a murder.
Halil Ç. described the shooting of his friend Çağdaş Gemik by police officer Mehmet E. and what happened afterwards to Recep Aktepe of Sabah.
According to the report, when the police tries to stop Gemik while riding a motorcycle on October 27, the young boy continues riding, fearful of losing his father’s motorcycle since he neither had a license nor the registration of the motorcycle. At one point, he stops and lets Halil Ç. go. In the meantime, the accused police officer gets down on his knees, aims and shoots four times.
The report continues with Halil Ç.’s statement:
“I yelled what did you do, you killed my friend. The one who fired his gun held the gun to my head and said, ‘Shut up…, I will shoot you, too.’ Later he took out my friend’s identification and checked to see if he had a criminal report. When he realized that he was clean he said ‘Damn it, he did not even have a criminal report.’ Then an ambulance was called. They took my friend to the hospital and me into custody.”
According to News Antalya, the spokesperson for the Antalya Police Department, Akif Aktuğ, said police officer Mehmet E. was not part of a similar incident before, he did not have any psychological problems.
Making a statement about the incident, Ergün Kurt, President of Antalya Branch for the Alevite Culture Associations, said, “According to those who was washing his corpse [for religious purposes], his head looked terrible. They say there were three gunshot wounds. The police shot Çağdaş without any warning. We call this murder. The incident has details in need of explanation. We were informed hours after the incident.”
Kurt emphasized that the police could catch Gemik without shooting, since their motorcycles were much more powerful than his.
Father Haşim Gemik wants those responsible for the death of his son punished.
According to daily Sabah’s report, the Ministry of Interior is going to launch an investigation about the incident; one civil inspector and one police inspector will be assigned.
The thirty-one year old police officer is married and has two children. Just back from his military service, he has been on the police force for ten years.
The Antalya Police Department had announced that Gemik was shot for not obeying the stop warning. The police officer was placed under arrest. (TK/TB)

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