Commemoration for Berkin Elvan in Okmeydanı

After being shot from his head with a gas capsule last year in Okmeydanı on June 16, 2013 and staying in a coma for 269 days, Berkin Elvan passed away. As today marked the anniversary of his injury, a commemoration was held at the place where he was shot. 

A group of family members and friends of Berkin Elvin assembled to the street he was shot and placed the pictures of him on the street wall.

Reminding the death of İbrahim Aras (15) in Adana yesterday with similar injuries, Sami Elvan, the father of Berkin Elvan, said the following: “Yesterday, the government showed again its brutal side.” 

Elvan: Those responsible didn’t appear in court

Summarizing all the juridical struggle in the past year, Elvan continued:

“Despite all of the juridical attempts we conducted since the day Berkin was shot within 365 days; neither the police that shot Berkin nor the one that gave the order to the police didn’t appear in court. When we lost Berkin, he was 14 years old and was a child with all his innocence.

“The innocence of our children are too pure and clean to foul with the expressions of the politicians. The booing of a mournful mother in rally squares, portraying of a 14-year-old child as a terrorist by the prime minister will be a disgrace for the conscientious and ancient peoples of Anatolia who lived happily in this country for centuries. “

“Those who can remain as a child know the meaning of marbles”

“This person [PM Erdoğan] is in an effort to give a different meaning to the marbles, one of the most beautiful toys of a boy.  By doing so, he expressed his mentality and almost the whole society reacted against him. Yes, Berkin had marbles. Marbles that he bought by saving his pocket money. Because Berkin was only 14 and in the age of playing with the marbles, he was in the age to fly a kite. Unfortunately, the person I mentioned, even using these marbles as a tool for his speaking, made expressions critically and vengefully. But if he could have been be a little bit childish or conscientious, he would be able to understand the meaning of those marbles. “

“I, as the father of Berkin, speak to you Tayyip Erdoğan; you are older than me. Your voice is high. We know these are from the psychology of guilt. And those who clapped after a 15-year-old boy, you committed a crime against humanity. In the year 2014, the prime minister, himself, reiterated the same things he said to the president of Israel in 2009.  Because Tayyip Erdoğan really knows how to kill children. In Roboski, Gezi Park, Diyarbakır, Tunceli, İstanbul, Ankara, Hatay, Eskişehir, they killed our children with the order of Tayyip Erdoğan,” he said. 

After the press statement, Berkin Elvan’s name was written with candles at the place he was shot. This was later on followed by the lighting of candles and 1 minute of silence. (EA/MEV/BM)

* Photo credit: Elif Ilgaz

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.