Parents of Gezi Park victim face trial for 'insulting Turkish President'

Parents of Berkin Elvan have appeared in court over remarks criticizing President Erdoğan after their son’s 2013 death during the Gezi protests. The prosecutor sought charges for “insulting the president” based on their speeches alleging Erdoğan's responsibility.

Tuesday January 28 2025 03:56 pm

Furkan Karabay / Gazete Duvar

The parents of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old killed by a tear gas canister fired by police during the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood, on Jan. 28 appeared in court on charges of "insulting the Turkish President."

Gülsüm and Sami Elvan attended the hearing at an Istanbul court. It was noted that both the judge and prosecutor in the case had been replaced.

The court granted the prosecutor additional time to prepare the opinion, stating this would be the final extension.

The next hearing was scheduled for February 14.

What happened?

Gülsüm and Sami Elvan were charged in 2021 with “insulting the president” for remarks made after court hearings on their son’s death.

During a speech on September 23, 2020, Sami Elvan referred to statements made by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying,

“The true murderer is the person who was the prime minister at the time and is now the president. We know this because he said, ‘I gave the order, my police made history.’”

On January 29, 2021, Gülsüm Elvan recalled Erdoğan’s public condemnation of her at a 2014 rally.

“Do you remember how you had people boo me in public squares? How pathetic must you be to have a grieving mother booed in public? I will never forget this, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan."

She continued, "My child was also a child. He was only 14 years old when you shot him. He couldn’t even bathe himself; I had to help him. Then he became a terrorist. Is there a bigger terrorist than you? I want my child back, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Give me my child, just as you took him away from me.”

A statement from Sami Elvan on the same day was also included in the indictment.

“The person who ordered my child’s death was the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey at the time. But now he is not my president or prime minister or anything to me. To me, he is a murderer. I am speaking clearly and drawing this with thick lines: the person who killed my child is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He said it himself on television, shouting and yelling: ‘I gave the order.’”

The prosecutor argued that the use of terms like “terrorist” and statements such as “the person who killed my child is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan” constituted insulting remarks and requested a sentence.

Elvan became one of the symbols of the Gezi Park protests – which began against the redevelopment of central Istanbul’s Gezi Park and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest – when he died on March 11, 2014, after having been in a coma for 269 days.

He was shot in the head with a police teargas canister while he was out to get bread during the protests. Elvan was the eighth person to be killed in the Gezi Park protests.

Police officer Fatih Dalgalı was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in jail over the murder of Elvan. He will be imprisoned if the Court of Cassation, Turkey's top appeal court, approves the verdict. He has not been arrested yet.

(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)