Turkish police batter, detain dozens of leftist youth commemorating Suruç massacre victims

Duvar English

On July 20, Turkish police attacked and detained numerous protesters in Istanbul and the capital Ankara during commemoration marches for the 33 people who lost their lives in the ISIS suicide bomb attack in 2015 in the Suruç district of Turkey’s eastern Şanlıurfa province.

After the commemoration events in the graves of the victims, the protestors gathered in various provinces across the country.

Many leftists political parties and youth organizations first organized the annual press statement in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district.

The police attacked and detained 24 protestors who organize a march afterward under the heavy police blockade in the district.

The protestors then organized a march in the historic Beyoğlu district’s İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square even though these areas have been closed to any protests for years.

After a march and human chain in the square, the police brutally attacked the protestors and detained 26 of them.

After the march in the capital Ankara, the police also attacked and detained dozens of protestors using brute force.

What happened?

Some 33 people died and 104 people were wounded when ISIS targeted young people who gathered in Suruç with the Socialist Youth Associations Federation's (SGDF) call to deliver toys to children in Kobanê province of Syria, which was then under ISIS attack.

In 13 of the 18 months following the attack on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) rally on June 5, 2015, there was at least one bomb attack with the loss of life across Turkey. Nearly 500 people were killed and thousands injured in the attacks. Either the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, or government officials said they were carried out by one of these organizations.

On October 22, 2021, the final hearing of the lawsuit about the Suruç massacre came to an end. The only defendant arrested, Yakup Şahin, was found guilty and has been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. He was responsible for the Ankara Train Station Massacre in 2015 and was already in prison during the trial. No other potential suspects were arrested.

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