2 given jail sentences over 2013 Gezi protests death

By Murat Asil

KAYSERI, Turkey

A Turkish court Wednesday gave jail sentences to two people, including a policeman, for the beating death of a protester during the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations.

In the case of late student Ali Ismail Korkmaz, a court in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri gave baker Ebubekir Harlar nearly seven years behind bars and over seven months to policeman Huseyin Engin.

Korkmaz, who died in intensive care after being severely beaten during the protests, was a 19-year-old university student in the central Turkish city of Eskisehir.

Last December, Turkey’s Supreme Court approved a local court's decision to jail two police officers for over 10 years for Korkmaz’s death.

A court in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri had given prison sentences to officers Mevlut Saldogan and Yalcin Akbulut for killing Korkmaz.

Saldogan was sentenced on charges of willfully causing serious injury and death, while Akbulut was sentenced for causing death.

In summer 2013, relatively small demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park grew into a nationwide wave of protests against the government that eventually left eight demonstrators and a police officer dead.

The protests erupted after the government moved to replace part of a leafy park at the heart of Istanbul with a mall. A redevelopment plan for the construction of Ottoman-era barracks in Gezi Park became the focus of demonstrations that saw protesters clash with police in more than a dozen cities, causing damage to public and private property.

The government later labeled the demonstrations an attempt to overthrow the state by members of Fetullah Gulen’s “parallel state” in the police and court system.

Turkey accuses the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen – of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

On July 15, a coup attempt in Turkey blamed on FETO left 249 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.