Assassination case of two police officers martyred in Ceylanpınar back on the agenda after 11 years

A new development has occurred in the investigation file concerning police officers Feyyaz Yumuşak and Okan Uçar, who were martyred in an armed attack while sleeping in their living quarters in the Ceylanpınar district of Şanlıurfa on July 22, 2015.

It has been stated that the file regarding the murder of Yumuşak, who served in the Anti-Terror Branch, and Uçar, who served in the Riot Police Branch, is being re-examined 11 years later following new testimonies taken in İzmir. It was learned that the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has requested the certified investigation documents pertaining to the file from the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

It was noted that the new step in the investigation is linked to statements provided by an individual captured in İzmir who is said to have left the organization. It is alleged that this individual made identifications based on certain names, codenames, and photographs regarding the planning and instruction process of the attack, and stated that the individuals in question were in the Ras al-Ayn/Serekaniye region of Syria, across from Ceylanpınar, on the date of the attack.

In line with this information, it is stated that the file is being reconsidered and that new detentions may come to the agenda within the scope of the investigation.

AQUITTAL VERDICT HAD BEEN GIVEN IN THE PREVIOUS TRIAL

In the operations conducted after the attack, a lawsuit was filed against 13 people, including students; 7 of the defendants were tried while under arrest. It was alleged that the defendants were involved in the YDGH and YPS, known as the urban structures of the PKK, and were linked to the attack.

In the case heard at the Şanlıurfa 2nd High Criminal Court, an acquittal verdict was given on the grounds that there was no "concrete, convincing, definitive evidence beyond any doubt" that the defendants participated in the assassination. The Gaziantep Regional Court of Justice also upheld the acquittal verdicts, finding them in accordance with procedure and law.

Upon the prosecutor's appeal against the verdict, the file was later sent to the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation. It was stated that the public prosecutor who conducted the investigation, the magistrate who signed the arrest warrants, and 22 police officers who took part in the investigation were dismissed from their professions following the July 15 coup attempt on the grounds of affiliation with FETÖ.

The attack was recorded as one of the critical turning points in the end of the resolution process that began in 2013. Following the incident, it was announced in media outlets close to the PKK that the attack was carried out by the HPG, while PKK leader Murat Karayılan later made the statement, "The killing of two police officers in Ceylanpınar is not an action carried out by our central decision. It was carried out by a group calling themselves 'Apocu fedayeen'."

Following the attack in Ceylanpınar, Turkey conducted air operations against PKK-YPG targets in northern Iraq and northern Syria; in the ensuing process, trench incidents occurred in some provinces and districts in the Southeast.