A 13-year quest for justice: 'Not everything is solved in court!'

Hikmet Eren Çelenk - 12punto.com.tr

In 2011, 16-year-old Burak Oğraş, who was interning at the Antalya-Lara branch of Rixos hotels, owned by businessman Fettah Tamince, was found dead in the empty pool of a guesthouse used as staff accommodation by the hotel. Father Murat Oğraş spoke to 12punto about the attempts to cover up the legal process, the offers of silence he received, and the current status of the case.

'THE KILLERS ARE KNOWN'

Stating that the case began with 2 suspects and grew to 6 as a result of his own efforts, Father Oğraş spoke about the initial stages of the legal process as follows:

“I have been fighting since the first day. The file was opened as a suspicious death file, but later, as a result of contradictory statements, it continued as intentional homicide before a month had passed. There is a criminal report and an eyewitness stating that my son was killed. The killers are actually known; initially, two hotel employees were suspects due to contradictory statements. I followed up on this, investigated, identified 4 more suspects, and obtained audio recordings which I handed over to the prosecutor. Those individuals also entered the file as suspects, and there were 6 murder suspects. One hotel employee was referred to the duty court with a request for arrest, but the court released him under judicial control.”

'I DREW ATTENTION ON TWITTER'

Describing his struggle to bring up the allegation that the judicial authorities in office abused their power, Murat Oğraş said, “5 prosecutors have changed in the investigation so far. There were 2 prosecutors who were dismissed upon my complaints; they remained suspended for 6 months and were later assigned to the theft bureau. I filed a complaint for intentional misconduct in office. I tried to draw attention both by hand-delivering documents to the courthouse and by constantly tagging the HSK (Council of Judges and Prosecutors) and the Ministry of Justice on Twitter. It must have caught the board's attention, as they invited me to Ankara. I stated that I could not go because my situation was insufficient, and they took my statement via video call.”

TESTIMONY GIVEN 13 YEARS LATER

Referring to the contradictory statements of Rixos Hotels owner Fettah Tamince and the then-Provincial Police Chief Ali Yılmaz, Murat Oğraş said, “The current prosecutor told me not to share the developments in the file. He asked for this so as not to disrupt the process. He took the statements of Fettah Tamince and Ali Yılmaz after a 13-year interval. There are major contradictions in the statements. The Provincial Police Chief says that Menderes Türel made the offer, but Fettah Tamince says he called personally.”

'DON'T USE THE HOTEL'S NAME, THEY WILL GIVE 1 MILLION LIRA'

Murat Oğraş described the offer made to him by two officials from the hotel during the funeral process as follows:

“On the second day of my son's funeral, a colleague of mine called me. He said that a woman and a man from the ministry had come to pay their condolences but could not find my house, and that they would direct two people to me. They introduced themselves as Meral Kütüklü and Tacettin Ural. I welcomed them and invited them into the house, and just as they were entering, they told me they were not ministry officials, but were sent by the hotel. They said, 'Mr. Murat, don't let the hotel's name be heard in the press, they will give you 1 million lira,' and as soon as I heard this, I threw them out of my house by the collar. The house was very crowded due to the funeral, and I filed a complaint using them as witnesses. I went to Antalya and told the case prosecutor directly about the situation, and he asked me to submit a petition. Later, a decision of non-prosecution was issued for these people in less than a month. Absurd things came out as if offering money is not a crime in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).”

'THEY KICKED US OUT'

Stating that he was invited to the program broadcast on ATV and hosted by Müge Anlı, Murat Oğraş explained what happened in the studio, saying that he and his wife were abruptly kicked out:

“We were going to appear on Müge Anlı. There was some activity with 8-9 minutes left. There was a director and a woman whose name I cannot remember; they had been in contact. We went to the studio, microphones were attached, we handed over our documents, they took the mobile phones of my son's friends, and as they were starting the countdown, they said, 'Mr. Murat, let's take you and your wife outside.' Later, I heard that lady arguing with the director, saying, 'They called from the ministry, don't you get it, we can't put him on air.' They returned our documents and kicked us out. Later, Can Bursalı called the team and they confirmed it. They made an absurd statement like, 'We only include solved cases on the program.'”

'NOT EVERYTHING IS SOLVED IN COURT'

Explaining that Fettah Tamince called him for a face-to-face meeting and wanted to silence him with money, Murat Oğraş said the following regarding the 'insult case' filed against him later:

“I had a meeting with Fettah Tamince. About 2 years ago, he invited me and said he wanted to meet face-to-face. We met with my lawyer at the time at an office belonging to Sembol Construction in Şişli, Istanbul. He called us for a meeting and asked directly, 'What do you want from me?' I told him that there is no one in this country he cannot reach and that I want my son's killers to face justice. Turning to his lawyers, he said, 'Do you hear? There is a grievance. Mr. Murat is seeking justice for his murdered son, and they are mentioning my name in the cover-up of the intern murder.' After these words, he irrelevantly said, 'Mr. Murat, since you are here, let's settle this. Not everything is solved in courts.' As soon as I heard this, I left the meeting. He thought he could silence me; he still hasn't understood that I have no business with money. This person is used to silencing those around him with money. Shortly after, he filed an insult case against me because I said 'his FETÖ connections should be investigated,' and I was acquitted in the third hearing. My lawyers requested the FETÖ files; it's a good thing he filed a case against me. I got my hands on every one of those files.”

'I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THE KILLERS ARE TRIED'

Stating that he will not give up on bringing his son's killers to justice, Murat Oğraş concluded his words as follows:

"If he had said at the beginning, 'The school entrusted this child to us, we must look after him'; he had more authority than the governor at that time, but instead, he used all his power to cover it up. The Branch Manager of Public Security received a 19-year sentence for FETÖ. I brought this case to this point by scratching with my own fingernails. They told me your file will never be closed. But I will never give up my struggle; justice will be served, even if it is late."

News Source: 12punto