Court fines interior ministry 734,000 Turkish Liras over killing of man by police in cemevi
İsmail Saymaz – ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court on Sept. 20 ordered the Interior Ministry pay compensation amounting to 734,162 Turkish Liras ($209,000) over the killing of Uğur Kurt, who was shot by police during a funeral ceremony in an Alevi worship house, or cemevi in 2014.Kurt was killed by a bullet fired from police officer Sezgin K.’s weapon on May 22, 2014, while he was attending the funeral of a relative at a cemevi in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı district.
The Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court had served Sezgin K. with a pecuniary fine worth 12,100 liras ($3,400) on charges of “reckless killing.”
Kurt’s family had later filed a lawsuit for damages against the Interior Ministry.
The Istanbul Third Administrative Court ordered the ministry to pay a total of 734,162 liras on Sept. 20 in pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages for the killing of Kurt.
The court stated in its ruling that the Interior Ministry bore “full negligence” over Kurt’s death as the police officer “panicked because of his inexperience and killed Kurt, who had no connection to the incident outside the cemevi.”
The ministry objected the court decision claiming the administration could not be held responsible while the lawyer for the Kurt family objected to the ruling finding the damage fee low.
