Mass Gathering in Protest Against the Murder of Prominent Lawyer Defending Kurds

Tens of thousands of citizens in Turkey participated in a protest on Sunday, December 8, against the murder of a prominent lawyer defending Kurdish rights in Diyarbakir during his funeral. At the same time, according to reports, hundreds also gathered in Istanbul in solidarity with two journalists who were arrested, in front of the Cumhuriyet newspaper office. According to Agence France-Presse, the funeral of Tahir Elci, a human rights lawyer and head of the Bar Association in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, was attended by 50,000 people, and his coffin was carried by several of his colleagues, including Metin Feyzioğlu, the head of the Turkish Bar Association. On Saturday, after Elci's speech, in which he called for peace between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), sudden gunfire erupted between the police and unidentified individuals, and during this shooting, Tahir Elci, who was engaged in conversation with journalists, was shot in the head and killed. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which advocates for Kurdish rights, described the shooting of Tahir Elci as 'premeditated,' and Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader of this party, said during the funeral that 'numerous similar incidents have occurred before, and it is unclear whether those responsible will ever be brought to justice.' On the other hand, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated on Saturday that it is unclear whether the killing of this prominent lawyer was intentional or if a stray bullet hit him during the police confrontation with armed individuals. Mr. Davutoğlu promised a thorough investigation into the matter. He stated on Sunday that the weapon found next to Tahir Elci's body was the same weapon that killed two police officers during the shooting and 'belongs to terrorists.' Meanwhile, in another gathering in Turkey, hundreds gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to express solidarity with two journalists who were arrested on charges of espionage last Thursday, in front of the Cumhuriyet newspaper office. In this context, Agence France-Presse reported a gathering of about 300 people, including several parliament members, human rights organizations, and journalists. Can Dündar, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gül, its editor, had prepared a report on the illegal shipment of weapons by Turkish intelligence to opposition groups against Bashar al-Assad in Syria and had published a video of trucks that were said to be carrying weapons. However, the Turkish government described this report as 'espionage,' and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened that they would 'pay a heavy price' for their actions. In the Sunday gathering, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People's Party, the main opposition party, described the arrest of the two journalists as 'a black stain on the history of the press.'