Metin Göktepe

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Metin Göktepe
Metin Göktepe mezar başı anması 2020.jpg
Born(1968-04-10)April 10, 1968
Gürün, Turkey
DiedJanuary 8, 1996(1996-01-08) (aged 27)
Istanbul, Turkey
EducationIstanbul University
OccupationJournalist, Photojournalist, Reporter
Years active1992–1996
Notable credit(s)
Photojournalist, reporter for Evrensel

Metin Göktepe (pronounced [metin ɟœctepe]; April 10, 1968 – January 9, 1996) was a Kurdish photojournalist who was tortured and brutally murdered in police custody in Istanbul on January 8, 1996.

Life[]

Metin Göktepe was born to Kurdish family in Sivas on April 10, 1968, in the village of Çipil of Gürün district.[1] He was the seventh and penultimate child of his parents. He attended primary school in Sivas until fourth grade and moved with his family to Istanbul in 1979 where he completed fifth grade and his secondary studies in 1986. In 1989, he started attending The Department of Public Finance in the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University, and he was introduced to politics through his older sister and brother and student associations. Prior to his graduation, he started his career in Gerçek (The Truth) magazine in 1992, and later also started to work for the leftist periodical Evrensel as a reporter in 1995.[2]

Death[]

The tomb of Metin Göktepe, memorial in 2020 – Photo Eylem Nazlıer / Evrensel Newspaper

Göktepe, who went to the Alibeyköy Cemetery at noon on January 8 in order to cover the funeral of two leftist inmates, Rıza Boybaş (pronounced [ɾɯza bojbaʃ]) and Orhan Özen (pronounced [oɾhan øzen]), who were beaten to death during prison riots in the Ümraniye Prison in Istanbul on January 4, 1996, was detained by police who blockaded the region. Göktepe was beaten and taken to the Eyüp Closed Sports Hall. He was kept at the sports hall for a while, reportedly felt sick there, and was then taken somewhere else by the police. In the course of contacts between lawyers acting for Evrensel, the police authorities and the Eyüp public prosecutor, it was stated that Göktepe was in detention and that he would be released in the evening unless legal charges were brought. But no further news of Metin Göktepe was released. An unknown person, who was detained and then released, called the Evrensel newspaper around 8pm and reported that Göktepe had been beaten to death. At the initiative of lawyers for the paper, the fact that Metin Göktepe had been killed was exposed. Making a statement about the incident, Eyüp Public Prosecutor Erol Can Özkan claimed that Göktepe, after having been released on the evening of January 8, had been found dead in a park 100 meters from the Eyüp Closed Sports Hall at around 8pm. It was later established that Göktepe's body had been found not in the park but in front of a buffet close to the sports hall. Results of an autopsy showed that internal bleeding in Göktepe's brain and tissues, which occurred as a result of the blows to the head and body, were the cause of death.[3]

Trial[]

Ten police officers were put on trial for Göktepe's death. Five were acquitted, and five sentenced to 18 years, commuted to 7 years because of "good manner at the court" and "it was impossible to determine the real assailant.".[4] After spending 1 year and 8 months in prison, the five police officers were released as part of an amnesty.[5]

See also[]

Metin Göktepe Journalism Awards

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Ahmet Şık: Rozetim budur". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Metin Göktepe Biyografi". Archived from the original on 2008-03-25. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Journalist murdered in detention". Hurriyet Daily News.
  4. ^ Human Rights Association (Turkey) (1998), "Human Rights Report 1998" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-05., p12
  5. ^ "İşkence ile öldürülen Metin Göktepe mezarı başında anıldı". Archived from the original on 2017-01-08. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
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