Berkin Elvan

An investigation has been opened into the artists who appeared in a short film commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Berkin Elvan, a young Gezi protest victim.

The public prosecutor of the Istanbul Press Offences Bureau summoned the well-known figures, from musicians to actors, who performed on the short film over an alleged "abetment."

After Public Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was investigating the controversial death of a young Gezi protest victim at the hands of the police, was killed by two members of an illegal and dubious leftist organization called the Revolutionary People?s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), the whole thing turned against the media and the opposition in Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an devoted his latest verbal attack to opposition lawmakers and media organizations, accusing them of treason for being the ?partners of the terrorists? who were involved in the killing of Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz last week.

A court has threatened to block Google in Turkey, if the world's most popular search engine does not comply with its ruling against the publication of images showing a prosecutor who was killed during a hostage crisis in Istanbul.

Turkish authorities blocked access to Twitter and YouTube due to the websites' refusal to remove photos of a public prosecutor, who was taken hostage last week and was later killed by his abductors.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has questioned why an autopsy report for slain prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz has been declared secret even after the incident was finalized.

Turkish authorities have blocked access to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook over the publication of photos published on the three social media platforms showing a prosecutor who was taken hostage by militants in Istanbul last week.

Istanbul?s chief public prosecutor denied April 4 media reports that cited a medical examination showing that 10 bullets hit Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz during a hostage situation on March 31 in which both he and his two captors died.
         

For the past two years, Turkey has been in a downward political spiral where the language of hatred and demonization overshadows everything else. The spiral is only getting deeper and deeper by jumping to new levels with every new political crisis and drama. 

The government should replace all private security guards with police forces, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said April 1, a day after a hostage rampage where a prosecutor and his two captors were killed.