Murders of Sefter Taş and Fethi Şahin

Sefter Taş and Fethi Şahin were two Turkish Armed Forces soldiers who were burnt alive in Syria by the Islamic State in a Turkish-language video in which they threatened Turkey. The video instantly went viral and was published on December 22, 2016.^[1]

After the incident was heard in Turkey, the uproar caused the government to temporarily block access to sites such as Ekşi Sözlük, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and slow the internet down nationwide.^[2][3]

Background

Fethi Şahin (26) and Sefter Taş (23) were two Turkish soldiers stationed in Syria before being captured by the Islamic State. While in custody, an Islamic State judge, Jamal Abdulrahman Alwi, a Syrian national, ordered both to be burnt alive. Alwi later moved to Turkey as a refugee in Gaziantep before being arrested and imprisoned for his role.^[4]

Aftermath

During the visit to the Taş family by Turkish Armed Forces commander and Iğdır district governor on October 9, 2017, it was announced to the family that Sefter Taş was a "martyr".^[5]

The father of Fethi Şahin, criticised the lack of information on his son's case, and he stated that even six years after the video, only Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had came to visit them.^[6][7]

Perpetrators

The identities of the executioners were determined by MİT. While it was determined that the burner and main perpetrator was Talip Akkurt, the names of the two people in the background were revealed as Hasan Aydın and Muhittin Büyükyangöz. It turned out that Hasan Aydın was detained and released twice, in 2012 and 2015. In 2012, Aydın was arrested in an operation organized by the Adana police to investigate alleged Al-Qaeda members, but later released due to lack of evidence. In 2015, he was stopped while trying to pass from Hatay to Syria in a minibus, stolen military equipment and UAVs were seized and detained in the vehicle, and then released by the court he was taken out on condition of judicial control.^[8]

References