The first hearing of the case against E.Ö. (17), who stabbed Ata Emre Akman (20), a motorcourier at a chain restaurant in Balıkesir, to death, and his father Orhan Ö. (39), who is accused of instigating him, started.
The incident occurred on May 11 in Emir Street, Karaoğlan Neighborhood, Karesi district. E.Ö. stabbed Ata Emre Akman, a student at Balıkesir University Faculty of Tourism, Department of Tourism Guidance, who was working as a courier at a chain restaurant, in 25 parts of his body. While Ata Emre Akman lost his life, E.Ö. was caught in an operation. E.Ö. and Orhan Ö., who allegedly hid his son, were detained. E.Ö. and his father, who have 6 separate criminal records for ‘intentional injury’ and ‘threat’, were referred to the courthouse after their procedures at the police. While E.Ö. was arrested, his father Orhan Ö. was released, but was detained again upon objection and arrested.
On the other hand, the incident was reflected on the security cameras of the nearby school. In the footage, it was seen that Ata Emre Akman fell on his motorcycle with many stab wounds to his body. In addition, a week before the incident, footage of Ata Emre Akman’s vacation with his family also emerged. The moments when Akman waved to the camera, played guitar and sang with his girlfriend were also reflected on the camera.
INDICTMENT PREPARED ALSO FOR THE FATHER
Balıkesir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office completed the investigation and prepared the first indictment for E.Ö. E.Ö. was sentenced to 18 years to 24 years in prison for ‘murder with monstrous feeling or torture’. In addition, a prison sentence of 6 months to 1 year was demanded for ‘carrying a gun without a license’. Balıkesir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also prepared an indictment for E.Ö.’s father Orhan Ö. Orhan Ö. was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on the charge of ‘instigating murder with monstrous feeling or torture’.
‘KILL’ ORDER FROM FATHER
The indictment stated that Orhan Ö. constantly harassed Durmaz after breaking up with Sultan Durmaz, with whom he had a religious marriage, and that he was released from Izmir Buca Open Penal Execution Institution on May 2 on leave from Izmir Buca Open Penal Execution Institution where he was convicted of another crime. It was also included in the indictment that Orhan Ö. came in front of the house where Durmaz lived and threatened that something would happen to someone. It was also stated that E.Ö. told Durmaz, whom he called before the incident, that he was going to kill him with the instruction of his father Orhan Ö.
WITNESS STATEMENTS CONFIRMED
The indictment stated that although E.Ö. did not commit any action against Sultan Durmaz while Orhan Ö. was in prison, the fact that his son went to Durmaz’s house and killed Ataman when Orhan Ö. was released from prison showed that Orhan Ö. was the ‘instigator’ and the witness statements about the incident confirmed this. This indictment was also sent to Balıkesir Heavy Penal Court. Balıkesir Heavy Penal Court accepted the indictments and decided to merge the cases.
NOT IN HOSPITAL RECORDS
Balıkesir 1st High Criminal Court issued a memorandum of opinion. The court stated that E.Ö. was born on April 24, 2007 according to the civil registry and hospital records and was registered in the civil registry on August 14, 2009. It was requested to investigate whether Orhan Ö. had any other children, including miscarriages and deaths. In addition, a letter was sent to Balıkesir Provincial Directorate of Public Health asking whether heel prick blood was taken on April 24, 2007. The court was also asked to be informed about all hospital records of E.Ö. and whether there were any records before April 24, 2007. Balıkesir Provincial Health Directorate informed the court that E.Ö.’s heel prick sample was not available and that there was no baby born in 2007 belonging to the mother in the records.
The first hearing in the case began at the 1st High Criminal Court in Balıkesir. One of the defendants, E.Ö., connected to the hearing via the audio and video information system (SEGBİS), his father Orhan Ö., Ata Emre Akman’s mother Zuhal Akman, his father Erol Akman, the Akman family lawyers Özden Başak and İbrahim Erenci, as well as members of Balıkesir courier associations, attended the hearing.
NO ONE BELIEVES HE’S UNDER 18
Before the hearing, lawyer Özden Başak made a statement to the press outside the courthouse. Başak said, “The situation that has been going on since May 11 reached its climax today. The first hearing in the case will be held soon. There are allegations that the killer is under the age of 18. However, given the manner in which he committed the crime, the images, his ability to plan this work and the witness statements, we affirm that the killer is over 18 and we had made a request about him during the indictment phase. As he is under arrest, the prosecutor’s office initially disregarded this request and left it to the court to draw up the indictment as soon as possible. We reiterate this request today. We have come from Istanbul with the family. Nobody believes that the murderer is under 18. We therefore believe that he should not benefit from the age reduction provided for in the Turkish penal code.
A DECISION THAT WILL EASE THE CONSCIENCE OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US”.
Başak continued his remarks as follows:
“Moreover, the perpetrators of such acts usually want to provoke an unjust provocation. This is a situation we always encounter. This is not the case here. If we analyze the images carefully, our child is not involved in the incident. In other words, there is a person acting against him from the back of a car with the direct intention of killing him. In the first second, he has grabbed our child’s neck with his left hand and after a second or two, the executive action begins. As you all know, his father, who raised him like a bullet, is now on trial as the instigator. We believe that this is a landmark case and that the honorable court has an historic opportunity to hear such painful cases. I hope that a verdict will emerge that will ease the conscience of us all. Of course, we don’t have such expectations for today, but we want to believe that there will be a verdict that will calm us down a bit during the trial proceedings.”
TODAY, WE HAVE COME TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR ATA EMRE
Mesut Çeki, president of the Couriers’ Rights Association, made a statement on behalf of the couriers’ associations and said, “We have friends here from the Motorcycle Workers Association, the Motorcycle Workers Association, the Bursa Motorcycle Couriers Association and the Ankara Chamber of Courier Traders. We’ve come for our brother Ata Emre, who won’t be the first or the last. We know, we are very sad. Our hearts go out to the family. Ata Emre was murdered by a murderer in a dark alley. He was murdered while working. He was murdered while delivering his order. His family couldn’t bear to see his pictures. That’s why it’s so hard for me to speak here, because today, at the same time, the Samet Özgül affair is taking place in Ankara. He was also a university student, our courier friend. 2 years ago, he was stabbed in the throat by 3 traffic magandas and his family has been seeking justice for 2 years. Today, we’ve come to seek justice for Ata Emre. This is our first hearing. But Ata is not our first loss. We lost at least 58 friends in 2022, at least 68 in 2023 and 30 in the first six months of 2024. We die every day. It says on our banners that we’re in a dangerous profession, but we’re not yet in a very dangerous one.
TODAY, WE ARE KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF JUSTICE”.
Çeki went on to say:
“If someone hits us in traffic, as we saw in the Yunus Emre Göçer case, some get off without even a few months in prison. The price of our lives has been set at 27,000,300 TL. Our murderers were released within 3 to 5 months; someone with 6 separate criminal records can kill our brother Ata. This case is not just about the Akman family. It’s not just the case of the smugglers. It’s the case of the whole of Balıkesir, the whole of Turkey. The families must seek justice without really mourning. Our request to all the members of the press here is this: that the authorities hear the family’s cry. Please do so. We don’t want to die anymore. And when we are killed, we don’t want the murderers to be given very light sentences and walk free from prison. The court committee here should also put its hands on its conscience. We are motorcycle drivers. We transport medicines every day. We carry food. We knock on every door. Today, we are knocking on the door of justice. We want justice. We want justice for Ata. We want justice for all motorcyclists. We no longer want to die working”.
THE ACCUSED WHO KILLED ATA EMRE: I HAD BEEN TO THE STONE SULTAN’S HOUSE
E.Ö., who stabbed Ata Emre Akman, who worked as a courier in a chain of restaurants in Balıkesir, claimed in his statement to the court that he had not killed Ata Emre Akman intentionally. E.Ö. said: “I didn’t kill anyone on purpose. I only went to stone the house of Sultan Dönmez. I grew up with my grandmother, we are three brothers. Sultan Dönmez’s daughter used to send messages to my father. She was always pestering us. She wanted to meet us. Sultan Dönmez stole checks from us in 2012-2013. She was constantly threatening us, there was a disagreement between my father and Sultan, we were running away from them. There were disagreements between us and Yaşar, with whom Sultan lived. We had no private meetings with my father about Sultan. After my father’s release, we had no communication with Sultan. Although there are 2,654 minutes of phone calls between Sultan and me up to the date of the incident, I did not make those calls.”
I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT PROMPTED ME TO ACT THAT DAY.
E.Ö. went on to say:
“On the day of the incident, May 11, I drank 13 to 14 beers. I spent some time with my father. Then I went to see my friends and we drank beer. My dad arrived, then we went home. Then we went home, between 11:30 and 00:00. The distance between Sultan and our house is a 5-6 minute walk. On the day of the incident, my father and I didn’t talk about Sultan, who had fainted. When I started thinking about what Sultan had done to us since she was a little girl, I got angry. I took my knife with me, but my aim was to stone his house. I arrived in front of the building where Sultan lived. I saw the young motorcycle driver. I went up to him and asked if Sultan was home. He replied: “Can’t you see I’m selling handkerchiefs on a motorcycle? When I asked him, “Have you come to Sultan Durmaz’s house?”, he replied, “I’ve come to Ebru Gündeş’s house.” I said, “Why are you shouting at me?” and there was a struggle. I stabbed him once. I don’t remember what happened next. I stabbed the victim 25 times. Even if I stabbed him 25 times, I don’t remember why I did it that day. My father didn’t incite me to attack Sultan before the incident. My father didn’t give me any advice.
SULTAN WAS OBSESSED WITH ME
E.Ö.’s father, the defendant Orhan Ö., told the court: “I made the long phone call, not my son. I spoke to Sultan’s daughter. She asked me for help. Sultan was obsessed with me. Sultan and I had a relationship between 2010 and 2013. Then she left and married a friend of mine, I was happy to be rid of her. She came to the house where I lived with my family saying “the child is sick”. My father then stabbed Sultan. When I tried to get her away, she stuck to us. This woman is the devil herself. I haven’t committed a crime in 10 years. After I got out of prison, she contacted me again. I haven’t committed a single crime against Sultan. I learned that Sultan was prostituting herself while she was carrying my child in her womb.
