Upon the revelation that the dormitory where 11 students and 1 tutor were burned to death on Nov. 29, 2016, belongs to a religious sect named as “Süleymancılar”, Turkey has recalled another massacre in the middle Turkish city of Konya. In the illegal Quran school of the “Süleymancılar” group, 17 children died of explosion. Yet, those who had been responsible for the killing of 17 children were not penalized! The lawsuit has been continuing for 8 years with no one under arrest.
17 children died and 29 were injured on August 1, 2008, in Konya in consequence of gas explosion of a LPG tanker at a religious school (“Özel Boğaziçi Öğrenci Yurdu”). It was revealed that the dormitory that had been active as a Quran course was registered as “male students dormitory”. It was also revealed that the building had hosted a number of students exceeding its capacity, and that no reports of earthquake or fire had been kept.
Dormitory manager Hüseyin Çömlek, dormitory representatives Mehmet Semerci and Mehmet Göktaş had been taken into custody. Of those who had been obviously responsible for the disaster, Mehmet Göktaş was heard by police and released; Hüseyin Çömlek and Mehmet Semerci were discharged after a short term of arrest.
RESPONSIBLE AUTHORITIES REMAIN IN IMPUNITY
These people are still outside while the lawsuit is still continuing! 2 tutors, 6 officials of dormitory and 3 technicians of a LPG gas company are on trial in the lawsuit. Although recent expert report only indicates to dormitory manager as “principal faulty”, there are other persons who were apparently responsible for the murder.
Those who do not control the religious dormitories in question, and those who tolerate illegal dormitories do not penalize the responsible figures when disasters occur, accomplicing to the murder.
In short, the State that did not call those to account for 17 children for 8 years has apparently led to the recent dormitory fire that killed 12 people in Adana.
