A Turkish court ruled that the Interior Ministry and eastern city of Malatya governorate are faultless in a 2007 case that three people were murdered in an attack on a Christian publishing house in the city.
A group of five men raided the Zirve publishing house in Malatya in 2007 and slit the throats of three Christians, one German and two Turkish.
The trial over the case, however, became shrouded in political intrigue, as the case was judged to be a conspiracy masterminded by Turkey’s deep state and merged with other trials. The five men were given life sentences and two military officers said to have encouraged the crime were given long sentences.
Meanwhile, families of slain Christians sued the Turkish Interior Ministry and Malatya governorate for damages. Malatya Administrative Court in 2015 fined two state institutions 900,000 lira ($158,000) for neglect of duty.
However, Turkey’s State Council reversed the judgement in 2017 after the Interior Ministry’s appeal. And, Malatya Administration Court on July 19, 2019, acquitted the Interior Ministry and Malatya Governorate.
“On the day of the incident, it was seen that the security forces intervened in a short period of time, arrested the perpetrators, and the Interior Ministry and Malatya Governorate did not have any service failure since all security measures were taken,” the ruling said.
The lawyer of the families said they would file an appeal. But, in case the judgement is affirmed, the families will return the compensation amount with interest.
