ISTANBUL // All seemed normal when Ceylan Onkol, a 12-year-old schoolgirl from Turkey's Kurdish region, led her family's sheep out of her village one morning last month to let them graze. But then villagers heard an explosion. They rushed to the meadow where Ceylan had been sitting and saw that a grenade had torn the girl's body apart.
Ceylan's family told Turkish media they thought the grenade had come from a military base close by, but the state prosecutor from the nearest town refused to visit the scene to investigate the death, citing security concerns.
Later, authorities said Ceylan had probably triggered the explosion herself while playing with unexploded ordnance of undetermined origin, a statement rejected by Muharrem Erbey, a lawyer for Ceylan's family. "In other cases like that, the hands of the victims were torn apart, so why were Ceylan's hands still intact?" he said.
According to media reports, one assumption of prosecutors is that Ceylan may have been killed "in the course of the military's fight against terrorism", an allusion to Kurdish rebels active in the area. If that assumption proves correct, the soldiers responsible can expect very light sentences, according to the reports.
In Ankara, Turkey's general staff said no grenade had been fired in the region on the day Ceylan died. Media reports linking the military to the death were part of a propaganda campaign aimed at undermining the army, a military spokesman said. More than two weeks after the explosion, it is unclear if anyone will be charged.
A perception that Turkey's civilian authorities are unwilling or unable to shed light on incidents like Ceylan's fate and to punish those responsible is one of the most important hurdles on Turkey's path to join the European Union. In a major report on Turkey's progress as a candidate country published yesterday, the European Commission (EC) said the military still enjoyed too much power and privileges and that human rights violations were still a cause for concern.
"The armed forces have continued to exercise undue political influence via formal and informal mechanisms," the report said. The commission also cited statements by the military concerning a trial against a suspected gang including serving and former military officers that prosecutors say planned a coup against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. With the statements about the so-called Ergenekon trial, the military was "putting the judiciary under pressure", the report said.
It is extremely rare for military personnel in Turkey to stand trial in a civilian court. This year, Mr Erdogan's government pushed a law through parliament that gives civilian courts more oversight of the military, but the opposition in Ankara has asked the constitutional court to cancel the law.
In the report, the EC applauded the Turkish government's stated intention to end the long-running Kurdish conflict by democratic means and the recent rapprochement with neighbouring Armenia. But the report also noted that Turkey still had not recognised Cyprus, an EU member since 2004.
The report stated that Turkey had committed itself to bring its human rights policy up to a European level, but still had some way to go.
As an example, it cited the findings of a parliamentary committee that said none of the 35 lawsuits filed against 431 police officers in Istanbul had led to a conviction.
Critics of the EU said Brussels was trying to break up the Turkish nation-state by putting the spotlight on laws designed to protect the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder and on the laws protecting the military, which the report said limited free speech. "You cannot stick out your tongue at the precious values of our nation in the name of freedom of speech," the Association for Ataturk Ideas, a nationalist group opposed to the EU, said.
Even before the report was published, the government in Ankara vowed to correct any deficits. "This document shows the points where we made headway and where we did not," said Egemen Bagis, the EU affairs minister and Turkey's top negotiator in membership talks with Brussels. "If everything was a hundred per cent in Turkey, we would be EU members by now."
tseibert@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Match info:
Real Betis v Sevilla, 10.45pm (UAE)
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 2 Bournemouth 1
United: Sharp (45 2'), Lundstram (84')
Bournemouth: C Wilson (13')
Man of the Match: Jack O’Connell (Sheffield United)
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Killing of Qassem Suleimani