Turkish police under fire over civilian death in anti-terror operation

A police raid on an apartment building in Istanbul’s Bostanci neighborhood Monday ended in the deaths of three people, including a 16-year-old bystander, when the anti-terror operation turned into a six-hour-long shootout.

Raids were conducted in 60 areas overnight against militants from a far-left organization called Revolutionary Headquarters suspected of planning to carry out "sensational attacks," according to officials.

The casualties, however, have raised questions regarding the planning of the operation, with media and security experts criticizing security forces. Officials, on the other hand, have responded to them by accusing media outlets of engaging in a "speed race" with their competitors.

Hurriyet daily said there were five important points of negligence in the operation. "The deaths of a high-level police officer and an onlooker, and the injuries of seven police officers, are indicators that there was not sufficient information prior to the operation. In such operations, the first thing to do is to secure the area nearby. But TV footage show this precaution was taken after the operation started," a security expert told Hurriyet.

Police failed to weigh the possible risks and weapon capabilities of the targeted militant and therefore did not evacuate the apartment building before the operation, Hurriyet daily wrote Monday.

They also allowed TV cameras to get closer to the raided house, which left a cameraman from private broadcaster NTV injured, but it also might have helped the militant take position inside the flat accordingly, the report added. Almost the entire shootout was broadcast live by various TV channels.

The criticism of the operation focused on footage showing the militant randomly shooting. The NTV cameraman was hit by the random shooting, and 16-year-old Mazlum Seker was killed.

The cameraman, Ilhan Kandaz, slammed Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah and said he is going to sue Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler over security forces' wrongdoings during the operation.

This is a clear signal that the operation was not planned or managed well, a former member of Special Operations Unit, Recai Birgun, told Milliyet daily. "The security cordon was short. No civilians should be allowed to come closer to the cordon," he added.

‘MEDIA'S FAULT’

Authorities, however, did not accept any criticism, and they defended the way the security forces conducted the operation. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Interior Minister Besir Atalay blamed media outlets.

Atalay said NTV's Kandaz was shot outside the secured area and said they cannot approve such risky behavior in competition with other media outlets. TV footage and pictures show about 100 meters between the militant and the security cordon.

Erdogan urged television channels to act in accordance with international media principles and blamed the injured cameraman for getting too close to the shootout to get the best shots.