Officious minds

That file might be the one asking permission to prosecute the 17 villagers who "defamed" and "ridiculed" the Turkish state by finding the helicopter crash and bodies of six people, including that of the late Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, though efforts by some 3,500 government-assigned people, including soldiers, failed to do so in 46 hours.

No! This is neither a joke nor a remote probability. Under the contentious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, the prosecutor may demand permission from the justice minister to open a judicial case against the 17 villagers because in remarks to the media immediately after finding the crash and bodies they said: "Here there is neither any soldier nor the state. They are searching at a wrong location. Had they listened to us, they would have found the crash much earlier."

The Kahramanmaraş prosecutor is reportedly now probing whether there is sufficient evidence proving an insult to the Turkish state by the villagers who found the crash and the bodies at a location at the opposite direction of the area where the 3,500 state or government-assigned people were conducting the search. Particularly the remarks "had they listened us they would have found the crash much earlier" and "there is neither any soldier nor the state here" by the villagers during telephone interviews with news channels from the crash site were reportedly considered to be evidence of ridiculing and insulting the state.

The prosecutor has reportedly already contacted the 17 villagers through the gendarmerie and told them that their actions constituted a crime under the Turkish Penal Code. Of the 17 people who found the crash and the bodies, Yılmaz Dilki, the former village headman of the Döngel village, and two villagers who spoke with the news channels could face charges of making offensive remarks against the state, newspapers report.

Yes, it sounds like a tragicomedy. Did Interior Minister Beşir Atalay not congratulate those 17 villagers who, despite incredibly bad weather conditions, risked their own life and found the crash? Atalay told the villagers that night that the state and families of the victims were grateful for their brave efforts.

Probe under way

But was the "state" or the "prosecutor of Kahramanmaraş" offended because of the "offensive remarks" of the villagers, or were they angered with something else? For example, were they offended with Dilki telling news channels that immediately after the helicopter crashed, they reported to local officials that they heard noise of a "big blast" and "smelled burnt cable," but no one was dispatched for search and rescue effort in the location they mentioned?

Furthermore, could they be perhaps offended with the statement that after no one came to search the location they mentioned and upon hearing on TV that the crash could not be found, they decided to risk their own lives and despite the heavy snow started the search? How accurate are the villagers’ remarks? Naturally, we are in no position to vouch for them.

Yet, the fact is there that they found the crash and the bodies. Furthermore, they found the crash at a location far away from the region the search and rescue teams were searching. From the beginning, there were claims in newsrooms that some villagers were complaining that despite their appeals, the search was continuing at a wrong place.

Can we ignore the fact that at least two of the people onboard the helicopter survived the crash (we have learned that from Ihlas news agency reporter İsmail Güneş, who survived the crash and telephoned an emergency hotline) but unfortunately froze to death because the search and rescue teams could not reach them in time?

If not ignorance, perhaps we might suspect a serious coordination deficiency in the search and rescue efforts. Is expressing such a concern a violation of Article 301 as well?

It is not a joke but can be considered as such by anyone with brains because intellect cannot accept such an absurdity.