Twelve-year-old Nihat Kazanhan died on 14 January 2015 after being struck in the head by a gas cartridge fired by police officer Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez with a Mossberg pump-action shotgun. Nihat was near his home in the Yafes neighbourhood of Cizre when the incident occurred. Göçmez fired three or four shots in the direction of Nihat and his friends. The 12-gauge ammunition used was reportedly a type of gas cartridge generally used in indoor operations for opening doors and breaking windows.
Immediately after the incident, the Police Department and the Şırnak Governor’s Office announced that no police unit was present at the scene. Then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Minister of Interior Efkan Ala also stated that there had been no police intervention and that no weapon or gas had been used during the incident. However, the initial criminalistics report stated that the shotgun used in the killing was not part of the police inventory. It also stated that similar weapons might have been obtained from dealers looted during the 6–7 October Kobanê protests.
On 29 January 2015, footage of the incident recorded by a police camera was released in the media. The footage showed that police officers were present in the area during the incident. It also showed that gas cartridges were fired in the direction of the children. A separate investigation was launched against police officers concerning the removal of the footage from police premises. An administrative investigation conducted by Ministry of Interior inspectors likewise established that security personnel used gas. It also found that the fatal shot came from the direction of the armoured vehicles. Nihat Kazanhan was standing by the roadside, outside the group causing the disturbance.
In the investigation conducted by the Cizre Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, an armoured vehicle carrying special operations police officers temporarily assigned to Cizre from Mardin was identified. Police officer Hayri Vural, to whom the weapon used to fire the fatal shot was assigned, was detained on 27 January 2015. However, in an additional statement given on 16 February 2015, Vural stated that Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez was the person who fired the weapon assigned to him. He also stated that Göçmez collected the cartridges after the incident. Vural was subsequently released. Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez was detained on suspicion of intentional killing.
The Cizre Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office decided not to prosecute Hayri Vural in the investigation into intentional killing. On 4 March 2015, an indictment was issued against Hayri Vural, Oğuzhan Çalışkan, Ufuk İli and Gürcan Turak, who were present at the scene, for failure by a public official to report a crime. The indictment also charged Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez with killing with conscious negligence
The trial before the Cizre 1st Assize Court began with the first hearing on 7 May 2015. In subsequent hearings, the court issued numerous interim rulings. These concerned the identification of the characteristics of the weapon and ammunition used in the incident, the examination of telephone and police radio records, and an investigation into whether the camera footage from the armoured vehicle and police station had been deleted or altered. The court also ordered that police witnesses be heard and that a site inspection be conducted.
The court also decided to file a criminal complaint against the relevant officials. The complaint concerned allegations that the cartridges belonging to the weapon had been entered in the official records as complete despite being delivered incomplete.
Throughout the proceedings in 2015 and 2016, the original versions and technical characteristics of the camera recordings were investigated. The Ankara Gendarmerie Criminal Laboratory was asked to examine the characteristics of the weapon and ammunition. The case file was sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine to determine the direction from which the cartridge struck Nihat Kazanhan’s head. A 3D reconstruction of the incident was also requested.
The court ordered an expert examination to determine the effective range of the weapon. The weapon was to be tested both indoors and outdoors on gel designed to resemble human tissue.
At the hearing on 23 September 2016, the public prosecutor submitted his opinion on the merits. He requested that Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez be convicted of killing with conscious negligence. The lawyers for the intervening parties stated that evidence was still missing from the case file. They requested further evidentiary proceedings.
They also argued that it would be inappropriate to issue a judgment before the outcome of the criminal complaint filed by the court concerning the allegation of forgery of official documents. The court rejected these requests.
At the judgment hearing on 11 November 2016, the court found that Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez had committed killing with conscious negligence. It initially sentenced him to aggravated life imprisonment. The court then reduced the sentence on the grounds of unjust provocation and the defendant’s conduct during the hearings. He was ultimately sentenced to 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment. Oğuzhan Çalışkan, Ufuk İli, Gürcan Turak and Hayri Vural were each sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for failure by a public official to report a crime. The court decided to defer the announcement of the judgment in their cases.
On 15 May 2017, the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Gaziantep Regional Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals. On 6 May 2019, the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation also upheld the judgment. The judgment therefore became final.
Following the final conviction, the execution of Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez’s sentence began. However, in 2020, he was released from prison under regulations allowing prisoners to leave correctional institutions on temporary leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following an individual application by Nihat Kazanhan’s mother and father, the Constitutional Court ruled on 25 May 2022 that there had been a violation of the right to life.
The Constitutional Court stated that the security risk relied upon by the first-instance court as the basis for the reduction for unjust provocation did not originate from 12-year-old Nihat. It also emphasised that, even in areas where security risks were high, law enforcement authorities could not legitimately use lethal force automatically against meetings and demonstrations.
The Court stated that the use of firearms against persons could only be regarded as a last resort in very exceptional circumstances. It further found that the application of a reduction for unjust provocation above the lower limit was not sufficiently reasoned. The Constitutional Court ordered that the decision be sent to the Cizre 1st Assize Court to eliminate the consequences of the violation.
Following the Constitutional Court’s violation judgment, the retrial began before the Cizre 1st Assize Court. Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez did not attend the first hearing on 24 February 2023. He had been released from prison on COVID-19 leave. The court issued an arrest warrant for the purpose of detention on the grounds that there was a risk that the defendant might abscond. Throughout 2023, the requests by the lawyers for the intervening parties for a Red Notice to be issued against the defendant were rejected. The courts found that there was insufficient evidence showing that he was abroad.
At the hearing on 17 January 2024, a Red Notice search decision was issued against Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez. At hearings held throughout 2024 and 2025, the defendant could not be apprehended. The court therefore awaited the completion of the Red Notice procedures.
By the hearing on 17 September 2025, a response from the INTERPOL General Secretariat confirming that the Red Notice had been published was received in the case file. The court ordered that witnesses be heard. It also ordered that HTS records and other communication records be examined to identify the persons with whom the defendant was in contact and the telephone lines he used.
At the hearings on 13 March and 12 June 2026, there was no development concerning the defendant’s apprehension. At the hearing on 9 September 2026, the court ordered an investigation into whether Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez was using a new telephone line. It also ordered an examination of his current HTS and cell-site records. The court further ordered the continuation of the arrest warrant and Red Notice issued against him. As the defendant has still not been apprehended, the retrial could not be concluded. The next hearing was scheduled for 25 November 2026 at 09:00.