Teacher Yeliz's devastating end! Driver released, family protests decision

While no arrest warrant has been issued following the incident, the family of Yeliz Kader , who died in the accident, and those injured have been fighting for justice for 10 months. As the victims await an arrest warrant at a hearing scheduled for July 17, new security camera footage of the accident has emerged. The footage shows the moment Bedia Canan E.'s car accelerates out of a side street, strikes a moving SUV, then pedestrians on the sidewalk before entering the business.

"WE GO TO PICK UP HIS BAG AND ENCOUNTERED HIS BODY"

Azime Mert, the sister of Yeliz Kader, a kindergarten teacher and mother of two who lost her life in the accident, said, "It was the evening of September 22nd. We were sitting at home when the police suddenly called us. They said, 'There was a huge accident in Çengelköy. There's a bag here that belonged to Yeliz Kader. Come and get it.' Of course, we didn't know she was dead at the time. When we went to collect the bag, we encountered her body and identified her. She went for a walk on the evening of September 22nd. She loved Çengelköy and Çınaraltı. She was there every week. She went there that day too. That day was the last day of her life."

Mert, stating that they haven't heard back from either the driver or their relatives since the accident, said, "It's been 10 months. So, in two months, it will be a year. There has been no response from the other party, no sadness, no remorse, no human emotion. Not only did it not happen to us, but seven people were injured there. You name it, the ones with the platinum in their feet, or the ones whose children fell. None of them got back to us. There was no apology, no 'get well soon', no condolences. This has hurt us deeply. Our pain has doubled because we've suffered a tremendous loss."

"THE FILE HAS BEEN WAITING BEFORE THE PROSECUTOR FOR 10 MONTHS"

Mert stated that the driver was released after the first expert report and that the second was ignored. He said, “They issued an expert report using a term called ‘package’ on their vehicle. They released the woman the same day the expert report was issued. After that, we objected to it. Another expert report was obtained. Although this second report stated that there was no such problem with the vehicle as they claimed, no further legal action was taken. The woman has been free for 10 months. The case has been pending with the prosecutor for 10 months. Her trial will be on July 17th. We haven't taken any legal action for 10 months.”

'MY 75-YEAR-OLD MOTHER EXPERIENCED THE PAIN OF LOSING A CHILD AGAIN'

Azime Mert, who said her mother was experiencing this pain for the second time, said, "We didn't tell my mother at first that she had been released, but she learned later. She was grieving as if she had lost her daughter again. They never contacted us. Our expectation is for justice to be served. We want nothing more. Our life changed before and after the accident. Everything changed. We are deeply saddened. A person so full of joy for life is gone. And this person was a teacher. Their children are still crying, their parents are still crying, and they are calling us."

'THE POLICE SHOWED US A PHOTO, IT WAS OUR MOTHER'S PHOTO'

Yeliz Kader's son, Ömer Yusufoğlu, said, "We were waiting for our mother to come home. My aunt called us and told us that the police had called and that my mother's belongings had been found, but they couldn't find her. We completely assumed my mother had lost her belongings in the accident and had gone to a hospital. We researched which hospitals the injured had been to, trying to find my mother. The police showed us a photo. It was our mother's. We recognized her. They told us she had passed away. We learned she had been arrested. Normally, detention periods like this can last two or three months, but to have her released in just two weeks, the same day the expert report was released, early that morning... This was a second blow to us, frankly. We were in shock."

"WE WERE NOT AWARE OF THE REPORT, WE LEARNED ABOUT IT OURSELVES"

Yusufoğlu, who stated that they weren't informed throughout the process and were only able to object to the initial report later, said, "When the expert report came out, we weren't informed. Our lawyer wasn't informed either. We learned about it ourselves and were able to object only after we learned about it. The initial expert report said the vehicle was in a state of 'packing.' The expert report we received says the exact opposite. In other words, it states there was no 'packing.' In conclusion, there was negligence. There was negligence. A life was lost as a result of negligence. And that life was my mother. She was the teacher of hundreds of children. Perhaps the teacher of thousands of children. The colleague of hundreds of people. My mother was a respected person, and she was very young."

'THIS ACCIDENT OCCURRED DUE TO THE DRIVER'S FAULT'

The family's lawyer, Müslüm Demirtekin, stated that they had objected to the expert reports and the prosecutor's stance since the beginning of the process. "When I reviewed the file on the day the report arrived, I learned that the release decision had been issued along with the report. I then warned that a new report was necessary. This report was insufficient; it was only obtained from a traffic expert. When I spoke with the prosecutor, I also stated that a report from an electrical engineer and a mechanical engineer was also needed. Although I continued to emphasize that the report included multiple injuries and the death of a teacher , and therefore, the matter needed to be taken seriously, my words were ignored. I subsequently obtained a report from a panel of electrical engineers and mechanical engineers from the Criminal Court of Peace. I submitted it to the file and requested his re-arrest. This request was also ignored," he said.

'THIS IS NEW EVIDENCE BUT IT WAS NOT CONSIDERED'

Demirtekin, highlighting the content of the second report, said, “The two reports completely contradict each other. The second report is the committee report. And it clearly and unequivocally states: This accident was not caused by the vehicle's electrical or mechanical system; it was the driver's fault. Normally, he should have been arrested again based on this report. This is new data, new evidence. Despite this, he wasn't arrested. I've been a lawyer for years. I'm surprised that such a serious report was ignored. Had a thorough investigation been conducted, a different conclusion could have been reached. Now we have a court and a committee. I believe we will have a more robust and fair trial.”

'SUNDAY, WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING ANYTHING, WE WERE DRIVED AWAY'

Hümeyra Çiriş, who survived the accident with injuries, described her experience: “I was passing a shop when I didn't hear a sound. A car came from above, dragging us along with the parked vehicle. We found ourselves completely trapped inside the shop. Literally, everything happened in a split second. We suffered fractures, someone died. What really upset and angered us at this point was the publication of an unbalanced, incompatible expert report, despite 10 months having passed, and the fact that we hadn't received any calls, not even a condolence, a 'get well soon' offer, an 'apology', or anything else. This was what really frustrated us. We didn't understand who was on the road at the time. We were just three friends: my wife, my friend, and I. We thought, 'We must have gone off the road, gone somewhere, and been dragged.' We couldn't even fathom how many people the car had dragged, what happened, or whether we were alive.”

'WE CAN'T PASS THAT ROAD AFTER THE ACCIDENT'

Çiriş, noting that the psychological effects of the accident are still lingering, said, “Afterward, when no one called us for a long time, and the deceased died right before our eyes… I pulled my friend from the woman who died. So, the trauma of that is still with us. We still can't cross that road, we can't walk, we can't do anything. Even now, if we hear a horn while walking down the road, we run away. As far as we know, the packed car stops, and smoke suddenly rises into the air. But there wasn't even any smoke rising from the vehicle at that moment. The car was pushed back, and we were removed. I hope, God willing, that July 17th will bring us some reassurance. Because human life isn't so simple that we can just forget about it and say, 'Never mind.'”