Recently, the agenda was shaken by an internationally significant event on Thursday, November 30th. Around noon in the Fatih district, security cameras captured the moment when a vehicle belonging to the Somali Consulate and a courier on a motorcycle collided. It was subsequently determined that the user of the consulate vehicle was the son of the Somali president, Mohamed Hassan Shekh Mohamud. The official owner of the automobile, who had sufficient engine power, chose to “hit and run”. Which development brought it to an international dimension? In this text, we shall address how the agenda changed and explanations of the political identities that have occurred since November 30th, in addition to clarifying this question.
The sheik, who had been staying in Turkey for a while, was brought to a police station to be interrogated on the day of the incident. The inquiry corresponds to the period when the accident victim Yusuf Emre Göçer was still alive but severely wounded. The relevant authorities decided to release the perpetrator after his statement that the courier went in front of them without any signals, which was deemed necessary and sufficient. Following the public's desire to question the background of this decision, it was revealed that he was released after his statement at the police station, allegedly because "the motorcycle courier was said to be at fault" in the police report. A friend of Göçer named Yusuf Özsoy was fully aware that the legal process regarding the accident was still being maintained. He confirmed the traffic police teams who came to the scene recorded a report saying that the motorcyclist lost control of the steering wheel and hit the pavement, falling in front of the vehicle, without watching any footage. In the footage they obtained through their lawyer, the automobile came from behind and hit the motorcycle without even braking.
This unfortunate news and a few more incidents have raised suspicion among the public audience and the world's agenda that the perpetrator had a privilege due to his political status. These statements broke out after Göçer, sadly died on the sixth day of his struggle for life in the Ministry of Health Istanbul Training and Research Hospital. The first one was that the Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç dismissed the questions asked by press reporters about the issue and claimed that "Our agenda is Palestine.", without even allowing them to complete it. Minister Tunç refuted his own words after the discussions on social media: “This is complete disinformation.” The second incident was that the victim's wife, Öznur Göçer, applied to a broadcast on ATV known as "Müge Anlı ile Tatlı Sert" about the murder to shed light on the event but was rejected not once, but twice on the grounds of it being a reckless accident. The first application was in the crux before the murder news broke, and the second one seems to be in the recent past.
When the expert report arranged on the subject finally found Mohamud primarily at fault, and the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant for Mohamud, it was already too late. It was revealed that the suspect fled abroad on December 2, which coincides with the second day after the accident.
A funeral ceremony was held for Göçer at the Cemevi in Maltepe, Gülsuyu, accompanied by his loved ones. Turkey has deep-rooted historical ties with Somalia, and how these bilateral relations, which Turkey has built on mutual trust, friendship, and a win-win approach, have not made any sense so far, hopefully does not mean that they will not progress in this process.
Works Cited
“Adalet Başkanı Tunç: ‘Somali Cumhurbaşkanı’nın Oğlu Türkiye’ye Gelecek.’”. BBC News Turkish, 9 Dec. 2023, Updated 15 Dec. 2023, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/articles/c6pep45zpx6o