The flight from Turkey of Mohamed HS Mohamud, son of the president of Somalia, after causing the death of a delivery driver who was riding a motorcycle on an Istanbul highway in a collision, has sparked outrage in the country after it became public that police officers Police tried, at first, to cover up the alleged culprit. Over the weekend, hundreds of motorcycle delivery workers demonstrated on the streets of Istanbul and in front of the courts to protest and demand justice for their colleague and the prosecution of the Somali president's son.
The events occurred on November 30, in broad daylight, when a vehicle from the Somali consulate ran over a 38-year-old delivery driver who was traveling on a multi-lane highway in the center of Istanbul. In the images from a traffic camera that captured the accident, it is seen how the motorist reduces speed in the right lane, which gives way to an exit ramp, while the vehicle does not do the same and hits the motorcycle from behind. . The motorcyclist, Yunus Emre Göçer, was seriously injured and died in hospital six days later.
Traffic officers took a statement from the 40-year-old driver of the vehicle, who turned out to be the son of Hasan Sheikh Mohamud, president of Somalia since last year, having previously held the position between 2012 and 2017. According to the television channel Turkish Channel D, Mohamed Mohamud alleged in his statement that the motorcyclist “was not wearing a helmet”, “suddenly braked and turned to the right” and that he himself stepped on the brake, but was unable to stop the car in time. The agents accepted his statement, despite the fact that the traffic images show a different development of the accident. The son of the Somali president was released without charge. On the 2nd he left Türkiye by plane.
Somali Cumhurbaşkanının oğlu, motokurye Yunus Emre Göçer'e çarparak ölümüne sebep oluyor ve serbest bırakılıyor. Göçer'e Allah'tan rahmet, ailesine başsağlığı diliyorum.
Bu işin peşini bırakmayacağız. Hukuki süreci, on binlerce motokurye emekçi adına sonuna kadar takip edeceğim! pic.twitter.com/JN3wAKuSPJ— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) December 7, 2023
Öznur Göçer, the victim's wife, said that the police even told her that her husband had committed suicide. “Until the images were made public [del accidente], the police maintained that my husband had committed suicide. “If my husband's fellow delivery drivers and public opinion had not put pressure, perhaps they would have closed the case as suicide,” he stated in an interview with the newspaper. Cumhuriyet. An expert report requested by Göçer's lawyer maintains that the person responsible for the accident is the son of the Somali president.
Several center-left opposition leaders, starting with the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, have published the images and asked the Government for explanations. This has led the Prosecutor's Office to issue an international arrest warrant against Mohamed Mohamud.
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The situation is delicate for the Turkish Government, which maintains close relations with that of Somalia. In the last decade, through its aid to cooperation, Turkey has become the main supporter of the African country, impoverished after decades of civil war and conflict against radical Islamist militias. Several of these projects have been personally inaugurated by President Mohamud and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including a hospital complex named in honor of the Turkish leader. In return, Turkish companies have received contracts to rebuild the country's infrastructure and a large Turkish military base has been established in Mogadishu to train the Somali Armed Forces and increase Turkish influence in the Horn of Africa.
After several days of refusing to answer questions from the press about the case, the head of Turkish Justice, Yilmaz Tunç, assured this Monday on the social network the rights of the deceased motorist. “I have a 15-year-old daughter in high school and an eight-year-old son with autism.” […] And that man was able to escape freely because the police made an incorrect report. The authorities tell me that what is necessary will be done, but I am not sure,” denounced the delivery man's wife.
As if that were not enough, another similar incident occurred this Sunday. A vehicle driven by the son of a former Yemeni minister ran over a 71-year-old woman on a narrow street in a central neighborhood of Istanbul. The woman fell to the ground and hit her head, so she is hospitalized in serious condition. The driver, Musaed Hussein, who was traveling with his father, former Yemeni minister Ahmed Musaed Hussein, was questioned by the police and released with charges. This time, he was banned from leaving the country until the investigation is concluded.
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