15 children from ‘motorcycle gang’ beat 16-year-old Turkish boy to death

Duvar English

On August 17, 16-year-old Emir Koçhan was beaten to death by 15 children in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul.

The incident is said to have taken place after a social media outcry erupted after Koçhan shared a photo on his Instagram account.

Shortly after the incident, Koçhan was beaten to death by a group of fifteen people while he was in a park with his friends.

The group also prevented his five friends who were with him from calling ambulances and police after extorting their phones.

The 16-year-old boy died in hospital on August 20. Following the investigation into the incident, four minors – two aged 15, one aged 16 and one aged 17 – were taken into custody and subsequently arrested.

Effect of social media: gangs are rampant

Journalist Timur Soykan of the daily BirGün reached the statements his friends gave to the police after they saw Koçhan being beaten to death. One of the friends said that the group beat the 16-year-old until he was unconscious, with one of them saying: “We’ll kill him and bury him, I don’t care.”

According to Soykan, one of the minors committed seven violations in the past year.

In his article, the journalist drew attention to the socio-economic conditions of the crime scene: “(The children) all live in Ayazağa, which was once a slum and is now a skyscraper district. Although there are luxurious lives next door, most of the children in the district have no future.”

Soykan also drew attention to the impact of social media posts about drug gangs and organizations on children.

“These kids see the path to a life of luxury in the messages of criminal organizations on TikTok. Gangs have no problem with staffing when they share videos of themselves driving around with weapons in luxury cars on social media. Brutality and violence become the hallmarks through which kids can prove themselves to gangs,” he wrote.

According to Soykan, children who are jealous of the criminal gangs that lead this glamorous life dream of starting their own gangs. In Istanbul, biker gangs formed by children are widespread.

The 16-year-old boy arrested on charges of Koçhan’s murder was a high school graduate who worked as an unlicensed motorcycle courier at a liquor store. Another 17-year-old boy also worked as an unlicensed motorcycle courier.

Many children under the age of 18 come daily by motorbike to the place where the murder took place. People from the neighbourhood said that there had been many fights in this area before.

The father and relatives of the murdered 16-year-old boy also said the boys who organised the attack acted as a gang.

Children record torture of peers

Since August 22, video footage has been circulating on social media showing eight children kicking, hitting and beating another child in Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district.

Eight children between the ages of 12 and 17 pinned another 16-year-old boy to the ground and beat him with kicks, punches and blows for several minutes, while the attack was recorded by another child.

Police arrested eight children who were found to be involved in the incident. The children were referred to court after their procedures at the police station.