A sea of people hit the streets of Istanbul on March 12, to bid farewell to Berkin Elvan in one of this country’s most crowded funerals. This boy was only 14 when he was hit by a tear gas canister in the head in his Okmeydani neighborhood on June 16, during the time of the Gezi Park protests; he had left his home to buy a loaf of bread for the family. “Mom, your leg is disabled. If something happens, you won’t be able to run. Let me go. And if I see my friends on the street, can I bring them to breakfast?” became his last words. He stayed in a coma for nine months, or a total of 269 days, and lost his battle early in the morning of March 11; his weight had fallen to 16 kilos (35 pounds), down from 45 kilos (99 pounds). His death, the ninth linked to last year’s protests — which began as a result of irreconcilable policies involving Istanbul city planning between the government and the public — has become the symbol of people seeking justice. 

Just a few hours after Berkin Elvan was rushed to the hospital last year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed a huge crowd in Kazlicesme where he termed the rally “Respect to National Will.” This also was a part of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) official launch of the local elections campaign scheduled for March 30.

Erdogan was furious. “We know very well who sent 30,000 food boxes to Taksim, sheltered the terrorists in their hotels and the provocateurs of the social media,” the prime minister said. “We will identify one by one those who have terrorized the streets of our cities. We have all recordings of city surveillance footage. We will trace the media and social media to find those who have provoked incidents,” he added, praising the crowd in his rally: “These hundreds of thousands of people are not the ones who have burned and destroyed; these hundreds of thousands of people are not traitors like those who throw Molotov cocktails at my people. Whatever we do, we will remain within the frame of democracy and the rule of law. We have never pushed the limits of legality.” 

On March 10, however, Turkish media reported that police officers who testified on Feb. 6 couldn’t remember where they were or what they were doing on the day when Berkin Elvan was severely wounded in the head; police did not bring those responsible for the incident before a judge. Also on March 10, police used heavy tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 20 people who had gathered at the hospital in support of his survival. As the news hit the traditional and social media that even hospital corridors had been filled with tear gas, resentment multiplied. That eventually awakened President Abdullah Gul, and he became the first state official to phone the family — after 268 days — to express good will and speedy recovery for Berkin Elvan. The boy died the next morning. Erdogan has yet to extend his condolences.