Turkish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the son of Somalia’s president, Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, after he was involved in a fatal road crash that killed a courier in Istanbul.
Mr Mohamud was driving a car registered to the Somali consulate on 30 November when he struck the back of Yunus Emre Göçer’s motorbike on a busy main road in Istanbul.
Mr Göçer, 38, a father of two, was taken to hospital but died from his injuries six days later.
An initial police report seemed to suggest Mr Göçer was at fault in the collision, which led to Mr Mohamud’s release from custody.
Mr Göçer’s wife Öznur Göçer challenged the report, telling local media at the weekend that claims, such as her husband was not wearing a crash helmet at the time of the accident, or that he was talking on the phone and even a suggestion that he had thrown himself in the path of the oncoming car, were untrue.
New footage of the accident appears to back what Mrs Göçer states, as it shows a car hitting the back of a motorcycle in broad daylight as they were exiting the Avrasya Tunnel heading towards Zeytinburnu.
Mrs Göçer believes Mr Mohamud’s status as the son of Somalia’s President initially helped give him some diplomatic protection, but once details of the fatal collision were made public, people came forward with more footage and eyewitness testimony enabling a more accurate picture of what happened.
Her husband’s friends and fellow couriers have also protested over the handling of the incident, pressurising the police to pursue the prime suspect in the collision.
Although technically under a travel ban while investigations into the incident were being carried out, it appears Mr Mohamud has already fled the country.
When police visited Mr Mohamud’s home, it appears he has not been there for the past week, prompting the Turkish authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest on Friday.
On Monday, 11 Dec, the Associated Press carried reports that a Somali diplomat in Turkiye had told them the president’s son had taken the severely injured victim to a hospital after the crash. Mr Mohamud then travelled to Dubai, according to the diplomat.
Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who had shared grainy CCTV footage of the 30 November incident on X (formerly Twitter), accused the government of “being too weak to defend the rights of its own citizens” and said the “suspect left Turkiye with his hands free”.
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
Mayor İmamoğlu promised to track the case until it concludes: “The son of the President of Somalia hits and kills motorcycle courier Yunus Emre Göçer and is released. May God have mercy on Göçer and I offer my condolences to his family.
“We will not let this matter go. I will follow the legal process to the end on behalf of tens of thousands of motorbike couriers!”
Responding to the pressure, Turkiye’s Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç confirmed that “international procedures” concerning apprehending the suspect for the fatal crash were under way.
“Regardless of their title, everyone is equal before the law and the entire process for the capture of the suspect — including the international procedure — is being carried out meticulously,” Tunç tweeted Sunday.
The Justice Minister also stated an investigation had been launched into police officers who conducted the initial investigation into the collision and the release of Mr Mohamud.
Main image, top, of crash victim Yunus Emre Göçer (left) and suspect Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
