Mahir Mete Kul was arrested after the chess tournament on the grounds of a confessioner’s statement. Although he was released in court after 10 months, he wanted to leave the country because of the continuing problems and fear of being arrested again. He died when the boat he was on to go to Greece capsized in the Meriç River. His lifeless body was found 15 days after he disappeared.

He was studying at Istanbul Beykent University Computer Engineering Department with a 50% scholarship. He was a certified chess coach. And he used to pay tuition his fee with his earnings by teaching in primary schools.

CHESS WAS HIS LIFE

“I love teaching children chess. I participate in tournaments all over Istanbul. I was playing in the final. On the evening of the 4th round, I was detained and arrested during the GBT(criminal record check) control in Edirnekapı on my way home as usual. Confessor Berk Ercan said in his statement that I carried out illegal organization activities in İzmir between 2011 and 2013. I am 14 years old in 2011. I went to Izmir once in my life for my brother’s engagement in 2015. The confessor copied and pasted his crime on me without knowing me at all. I’ve been imprisoned for 10 months just because of this statement. My school, my profession, everything was interrupted, my family pays for the school I can’t go to right now.”

These words belong to Mahir Mete Kul, who was connected to the 27th High Criminal Court on 23.10.2018 via SEGBİS(sound and vision information technology system). After the trial, the university student was released, but the pressure on him did not end. Immediately after his release, he was banned from going abroad. He was dismissed from the school. When Kul realized that the problems he experienced would not be limited to these, he decided to leave Turkey, leaving everything behind, about 6 months after he was released from prison. He was going to cross to Greece via the Meriç River. But the boat on which 3 people were on capsized. Kul was unable to survive the disaster in which the smuggler and a friend swam away. His lifeless body was found only 15 days later, after the efforts of his mother Ünzüle Araz, who lived in Greece for political reasons