Istanbul, May 15 () - A Turkish miner who was photographed being kicked by then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s adviser during a demonstration in disaster-struck Soma last year has been fined for kicking a car in the convoy.
Speaking to private broadcaster FOX, Derya Kocabıyık, the wife of Erdal Kocabıyık, said her husband was fined for 548 liras for kicking the official car belonging to Erdoğan’s convoy.
“Rather than a fine being given to the aide, we have been fined 500 liras on the grounds of a kick. In other words, [my husband] was kicked and to make matters worse he was then fined,” she said, adding that they struggle to even pay their rent.
Erdoğan’s adviser Yusuf Yerkel caused outrage after kicking Kocabıyık as the latter was held down by special forces, amid a protest during Erdoğan’s tense visit to Soma two days after the disaster. Footage of the notorious kick quickly went viral, stoking further anger against the government’s response to the disaster.
Yerkel obtained a medical report allowing him to miss work for seven days due to injuries sustained to his leg in the process of kicking the mourner. However, he returned to work within days and still remains part of Erdoğan’s retinue, having faced no procedural or administrative sanction.
Kocabıyık was later dismissed from his job as a miner without compensation and is currently working as a porter.
