Forensic Architecture was commissioned by the Diyarbakır Bar Association to investigate the killing of Tahir Elçi during a press conference he delivered on the 28th of November 2015.The press conference took place in the historic district of Sur in Diyarbakır, Turkey. Elçi was speaking next to the historic Fourlegged Minaret of the 16th century Sheik Matar Mosque. Three days earlier, an exchange of gunfire between Turkish state security forces and the PKK had resulted in damage to this monument. Elçi was calling for an end to the conflict, which had erupted in the city four months ago. The incident was preceded by another shooting, which occurred moments earlier on the adjacent Gazi Avenue. Two members of PKK’s youth wing (known as the YDG-H) shot two police officers, who later died.The two PKK members then fled down Yenikapı Street, where Elçi’s press conference was taking place. As the press conference was being filmed, the scene unfolded in front of multiple cameras. Plain-clothes police officers at the press conference opened fire at the PKK members as they ran through the scene. The only fatality from this shooting was Elçi, who was shot in the back of the head. Forensic Architecture undertook a spatial investigation of the incident by analysingvisual, sonic and documentary evidence provided by the Diyarbakır Bar Association and reconstructed the events in an accurate 3D digital model.

https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-tahir-elci

The fatal shot line of fire
The fatal shot line of fire