In the previous chapter we explained that, according to the clothing examination report, bullets may have remained in Mehmet Çetin's body and that these were not removed and handed over to the prosecutor's office. That night the soldiers used HK-416, M4 and MG-4 rifles. They did not use pistols. And all of these rifles fire bullets of 5.56 mm calibre. Perhaps the bullets in Mehmet Çetin's body were removed but, because of their size, were not sent to the prosecutor's office. Or, since the weapon from which the recovered bullets had been fired could be identified, they presented a bullet fired from the weapon said to be Şükrü Seymen's as though it had been extracted from Mehmet Çetin's left knee. In this chapter we will examine the sizes of the holes found on Mehmet Çetin's body and clothing.
The sizes of some of the holes stated in the autopsy report are large relative to the calibre of the bullets that could be fired from the soldiers' weapons. In the clothing examination report, meanwhile, on the basis of the distribution of the gunshot residue found on the wounds on the left arm and the right leg, it was concluded that the shots had been fired from distant range. In the book Birinci Basamak İçin Adli Tıp [Forensic Medicine for Primary Care], published by the Turkish Medical Association, it is written that in shots fired from distant range, when the bullet strikes the skin the skin stretches, and after the bullet has passed through it the skin tends to return elastically to its former position, so that the diameter of the entry hole is generally smaller than the bullet's calibre. In the autopsy report the size of the entry hole in the middle of the outer left arm was measured as 0.8 × 0.8 cm, and the size of the entry hole in the right leg as 7 × 4 cm. (Mehmet Çetin's Autopsy Report (Muğla Forensic Medicine Branch Directorate, 03.08.2016, AT: 2016-1238))
In its reasoned judgment the court ruled that Mehmet Çetin had been killed by the soldiers.
"…the accused killed the police officer Mehmet ÇETİN, who was providing the villa's external protection; it was determined that one of the bullets that struck Mehmet Çetin had been fired from the rifle with serial number W349539, on which epithelial cells belonging to the accused Şükrü SEYMEN were detected; therefore one of the persons who fired at the deceased Mehmet ÇETİN and achieved at least one hit was the accused Şükrü SEYMEN, and the other accused directly contributed to the commission of the offence by jointly entering the clash or providing its security — this is understood from the accused's evasive defences, the complainants' statements, the record dated 18/07/2016 kept by the complainant police officers found in the case file (See Evidence 4-1), the external post-mortem examination and autopsy reports (See Evidence 18-1, 18-3), the criminalistic ballistic report (See Evidence: 15-14) and the entire content of the case file."
However, it has been established that all the weapons the soldiers had that night, without exception, fired bullets of 5.56 mm calibre. The soldiers had HK-416, M4 and MG-4 weapons, and all of them fire 5.56 mm bullets. At distant range, the entry hole that a bullet of 5.56 mm calibre would make ought generally to be even smaller than 5.56 mmDr. Ercüment Aksoy, Dr. Atınç Çoltu, Dr. Beyhan Ege et al. "Adli Travmatoloji" [Forensic Traumatology]. Birinci Basamak İçin Adli Tıp [Forensic Medicine for Primary Care]. Türk Tabipleri Birliği (Turkish Medical Association). https://www.ttb.org.tr/eweb/adli/4.html. That being so, it does not appear possible for a bullet of 5.56 mm calibre to make an entry hole of 8 mm (0.8 cm) — let alone one of 70 × 40 mm (7 × 4 cm).
The same holds for the holes in the clothing. The holes in the clothing, too, would be expected to correspond roughly to the bullet's calibre. Yet on Mehmet Çetin's clothing there are holes 1 cm, 1.5 cm and 2 cm in diameter. (Clothing Chemical Examination Expert Report (Mehmet Çetin & Nedip Cengiz Eker; İzmir Criminal Police Laboratory, 22.08.2016, IZM-KIM-16-08515-Ek))
In conclusion, had soldiers using rifles of 5.56 mm calibre shot Mehmet Çetin, the bullet holes on his body and clothing ought to have been at most 5 mm in diameter, or in some exceptional cases slightly larger. Yet both on the body and on the clothing there are holes 0.8 cm, 1 cm, 1.5 cm and 2 cm in diameter and 7 × 4 cm in size. It is very unlikely that these were made by 5.56 mm bullets. According to the data in the clothing examination report, the bullets that made a 0.8 cm hole in Mehmet Çetin's arm and a 1 cm hole in his back remained in his body. These are probably bullets fired from pistols of 9 mm calibre. The soldiers did not fire pistols that night. Despite all this evidence, the court ruled that Mehmet Çetin had been killed by the soldiers. It is assessed that this judgment is wrong and that the proceedings should be reopened for a retrial.