19.09.2025 11:22
In Keçiören, Ankara, 11-year-old Yiğit Cem Altınok tragically lost his life after falling from a retaining wall 8 meters high while riding his bike downhill. The grieving mother filed a complaint, claiming that her son’s friends, aged 11 and 12, deliberately tampered with the brake system before the accident.
On July 2, a terrible incident occurred on 1269th Street in the Atapark neighborhood of Keçiören district in Ankara. Yiğit Cem Altınok (11), a 5th-grade student at Gülhane Middle School, fell from an 8-meter-high retaining wall while riding his bicycle down a slope between the streets with his friends during the summer vacation. Yiğit Cem, who was taken to the hospital by ambulance in a wounded state, passed away on July 4.
HORRIFIC PEER BULLYING ALLEGATION Yiğit Cem Altınok's mother, Nazlıcan Aygün, filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office, claiming that the bicycle's brake system was deliberately tampered with by his friends K.U.Ç. (11) and E.T.Ş. (12) before the accident. Aygün also alleged that the contractor of the building where the retaining wall is located did not take adequate safety measures. She presented security camera footage from before the accident as evidence to the prosecutor's office.
THE EVENTS CAPTURED ON CAMERA The footage included in the case shows Yiğit Cem first seen riding up the slope with his bicycle. Then, while he was getting back on, it was observed that a friend pulled a part from the brake mechanism. Later, as Yiğit Cem rode down the slope, he disappeared from view, and the panic of his friends running around in distress after witnessing the accident was also captured in the footage. The children's statements were taken as part of the investigation.
"THERE ARE 5 CHILDREN AT THE SCENE, 2 OF THEM ARE BEING INTERVIEWED" Nazlıcan Aygün stated that Yiğit Cem was her only child and that she had been seeking justice for 78 days, saying, "My son went out to ride his bicycle when school was on break. He first rode down the slope alone on his bicycle. He then went back up holding his bicycle. When he got back on, one person distracted my son while the other removed the brake pads from his bicycle. After my son rode around twice, he was signaled to go down the slope. They watched my son fall very calmly and coolly. My son flew off the 8-meter-high retaining wall with his bicycle. They placed a very low iron on the 8-meter-high retaining wall. Only two children's statements are being taken. However, there are 5 children at the scene. Perhaps there would have been witnesses among the children. But only 2 of them are being interviewed," she said.
"THEY SENT MY SON TO HIS DEATH" Aygün said, "One of the children stated in his testimony that he checked the bicycle's brakes. The brakes are not checked from there. The brakes are checked from the handlebars. When my lawyer arrived at midnight, he only noticed that the brakes were tampered with in the camera recordings from my own building. While we were waiting at the intensive care entrance in the hospital, they tried to hand over my son's bicycle. But no report was made. They recorded it as a 'bicycle accident.' Even if it was a bicycle accident, wouldn't those brakes have been checked, wouldn't it have been considered? I left my pain behind and started seeking justice. Justice should have come to me; I shouldn't have had to struggle, I should have been able to grieve my pain. Before this incident, I had warned my son about the Ahmet Minguzzi incident; I told him, 'Look, they do things like this.' It happened to us. No one should say, 'It won't happen to us.' If it happened to my son, it can happen to anyone. They took away my son's right to live. My son just wanted to ride a bicycle. He had even lent his second bicycle to them because they didn't have one. They cut the brakes of the bicycle and sent my son to his death," she said.
"I WILL NEVER ACCEPT THE CONCEPT OF CHILDREN DRIVEN TO CRIME" Aygün expressed that they found the camera recordings with the help of her lawyer after the incident, stating, "If it weren't for this camera recording, the case would have been closed. The police say they couldn't find the contractor. I will never accept that there is such a thing as children driven to crime. The child was my child. He was going to school. He had gone out to ride his bicycle. My son did not deserve to die. My son was not sick. He did not die naturally. My son did not die; he was killed. Our case has been at the police station for 78 days. I want the judicial process to start and be clarified. I am also complaining about the contractor who built this building. Why did they pull my son's brakes? The camera recording shows that he is not checking; on the contrary, he is pulling the brakes very quickly. He does it very skillfully. I had one child, and he is gone. I raised him with so many difficulties. My son was the first in his school. He was going to enter summer vacation; he had received a certificate of appreciation," she said, shedding tears.