1 - because he was 14 years old, just a 14-year-old boy from a poor neighborhood in Istanbul.
2 - because he is the eighth to die as a result of the heavy police response to the Gezi Park protests.
3 - because he was 'the child of hope' - there was great hope that because of his youth he would be able to recover from his injuries even though they were serious.
4 - because he fought for 269 to stay alive.
5 - because the government which very publicly laments the deaths of children in Gaza, Syria and Egypt can't bring itself to even say the name Berkin Elvan, with some in the government even trying to imply that the 14-year-old was a terrorist and the Prime Minister congratulating the police and calling their response to protests 'legendary',
and because it wasn't until the day before Berkin died, as his condition was rapidly deteriorating, that the President of Turkey called Berkin's father to ask about Berkin's condition and express his sympathies.
One further example of the government's attitude towards the death of Berkin and the protests in Turkey, this afternoon as Berkin's funeral was in progress Egeman Bağış, one of the most influential members of the AKP (the party in power), tweeted this in Turkish:
On March 30th* our people will give the necessary response to these necrophiles who are dissatisfied by the end of terrorism and our unity and who are targeting our efforts to find solutions.
* local elections are to be held on March 30th in Turkey.
The tweet was erased after it drew a great deal of criticism.
6 - because he had been injured when he was hit in the head by a police fired gas canister while going to buy bread for his family from a market near his home, and because he had insisted that he go for the bread when his mother had said that she would go to the market because she was worried about what was happening in the neighborhood.
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His name was Berkin Elvan and I wrote this about him yesterday.
Gezi Park Protests - Great Sadness and Outrage as 14-year-old Dies After 269 Days in the Hospital
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More than 100,000 people participated in Berkin's funeral today in Istanbul.
I will try to put up a post about it later.