Probe launched into sharing of dead PKK militant’s naked body on social media

MUŞ

Photo from a protest against the murder of PKK militant Kevser Eltürk. DHA Photo

The Muş Governor’s Office has launched an investigation into the distribution of pictures depicting the dead and mutilated body of a woman believed to be a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The governor’s office confirmed in a written statement that the woman in the picture was PKK militant Kevser Eltürk (Ekin Wan), who was killed in a clash with Turkish security forces on Aug. 10 in Muş’s Varto district. The picture shows a naked woman, apparently dead, lying on the ground with bruises visible on her body, as well as blood around her midsection. Three men, whose faces are not seen, are seen standing near the woman. 

“It has been determined that some images of a woman, a member of the terrorist organization PKK, who was neutralized during a clash with our security forces in a rural area of Varto district on Aug. 8, were shared on social media. An administrative investigation has been launched against those who took, released and shared these pictures which are unacceptable to the public and to our governor’s office,” said the statement released on the office’s website on Aug. 16. 

Eltürk appeared to have been strangled while her hips were broken, according to Democratic Regions’ Party (DBP) Van co-chair Hamiyet Şahin, who washed the militant’s body in preparation for burial.

The DBP is a sister party to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and operates mostly in Turkey’s east and southeast.

Meanwhile, a protest was held on Aug. 16 in the Nusaybin district of Mardin against the treatment of Eltürk’s body.

A march was followed by a sit-in protest organized by the DBP that drew HDP deputies Gülser Yıldırım and Enise Güneyli.

“People who have no sense of humanity and who have the understanding of Daesh [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] stripped [Eltürk’s] body naked and shared it on social media,” said Yıldırım.