Defense Ministry requests involvement in case on Ankara attack against veterans

Mesut Hasan Benli - ANKARA

The Defense Ministry has requested involvement as a complainent in a case into a physical assault of two military veterans after a traffic dispute in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The two veterans, Muzaffer Oktay and İbrahim Kızılkaş, were attacked by four men at a gas station on Nov. 4.

Six people, including one child and two veterans, were hospitalized after the attack, while six people were detained by police.

Two men, identified as Tamer Görkem and Doğan Çiçek, were arrested by the court after the Sincan Chief Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the incident

“We as the National Defense Ministry are complainents against the suspects and request to be part of the case alongside our veterans. The attack was staged against the heroic members of the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] and at also against the spiritual personality of the TSK,” the ministry stated.

The mother of one of the attacked veterans, Muzaffer Oktay, blasted the assault and said her son was already disabled after injuries sustained in the military.

“My son cannot even use his hands or legs. How dare they hit him?” she said.

Oktay was wounded after the explosion of a hand-made explosive constructed by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern province of Mardin’s Artuklu district in 2016. Ever since the attack he has had to use a wheelchair.

“We went for a trip around Ankara’s Gölbaşı with my friend Muzaffer. A car started to follow us so we took shelter at a gas station. They followed us there. We told them we are veterans and they responded to us by saying they ‘don’t like veterans’ would ‘not let them live,’” Kızılkaş reportedly said in his testimony.