HDP files complaint over dragging of dead body in Şırnak

ANKARA

DHA photo

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has filed a complaint over the notorious dragging of a dead body of an alleged outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant through the streets of Şırnak in southeast Turkey, also tabling a parliamentary motion addressed to the interior minister.

The dead body belonged to the brother-in-law of HDP Şırnak deputy Leyla Birlik, Hacı Lokman Birlik, who is said to have been killed during clashes between police and members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, in downtown Şırnak.

The HDP said in a written statement that the party’s lawyer had filed a complaint over the incident, in which Birlik’s body was apparently dragged from the back of a police truck, to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office. 

The party issued complaints against Interior Minister Selami Altınok, Şırnak Governor Ali İhsan Su, Şırnak Police Chief Hacı Sel, and all people involved in the incident.

On Oct. 4, the Interior Ministry announced that it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses after the image was posted online earlier that day. The photograph spread widely on social media and was also shared by Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş.