Police officer killed by accidental weapon discharge in Turkey’s southeast

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

A police officer has been killed after a weapon on an armored vehicle discharged accidentally in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır, in the wake of an outbreak of violence across the country, including a recent bomb attack in the Turkish capital that killed dozens and wounded hundreds of others.

Police officer Özgür Gümüş, 30, was killed after a weapon on an armored vehicle discharged while Gümüş was on duty in Diyarbakır’s Ergani district around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, Doğan News Agency reported.

The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office said in a written statement that the accidental discharge of the weapon inflicted a deadly wound to Gümüş’s groin. 

“The injured police officer was martyred at the Dicle University Medical School Hospital despite all the efforts to save his life,” it said.

Turkey has seen a rise in attacks by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants against Turkish security forces since late July, with scores of casualties, in the country’s east and southeast in particular, reported.

Meanwhile, two separate burial ceremonies for two soldiers, Doğan Akgöbek and Şükrü Şahin, were held in the southern province of Hatay and the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir, respectively, on Oct. 12, a day after the two were killed in clashes with PKK militants in Şenkaya, a district in the eastern province of Erzurum, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The burial ceremony for Akgöbek was held in his hometown Hatay on Oct. 12, with requiems both in Turkish and Kurdish sung by Akgöbek’s family.

Among the attendees at Akgöbek’s funeral ceremony were Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies Adem Yeşildal, Orhan Karasayar, Hacı Bayram Türkoğlu and Mehmet Öntürk, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Mevlüt Dudu and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Şefik Çirkin.

The burial ceremony for Şahin, a 24-year-old soldier killed in the PKK attack in Şenkaya, was held in his hometown Eskişehir on Oct. 12, Doğan News Agency reported.

The Turkish army has beefed up security measures over an upsurge in violence ripping through the country for the past several months.

The Turkish General Staff said in a written statement on Oct. 12 that 17 PKK militants were killed in air strikes in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Oct. 11.

Elaborating on the air strikes on PKK targets, the general staff said the aerial campaign also destroyed PKK shelters, munitions and gun positions. 

In the eastern province of Van, several areas in the Çatak and Başkale districts were declared “special military zones” between Oct. 13 and 27, the Van Governor’s Office said in a written statement on Oct. 12. 

The declaration was to assure public order and well-being, prevent crimes and protect peoples’ rights and freedoms, the governor’s office said.