Two people killed by Turkish army in the east were underage civilians, says mayor

İsmail Saymaz - AĞRI

DHA photo

Even though the eastern province of Ağrı’s governorate stated three members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been killed in clashes after PKK members staged an attack on the Gendarmerie Command in the province’s Diyadin district, the mayor of the district has claimed two of the dead were actually underage civilians who had nothing to do with the outlawed organization. 

Diyadin co-mayor Hazal Aras said two of the three people killed late Aug. 12 after the PKK launched simultaneous attacks on a military base and police station in the district were civilians Orhan Aslan, 16, and Emrah Aydemir, 14, and did not have any connection with the attacks. 

“Of these two kids, Orhan had been working at the bakery for seven months and Emrah for 10 days. They went to the bakery for the night shift and sat in front of the bakery door as it was closed. They got scared when they saw anti-riot vehicles. They hid in the woodshed of the bakery that is on the road. This is where they are killed,” Aras said, adding the two may not have been targeted directly but there had been a “direct attack on civilians” in the district. 

Aras said people had begun to not leave their houses after a certain hour as they were afraid. 

Aras also said the third person killed could have been a member of the PKK, adding the two youths and the other man were killed in different locations in the city. 

He said the two boys had not even attended a press statement of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the party from which the co-mayor was elected.