Man shot while attempting to pull down flag in Antalya

ANTALYA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A man was shot by a police officer as he was trying to pull down a Turkish flag near a police station in Antalya late July 16. It was the third incident of the kind in two months, after a protester in Diyarbakır took down a Turkish flag in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, prompting debates on whether the soldiers should have opened fire or not.

The 19-year-old man, identified as C.Ö., entered a police post at the Muratpaşa district, saying he wanted to file an application regarding a subject.

But according the witnesses, C.Ö. started to climb a mast next to the door of the police station as soon as he entered the precinct.

As C.Ö. was trying to take down the flag, a police officer shot him twice in his right leg. C.Ö. was transferred to a hospital following the incident.

Another man who attempted to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district late last month was arrested after being shot and caught by the police. The man was found hanged in his prison cell last week, with officials claiming suicide, but human rights associations declaring the incident suspicious.