Probe launched into killing of two civilians in Turkey’s east

AĞRI

DHA photo

A public prosecutor’s office in the eastern province of Ağrı has launched an investigation into the killing of two young civilians, amid allegations of extrajudicial execution in a gendarmerie operation that was launched after a terror attack at a district gendarmerie command post.

The public prosecutor’s office in the Diyadin district has opened a probe into the killing of Orhan Aslan, 16, and Emrah Aydemir, 14. The Ağrı Governor’s Office had said the two were among the three members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed late on Aug. 12, but the Diyadin mayor said they were civilian youngsters working at a local bakery, daily Milliyet reported.

The father of Aydemir, Mehmet Hanifi Aydemir, filed a criminal complaint for an investigation to be launched into the killing of his son. Aydemir said his son, who was attending a vocational religious high school, was working at the bakery, where he earned 15 Turkish Liras daily. 

Diyadin co-mayor Hazal Aras said two of the three people killed by security forces late on Aug. 12, after the PKK launched simultaneous attacks on a military base and police station in the district, were civilians Aslan and Aydemir had no connection to the attacks. 

“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 approaching, so they hid in the woodshed of the bakery on the road. This is where they were killed,” Aras said, adding that the two may not have been targeted specifically but there had nevertheless been a “direct attack on civilians” in the district.