Shopkeeper sued over allegedly beating a Syrian child in İzmir

İZMİR

DHA photo

A shopkeeper in Turkey’s Aegean province of İzmir has been sued over allegedly beating a Syrian child, the İzmir Police Department told daily Hürriyet on July 22.

The İzmir Police Department has opened a case against Adnan Peyi, a shopkeeper accused of beating a young Syrian street seller in Basmane Square in downtown İzmir, after the boy’s mother filed a complaint.

İzmir Police Department Head Celal Uzunkaya said his department had finally reached the young boy after a two-day search.

“Our teams started searching for the young boy after we heard about the incident. We found him after a two-day effort. After his mother filed a complaint [against Peyi], a case was filed against the shopkeeper and then brought to prosecutor’s office,” Uzunkaya said.

Peyi, however, has denied the claims, claiming that he actually broke-up a fight between the child and another person in an attempt to protect the young boy.

“On the second day of Ramadan, a Syrian child was fighting a little girl next to the shop. I told them to stay away from my shop to not bother my customers. They moved about just 10 meters away and started fighting each other again. We then stepped in to break up the fight. I was even injured as both of them were using chairs against each other. A dispute erupted after three foreign people arrived and misunderstood the incident. The young boy had fallen over and his nose was bleeding,” Peyi added.