Suspect in flag removal case arrested

ISTANBUL

Ö.M. had removed a flag inside a military post in Diyarbakır during a demonstration against the killing of two people in the clashes with the armed forces on June 7.

Ö.M., the suspect in the case regarding the Turkish flag being taken down, was arrested Aug. 10 after a police raid in the Lice town of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır earlier in the day.

The 34-year-old had removed a flag inside a military post in Diyarbakır during a demonstration against the killing of two people in the clashes with the armed forces on June 7.

Police officers said they were after the suspect for months.

Three police chiefs were suspended June 12 in connection to the removal incident.

The removal had triggered a reaction across the country, while a man was shot by a police officer as he was trying to pull down a Turkish flag near a police station in Antalya on July 16.

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