Turkish youngster hit by stray bullet from Syria still in intensive care

ANKARA

Mehmet Gündüz, a youngster who was hit in the head by a stray bullet from Syria in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpınar on July 16 is still in an intensive care unit. AA photo

Mehmet Gündüz, a youngster who was hit in the head by a stray bullet from Syria in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpınar on July 16 is still in an intensive care unit.

The clashes are continuing between the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the militant wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra front, where Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have also gotten involved after shots from Syrian side killed one Turkish citizen and wounded Gündüz.

The bullets came from the adjacent Syrian town of Ras-al Ain, where Kurdish fighters have been battling fundamentalist anti-government rebels since July 16. Ceylanpınar, in the Southeastern Anatolian province of Şanlıurfa, sits just across the border from Ras al-Ain.

“The bullet hit while he was sitting in a room at home. It is now stuck in the brain. According to the doctor’s expression, the bullet is still in the brain,” Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik told reporters July 19 as he visited Gündüz, who is in the intensive care unit of Hacettepe University Hospital in Ankara.

“We shall not give up hope in God. Doctors and all health workers are doing their part. We have swiftly shown the necessary effort for the patient to be treated in the healthiest and best environment. God willing our brother will get over these though times,” Çelik added.

Another wounded by stray bullet from Syria

The General Staff announced on July 19 that another Turkish citizen was wounded by a stray bullet from Syria in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpınar on July 18.

A bullet coming from the nearby Syrian village of Tal Half hit Ali Belice at 6.30 p.m. on July 18 as he was at Kardeşlik (“Fraternity”) Park, the General Staff said on its official website, under the title “Significant Border Incidents.”

Afterwards, Belice was taken to the Viranşehir State Hospital and he is not in peril, the statement added. “Within the content of the rules of engagement, counter fire was opened from the Ateşoğlu Border Outpost Center at targets detected in Syria’s Tal Half village region with infantry rifles and machine guns,” it said.