Kurdish man beaten, threatened by police in province of Edirne

Duvar English

While at the bus station in the northwestern province of Edirne en route to visit his family in Adana, a young Kurdish man was beaten and threatened by local police, according to local news reports on Friday. 

18-year-old Ozan Okur, originally from the eastern Kurdish-majority province of Hakkari, has appealed to the Human Rights Association (İHD) and has filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against the police in question. 

On Sept. 20, while awaiting his bus at the Edirne bus station, Okur was talking with other passengers and mentioned that he was from Hakkari. At that point, Okur said that a plainclothes officer approached him and said “A friend of ours is also from Hakkari. There is still quite a bit of time before your bus leaves and it's cold out here, come and have a cup of tea.”

At that point, the officer brought Okur to a police station and said to the other police “I brought you guys a Kurd” and began to punch Okur, causing him to bleed from his nose and mouth. Later, the police searched him and took his phone, bus ticket, and 500 TL that he had in his pocket. They also looked at photos of his mother, sister and sister in law on his phone and made sexual innuendo-laced remarks about them. 

Later, two police in official uniform came and and asked what Okur had done. “A Kurd has come here, what is he doing around here, these people are going to cause trouble around here,” the other officer replied. The officers then told him to leave and that they would shoot him in the head if he came back to the area. When attempting to retrieve his ticket, telephone and money, the police said “Are you still here you Kurd, get out of here.” 

Upon returning to Adana, Okur said that his chin was broken by police, requiring surgery.