Kurdish teenager shot, killed by soldiers while on picnic with friends in southeastern Turkey

An 18-year-old Kurdish teenager was shot and killed by Turkish police while on a picnic with his friends in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The governor's office said the youth were engaging in smuggling and claimed that the soldiers had fired warning shots.

Tuesday December 01 2020 02:31 pm

Duvar English

An 18-year-old named Özcan Erbaş was shot and killed by Turkish soldiers while on a picnic with friends in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Nov. 30, Mesopotamia Agency reported.

The Hakkari Governor's Office claimed that Erbaş and his friends were engaging in smuggling over the border with Iraq and that the soldiers merely fired warning shots preceded by verbal warnings.

While the teenager died in the hospital, the governor's office said that an investigation into the incident was ongoing.

Meanwhile, Erbaş’s uncle Sabri Erbaş said that the teenagers were shot on from nearby Bağlıca and Gerdin police stations while they were having a picnic.

"We went to get my nephew after we got the news. We argued with the soldiers, they wouldn't even let us touch the injured. They didn't help either. I carried him on my back the whole way," the uncle said.

Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Sait Dede tweeted about the incident, saying that "Another Kurdish youth was executed without conscience."

"We know they will try to hide behind the shield of impunity again, but we will ask about this even a thousand years later."

Topics Turkey Turkish Turkish soldiers Hakkari Kurdish issue