Explosive Killed 14-Year-Old Boy - Enquiry to Interior Minister

14-year-old Fırat Okşak was killed by an explosion close to the Yayla Gendarmerie Station in the Genç district of the Bingöl province in eastern Anatolia while he was herding animals on 10 January. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakır MP Gülten Kışanak handed a letter of enquiry regarding the incident to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

In his letter of enquiry Kışanak asks Minister of the Interior Beşir Atalay to answer the questions whether an investigation will be launched into the incident and whether the explosive belonged to the nearby gendarmerie station.

The Human Rights Foundation (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch said that they have not received any information on the matter yet.

The region of the explosion is rather close to the cemetery where 14-year-old Ceylan Önkol was laid to rest after she died in an explosion on 28 September 2009. According to Özgür Radio, Ceylan and Fırat were relatives.

14-year-old boy suffered lung injury

Shell fragments caused internal bleeding of Fırat's lung. His neck and left leg were severely injured, furthermore one finger of his left hand was torn away.

Regarding the kind of injury and the statement of a 12-year-old sibling of Fırat, the explosive set off while Fırat was holding it in his hand, Kışkanak indicated. The incident happened in a distance of 600 metres to the Yayla Gendarmerie Station. Apparently, soldiers from the station came to the scene, collected the shell parts around and called an ambulance. Kışkanak drew attention to reports based on press scans and applications of the Human Rights Foundation concerned with deaths or injuries as results of explosives in civil areas.

According to the reports, eleven people, nine of them children, were killed by military explosives in 2008, 16 people were injured, 13 of them children. In 2009, two children and one adult were killed, seven children and 3 adults were injured.

"What measures does the Ministry take?"

Kışkanak asks if both incidents could be related to misconduct of duty within the gendarmerie station command in the vicinity. Furthermore, Kışkanak puts forward the following questions in his letter of enquiry:

* The explosive was found only 600 metres away from the Yayla Gendarmerie Station in an area that is used for herding animals by six neighbouring villages. Considering these facts, to what extend can the Gendarmerie Station Command be held responsible and what has been done about the responsible people?

* As reported in the media, eleven children and three adults have been killed and 20 children and six adults were injured by explosives throughout the last two years. What precautions are being taken regarding these incidents? (BÇ/VK)