Broadcast, publication ban on allegations of dropping from a helicopter

* Image: Timur Çelik

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A publication and broadcast ban has been imposed on the news regarding the allegations that Osman Şiban and Servet Tugut were dropped from a helicopter after they had been detained in the district of Çatak in Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern province of Van.

As reported by the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), the Van Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which has been conducting an investigation into the allegations, has both imposed a confidentiality order on the investigation file and a ban on news to be broadcast or published about the allegations.

In treatment in the intensive care unit, Servet Turgut, one of the two villagers allegedly dropped from the helicopter on September 11, lost his life in the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Hospital on September 30.

What happened?

Taken into custody by the soldiers who launched an operation in the Çatak district of Van province on September 11, Osman Şiban (50) and Servet Turgut (55) were found in the intensive care unit of the Van Regional Training and Research Hospital two days later.

Speaking about the issue, Osman Şiban said that he and Servet Turgut were dropped from a helicopter after they had been detained and tortured by soldiers in Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern province of Van.

As reported by Cemil Uğur from the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the hospital epicrisis report of Şiban and Turgut was completed.

The report indicated that Şiban was taken to the Van Training and Research Hospital "with complaints of injury after falling from a helicopter."

While the "Intensive Care" section of the report referred to "falling from a higher place" as a complaint, the report further said that "they were brought to the emergency department by paramedics upon being informed by the security personnel after they had fallen from a higher place."

In a statement about the allegation that two people were dropped from a military helicopter, the Governor's Office of Van announced that a legal and administrative investigation was launched. "One of the suspects fell off the cliff and got wounded while he was fleeing," it also said. (EKN/SD)