Gendarmerie Weapons in Lice Sent to Prosecutors

Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office ordered the seize of all weapons at a gendarmerie headquarters located in Kayacık (aka Hezan in Kurdish) village for further investigation. 

On June 28 soldiers allegedly fired arms at civilians who assembled to protest the construction of annex buildings in Kayacık Gendarmerie Headquarters, leaving Medeni Yıldırım (18) killed and injuring 9 people. 

Prosecutors ordered confidentiality on the coverage of investigation.  

According to Yüksekova Haber, a local news website, all weapons in the headquarters have seized according to Article 10 of Turkey’s Anti-Terror Act and shipped to authorities in Diyarbakır for further analysis. 

Parliament rejects motion on Lice incident

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) submitted a motion to the parliament on Lice incident. 

According to Radikal newspaper, BDP deputy Altan Tan addressed a speech, urging an investigation on the incident and penalization of those who are responsible. He also claimed that some authorities attempted to cloud the case with polemics and rhetorics in the pretext of labeling protestors as drug dealers. 

“Lice incident is indirectly leading us to drugs. It is not about gendarmerie headquarter construction,” governing AKP deputy Yılmaz Tunç claimed. 

On the other hand, main opposition CHP deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu said Tunç tried to associate all Kurdish regions and people with drugs and refuted his claims. 

“People used their rights to protest,” said Tanrıkulu, claiming that residents of Lice symbolically protested the construction of further gendarmerie buildings. 

However, BDP’s motion on the formation of a parliamentarian commission to investigate Lice incident has been rejected. (AS/BM)

* Photo credit: AA