Knife attack against seasonal agricultural workers in Çorum

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Seasonal agricultural workers from Turkey's southeastern province of Urfa were subjected to the knife attack of the village head and his sons in the Abdullah Ata (Teke) village in Çorum province of Central Anatolia.

In the attack that occurred at 6.30 pm yesterday (August 4), Hatice and Kübra Alpa, Halep and İsmail Çalışır and Ali Sarıgül were wounded. Taken to a hospital, they were discharged after their treatment.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), İbrahim Çalışır, a member of the family, said that the water of the field in Bozbağ, where they went as seasonal agricultural workers and which was sowed a month ago, was cut by villagers. Calling Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MP İbrahim Özyavuz, Çalışır expressed their demands for water. According to Çalışır, the head of the Tekke village named Ömer called them and reprimanded them, asking, "Why did you call the MP? Why do you want water?"

'I will remove you from here; you will move out'

Çalışır has recounted yesterday's knife attack as follows:

"A shepherd, who is also the maternal uncle of the village head, was grazing his cows in the field. He came a few times and said, 'Don't leave garbage here.' We said, 'We don't leave garbage, we clean the area every morning.' Yesterday, he came and saw a couple of plastic bags. He called the gendarmerie afterwards. The gendarmerie called the village head; after the village head came, a non-commissioned officer came, too. The officer told us, 'I will remove you from here. If I see the tiny bit of garbage when I come here in half an hour, I will remove you from here. You will move out, I will make you move out of there, be that at midnight.' Upon his shouts, we said, 'Why are you shouting? You don't have the right to shout at us. Whatever our crime is, just take down minutes. There are people at your father's age'."

'Officer helped the opposite side'

According to Çalışır, the non-commissioned officer against whom they will file a criminal complaint summoned them afterwards:

"At the moment while we were speaking with the non-commissioned officer, the village head and his sons attacked us with knives in their hands. My father Halep Çalışır and my elder brother İsmail Çalışır were wounded in the attack. They punched my paternal aunt Hatice Alpa, who came to break up the fight, in the face. My cousin Kübra Alpa passed out after she received a blow to her neck while trying to break up the fight.

"Ali Sarıgül, who works for us, was wounded in his head. During the fight, the non-commissioned officers sprayed pepper spray at us while he helped the opposite side. There was an intervention only against us."

Çalışır has said that they removed their tents in company of the gendarmerie and they were taken to another village. He has added that after they get their wages from the pasture where they worked, they will go back to Urfa. Çalışır has announced that they will file a criminal complaint against the non-commissioned officer and the village head." (SO/SD)