Seven injured in racist attack on Kurdish seasonal workers in Afyon

Photo: MA

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Seven people, including two women, have been injured in a racist attack on Kurdish seasonal agricultural workers in the western province of Afyon, according to a report by Mesopotamia Agency (MA).

The incident reportedly occurred after two workers were kept waiting at a barber's shop although their turn had come. When İsmail Tan (18) and his cousin Ali Tan (22) objected to that, they were accused of being "terrorists" and speaking Kurdish, a relative of the workers told MA.

The attacker forced İsmail Tan into a car and took him to the woods, where they threatened him and broke his arm, according to the relative.

"Ali Tan was able to escape from them. The incident escalated after he notified the families and they came to the barber's shop. Seven people, including two women, are injured with sticks here. The condition of the injured is not critical," he explained.

Hospitalized after the incident, Ali, İsmail and his sister İremnur (18) constantly vomited due to severe blows to their muscles and kidneys, MA reported. İsmail and Ali were later taken to the police station to testify.

After the incident, a squad of gendarmerie officials and riot police were sent to Dereçine town, where the Kurdish families live. The families were reportedly asked to return to their hometowns.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ayşe Sürücü said on Twitter that they had not been able to reach the governor of Afyon about the incident. "Who is forcing these families to leave the city at this time?" she wrote on Twitter last night. (EMK/VK)