2 people arrested over the attack on Kurdish family in Mersin

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Two of the three suspects who attacked a family coming from Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to Turkey's eastern Mediterranean province of Mersin have been arrested.

Suspects S.O., M.F.O. and M.B. were taken into custody as part of the investigation conducted by the gendarmerie.

Following the related procedures, they were referred to the Anamur Courthouse. While M.F.O. and M.B. have been arrested on charges of "attempted wilful killing", "damage to property" and "provoking the public to hatred and hostility", S.O. has been released on probation.

In a statement released by the Mersin Governor's Office, it has been alleged that the incident was caused by a traffic accident resulting in damage. The Office has argued that "some posts which distorted the incident were groundless and the incident was a judicial case."

The Office has also said that "Iraqi citizen M.M.K. has been discharged from the Anamur Public Hospital after his treatment." Expressing its "great sadness" for the incident, the Governor's Office of Mersin has noted that "the Iraqi person and his family are their guests in the district."

What happened?

The incident happened on May 14, 2021. Muştaq Mahmood Kareem and his family, who came to Turkey's Mersin from Erbil, were attacked by S.O., M.F.O. and M.B. in the Gözsüzce SIrtlan area. Kareem and a family member were wounded in the attack and hospitalized.

While the wounded were discharged from the hospital following their treatment, eyewitness Cihan Kutluk, who had seen and intervened in the incident, gave the following statement to the gendarmerie:

"I saw that the traffic stopped on the bendy road. I got out of the vehicle to see what happened. I saw that a white jeep with a foreign license plate was standing in the front and a group of people were fighting.

"When I went to them to intervene, I saw that a black Honda Civic vehicle with the 01 YG 428 license plate was standing in front of the white jeep and three people who got out of the black vehicle were beating the driver of the white jeep to death in front of his family.

"The person who was a passenger in the vehicle and who was identified as M.F.O. later on took a big stone, hit the driver of the white jeep in the head and face four times. After the first blow, the person lost his balance and fell towards the barriers on the roadside.

"They tried to throw him towards the cliff from the barriers. After the last blow, the person passed out and fell. They kept on hitting him while he was lying on the ground unconscious. His mouth, nose and head were constantly bleeding in the meantime.

"Afterwards, the people around said, 'Enough, he is dead,' they left him unconscious on the ground and started walking towards their vehicle. While they were about to get on, M.F.O. looked back and said, 'Whoever will be a witness to this incident, I will be waiting, I will kill him. Whoever will be a witness... I will make life unbearable for you here... Kurds...'

"Then, I helped the unconscious man get on his own vehicle, I drove them to the Aytemiz gas station near the Tekeli Gendarmerie Station and called the gendarmerie teams." (HA/SD)