An Iraqi Kurdish man was fatally stabbed in İstanbul on Aug 31, with his family claiming he was targeted for speaking his native language.
Hakim Lokman, 45, from Duhok in the Kurdistan region, was stabbed following a dispute in a cafe near the hotel he was staying in the Aksaray district, and succumbed to his injuries before reaching the hospital.
Lokman’s relatives have traveled to İstanbul to retrieve his body and seek answers.
His cousin, Ramadan Muhammed, told Kurdish media that Lokman was assaulted by a group of about a dozen people. The incident occurred after they overheard Lokan speaking on the phone in Kurdish, he said.
Another of Lokman's cousins, Ekrem Nesrullah, recounted the events to Rudaw as relayed to him: "He was speaking Kurdish on the phone with his cousin in England. A group of 10-12 people realized he was Kurdish. One of them took a knife and stabbed him in the heart. He died before reaching the hospital.
“It happened because he was speaking Kurdish. The group insulted him, and Hakim, who also knows Turkish, responded. That's when they stabbed him. Two people who were with him are currently in custody. None of the attackers have been detained."
‘The ambulance was late’
Berivan Barin, a lawyer from the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) representing those attacked, said Lokman was attacked around 11.00 pm local time, shortly after arriving in İstanbul from Dubai with his cousins.
“They were having dinner at a cafe in front of their hotel. While chatting in Kurdish amongst themselves, they were verbally harassed by four strangers. A minor argument ensued, and they left the cafe. The individuals they argued with also left, their numbers swelling to 10-12 people,” she recounted. “We don't know who these additional people were or their motives. Right across from the cafe, someone stabbed Hakim Lokman. The ambulance was late.
“Two people (Lokman's cousins) went to the police station to report the incident. They were mistreated at the police station. They weren't given food or water. They were searched four times. We will go to the police station again."
Condemnation from DEM Party
Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, condemned the killing: "The knife that struck Hakim Lokman's heart was an attack targeting the very existence of Kurds. The culprit behind the recent organized attacks against Kurdish workers, language, culture, and songs is the government.
“This climate of hate has claimed the life of another Kurd today. We warn the government; abandon your racist and chauvinistic rhetoric and practices, stop straining the social fault lines.”
Government disputes allegations
The Turkish government’s Center for Combating Disinformation denied the reports that the murder was related to Lokman’s ethnicity or language, asserting that such claims are intended for “provocation purposes.”
The suspects are registered in Batman, a predominantly Kurdish-populated province in the country’s southeast, the center emphasized in its statement.
The center said the initial dispute in the cafe between the three Iraqi Kurdish men visiting İstanbul for touristic purposes and two individuals, including the murder suspect, arose for “staring at women.”
Following the dispute, the security guard of the establishment, forced them out of the venue by using physical violence, according to the statement. Meanwhile, the suspect, identified as H.O., stabbed Lokman twice with the knife “he took from a table.”
The suspect, his brother Z.O. and security guard U.Y fled the scene as the authorities are investigating the incident, the statement said. (VK)
