Kurdish family attacked in Aydın

Photo: MA

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A Kurdish family from the eastern province of Iğdır were attacked by the locals in a village in Aydın, western Türkiye, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

Cengiz Türkan had bought a house in the Arpadere village of Aydın's İncirliova district, and visited the village with his family to see the house, according to the report. The family members, including women and children, were first threatened and then attacked with sticks and iron bars.

Semra Türkan said she used KADES, the Ministry of Interior's panic button app for violence against women, but no law enforcement officers showed up.

"They are from the east"

Emrah Çakmaz, the father-in-law of Cengiz Türkan, who was seriously injured in the attack, told MA that they had bought the house from a retired police officer.

"I've been living in Aydın's Efeler district for two years. I'm a construction worker. We went to the Arpadere village with the police officer to see the house. When the villagers in the coffee shop saw us, they called my brother and asked him, 'Why did you come here?'

"Meanwhile, we went to look at the house. It was a two-storey house. It was jointly owned. We bought the first floor. The brother of the tenant on the second floor was staying on the first floor. He told the retired police officer, 'They can't enter the village, they are from the east.

"When the officer said, 'Open the door, let them see the house,' the other owner made a gun sign with his hand and put his hand on the retired officer's head."

"They blocked our way"

After they headed to Efeler, several people blocked their way and attacked them with sticks and iron bars, said Çakmaz.

"Without saying anything, one hit my hand with an iron bar and another hit my head with a stick. When I lifted my head up, I saw them beating my brother as well.

"Then another tractor came. There were men and women on it. One of the woman attacked me, tore my shirt. She said, 'Don't send them anywhere, let them stay here. The villagers are on their way.'

"I said I was losing blood and going to die. They didn't care. Someone threw me a stone, it hit me in the neck."

"They thought my mother was killed"

He then called his son-in-law for help, said Çakmaz. "I saw many villagers came to the scene with their vehicles. I called the gendarmerie and asked for help. But the gendarmerie officer said, 'Go to the hospital. Get a medical report for battery. And file a complaint against all of them' and hung up on me.

"When I made arrived in the hospital, my father called me. He said, 'We are all so bad. Yout brother Hasan's condition is very bad. They broke his head. They fired a shot at your mother's foot. I ran into the forest to survive. Your mother and brother might have died.'

"They thought my mother and brother were dead and ran away." (TY/VK)