Police beat earthquake survivor outside of his house, accusing him of theft

Photo: Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

A man who was beaten by the police outside of his building in Hatay following the February 6 earthquakes filed a complaint against the officers.

The man identified with the initials Ö.T. and his two nephews had wanted to check out the damage in the building after the quakes.

He had suffered from severe depression before the incident, Ö.T. told bianet, adding that the officers had hit him in the head and he is now experiencing loss of consciousness and memory.

The man and his family have been staying in a tent since the earthquake. They are evacuating their house today.

Asked to withdraw the complaint

They were summoned to the police station a day after filing a complaint, and the officers asked him to withdraw the complaint, said Ö.T.

"I thought they had called me for identification, but they asked me to withdraw my complaint. At the police station, I talked to someone over the phone who said he was the district security director.

"He said they would meet our needs such as power generators, and asked me to withdraw my complaint. And I said, 'No, Mr. Director, I won't withdraw my complaint.' If the prosecutor's office looks into it, it can detect this conversation."

Ö.T. noted that he had stood trial for theft, but he has not been convicted as the case is currently at the Court of Cassation, the top appeals court. However, the police implicated him because they can see the proceedings in the criminal record database, he added.

"He hit me in the head with the pistol grip"

In his statement at the Şehit Özen Police Headquarters on February 25, he said they had seen the special operations police had arrived at the scene while they were outside of their building.

The officers initially asked them if they needed anything, but after checking his criminal record, one officer identified as Ö. called him a thief and punched him in his left eyebrow, after which he fell to the ground, said Ö.T.

"While I was on the ground, he pressed his knee on me and hit me in the head several times with his pistol grip. Pointing his gun at me, he said, 'I'll kill you right here. Shut up.' While I was on the ground, other officers kicked me in the stomach while holding my arms.

"Meanwhile, other officers hit my nephews, who tried to help me, in the head with pistol grips. I told the officers, 'I live here. You can't hit me.' I tried to explain that I was residing there.

"About half an hour later, the chief of the officers came. The chief told me, 'There is no point in prolonging this, let's drop the subject. You'd be much worse if I were here."

Apology from the police

"The police chief then apologized to me and my nephews because of the incident, and said, 'Let's drop the subject. Go now.'

"We then left and went to the state hospital to get a medical report. I lost consciousness in the hospital and regained consciousness the next day."

According to the forensic examination recordings at the Hatay Field Hospital, painful swellings and abrasions were detected on the body of Ö.T.'s nephews. The examination report of Ö.T. says erosion was detected in the eye and eyebrow area.

The nephews said at the police station that the police officers other than Ö. Had beaten them.

N.D., one of the nephews, said their uncle had shouted, "I live here" while the officers were beating him. The other nephew, M.N.D., said the police chief had apologized to them after it was confirmed that they lived in that building.

→ On February 6, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 struck the southern city of Maraş. The first quake in the Pazarcık district at 4.17 a.m. was followed by the second one in Elbistan about nine hours later.

The quakes affected 11 cities in Türkiye's south and southeast, as well as Syria's northern parts.

The official death toll from the quakes stands at over 44,000 and is expected to increase further, as over 160,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, according to government figures.

Nearly two million people have been displaced due to the earthquakes.

(AS/VK)