Sixteen-year-old killed by soldiers' gunfire in Hakkari

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Özcan Erbaş, 16, was killed on Monday (November 30) after border troops opened fire upon him and his friends in the Kurdish-majority province of Hakkari.

The child lost his life after being hit in the back about 400 meters away from the Turkey-Iraq border, according to the eyewitnesses quoted by Mesopotamia Agency.

The Governor's Office of Hakkari stated after the incident that Erbaş and the people with him were involved in illegal border trading and soldiers warned them before opening fire.

The child was killed as a result of soldiers "firing shots in the air" and judicial and administrative investigations were opened into the incident, said the governor's office.

The uncle of Erbaş said that the soldiers didn't act while he was lying in blood and he had to carry his nephew on his back.

Several children have been killed by soldiers' gunfire near border areas in the Kurdish-majority provinces over the past years.

CLICK - Fifteen-year-old child in intensive care after being allegedly shot by soldiers in eastern Turkey

The Human Rights Association (İHD) released a statement on the incident today (December 4), saying that "We won't get used to the killing of children."

"People continue to lose their lives or get injured every year in the border areas of the Kurdish region because of arbitrary fire by security officers.

"Because no effective objective and transparent investigations are carried out against the perpetrators, violations cannot be prevented and become permanent.

"As human rights defenders, we won't get used to this situation! We declare once again that we will fight for the quest of justice of every child whose right to life and development are taken away form them." (AS/VK)