Neighborhood guards beat quake survivors: 'We are the state here'

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Neighborhood guards in Defne, Hatay, a province heavily affected by the February earthquakes, beat a man who was trying to get belongings from his relative's damaged building.

The man identified with the initials H.K. filed a complaint against officers for "wilful injury."

His spouse shared a photograph of H.K. on social media showing his injured face. She wrote, "My spouse was battered when he was trying to get our belongings out of the home. They battered him without listening to him or asking anything. They handcuffed him behind the back and dragged him. What is necessary must be done urgently. As we haven't gotten over the shock of the earthquake disaster..."

Citizens' help

In the statement he gave at the police station on Friday (March 17), H.K. said he and his friend M. had gone to the apartment at around 11 a.m. to pick up the belongings from the apartment of his spouse's sister.

"Two neighborhood guards came while we were in the building. One of them shouted at us, 'What are you doing here?' I said, 'We are moving down my sister-in-law's radiators.'

"The same neighborhood guard, shouting again, said, 'Do you reside here?' My friend M. submitted the address obtained from the e-government that showed he lived in the building. And I told the guards that I didn't reside there but I came to help move down my sister-in-law's belongings.

"In response, they said, 'Move these down. You're not going up again.' And I said, 'There is the combi boiler we previously removed. Let us move it down.'

"The same guard shouted, 'Leave the radiators and get out.' We asked them why he was shouting. The guard said, 'This is the state of emergency' and headbutted me. He punched me when I asked, 'Why are you hitting me?'

"To protect myself, I hugged the guard. He pushed me away and punched me in the face again. The other guard was holding M., then he let him go and sprayed pepper spray in my face. The guard who hit me said, 'There is a state of emergency here, there is no state, we are both the state and the judiciary.' He took out his gun but did not point it at us. Then M. and I went outside, with my eyes burning from the pepper spray.

"The guards came to us again. The guard who hit me picked me up from the ground, grabbed my arm, pushed me to the ground and handcuffed me. My friend M. was trying to calm the guard but the guard continued to hit my head and body hard with his hands and feet.

"I told the guard, 'I have children. What are you trying to do by hitting and handcuffing me? The guard told me, 'F... your children. Go complain to your God, to the president. The other guard did not hit me while I was handcuffed, but he didn't intervene with the other guard, either.

"They let me go after the reactions of the citizens around and removed the handcuffs. They left without an announcement or writing a report.

"Then my friend and I immediately went to the field hospital. I got a medical report. Then I went to the police station to file a complaint. We didn't resist the guards. We didn't insult them. My sister-in-law İ.R. had asked me to get the belongings from her residence and given her key to me. I had no intention of theft."

State of emergency

The government declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces affected by the massive quakes.

On February 6, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 struck the southern city of Maraş.

The quakes caused destruction in 10 cities in Turkey's south and southeast, as well as Syria's northern parts, where over 5,000 people were killed.

The official death toll from the quakes stands at over 48,000 and is expected to increase further, as over 227,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, according to government figures. (AS/VK)