‘Police raid on wrong house’ taken to Parliamentary agenda

* Photo: HDP

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Mersin MP Dr. Rıdvan Turan has submitted a Parliamentary question and made an application to the Human Rights Commission regarding the police who inflicted violence against Yolgın family in Turkey's Mediterranean province of Mersin.

In his Parliamentary question, Dr. Turan has indicated that the family members were subjected to violence during the police raid on their house.

According to the MP's Parliamentary question, the narcotic police teams affiliated with the Mersin Security Directorate raided the house of the Yolgın family in Çilek Neighborhood in Akdeniz district on December 29. While the police were searching the house, the family warned them that they raided the wrong house; they were subjected to police violence despite the warning.

İsmail and Serhat Yolgın, who told the police that they raided the wrong house during the search, were battered and detained by the police and they were subjected to violence both in the police vehicle and at the security directorate that they were taken to after being detained.

NOTE: According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Rehabilitation Centers Report, the ones who applied to the TİHV about their complaints of torture and ill treatment in Turkey last year were aged between 5 and 70.

HDP's Rıdvan Turan has recalled that İsmail and Serhat Yolgın, with injuries in their different body parts, received a medical report documenting the battery and filed a criminal complaint against the related police officers by applying to the prosecutor's office.

Turan has said, "An investigation should swiftly be launched against the police officers working at the Narcotic Department affiliated with the Mersin Security Directorate who raided the house of Yolgın family by mistake and inflicted violence and torture on the family."

What measures are taken to prevent torture?

Recounting the incident in his Parliamentary question, HDP MP Turan has asked Interior Minister Soylu the following questions:

• Will an investigation be launched by your Ministry into the violence and torture inflicted on the Yolgın family?
• What measures are taken to prevent torture of citizens as in the case of the Narcotic Branch of the Mersin Security Directorate?
• Does your Ministry have any research or report regarding the violence and torture inflicted by security personnel on citizens?

MP requests investigation against officers

Dr. Rıdvan Turan has also submitted a petition to the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission about the incident.

In his petition, Turan has demanded that the necessary action be taken to swiftly launch an investigation against all police officers, primarily against the police superintendent Ü.A. on duty at the Mersin Security Directorate Narcotic Department, who inflicted violence on İsmail and Serhat Yolgın during the police raid, inside the police vehicle and at the security directorate. (AS/SD)