Police and gendarmerie carried out a joint operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’s Party (PKK) in Sapatan where one special operation unit police was killed. Entrance and exit to/from the village was banned and 36 villagers were taken under custody as part of the operation.
HDP deputy Özgür Zeydanoğlu said an operation was launched in a village in Hakkari’s Şemdinli district on July 5 after one police officer was killed during a clash with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists.
“During the first operation six people, most of whom were former HDP executives or members, were detained, battered and tortured. Other family members in their houses experienced serious insults; all family members, from 90-year-old women to six-year-old girls, were battered. Six people, despite their wounds, were made to wait four hours near the central mosque and were tortured either by walking over them or severely beating them. During the operations between 4:30-7:30 a.m. in the Butu and Meydan neighborhoods, almost all family members in the houses experienced serious insult and torture. While almost 100 people were beaten and tortured, a total of 36 people were detained,” said Zeydanoğlu as he read the report.
The report said a doctor from Şemdinli Hospital refused to provide a battery report or treat Bünyamin Atahak, saying, “You are from Şapatan village, you are terrorists.”
After the incidents were shared on social media, 16 people were released on Aug. 7 and battery reports were given to some victims when the chief public prosecutor’s office intervened.
The Hakkari Governor’s Office said on Thursday that a police officer was suspended over a “strong suspicion” of his involvement in torturing the villagers after victims filed complaints with the Şemdinli Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Hakkari Governor’s Office also rejected claims in the national media that police officers tortured several villagers in Şemdinli but added that “necessary steps will be taken against the security personnel if any evidence of their involvement in torture is found.”
