Two Kurdish Protesters Killed By Turkish Soldiers

by Alliance for Kurdish Rights

Two Kurdish protesters have died of gunshot wounds sustained during fierce clashes with Turkish soldiers in the country’s southeast on Saturday, AFP writes.

Three people, including two soldiers, were hospitalised after the demonstrators opened fire, hurled stones and fireworks at security forces, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

Witnesses told AFP Turkish soldiers also fired live bullets in the clashes.

The two victims are Ramazan Baran (24) and Abdulbaki Akdemir (50).

It was a protest on Saturday against the construction of a new military outpost in the district of Lice that led to fierce clashes between protesters and Turkish soldiers.

A youth by the name Abdullah Akkalu (19) was seriously injured and brought to Dicle University Hospital with Ramazan Baran where the latter lost his life. Akkalu is still being treated in the intensive care unit.

Kurdish MP for Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Nursel Aydoğan says that a woman in her 50’s and another unidentified person have also been killed during the clashes.

The picture shows the funeral march for Ramazan Baran. He is reportedly being put to rest next to Medeni Yıldırım, a young man who was also killed by a Turkish soldier in June last year when protesting against a military post, just like Baran.

Update: It is worth noticing that it is the security forces who claim that protesters opened fire against them.