#Nurcan Baysal#
A Kurdish family was attacked in Turkey’s southern Mersin province in May. The Kurdish family, who came to Mersin as tourists from #Erbil#, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (#KRG#), sustained injuries of a racist attack by a group of people with stones and batons.
The Governor’s Office of Mersin has denied the allegation of a “racist attack” despite a witness testimony and issued a statement stating that the incident was a “judicial case”.
“I saw three people getting out of a black car, beating the driver of a white jeep to death next to his family,’’ according to a statement by an eyewitness.
“They were also harassing the wife and children of the foreigner, who owned the white jeep.The person who was a passenger in the black car with a 01 YG 428 registration plate, whose name was Mehmet Fatih Oflaz, as I learned later, hit the driver’s head and face, four times with a big stone,’’ the witness added, noting that the perpetrators continued to strike the victim despite the fact that the he was lying unconscious on the ground.
While they were about to get back into the car, the person named Mehmet Fatih Oflaz turned and began yelling obscenities about Turks and Arabs, according to the wintess.
There was another news report last month several opposition media outlets.
According to Duvar news site, soldiers shot a shepherd and a child randomly in southeastern Hakkari province, with the pair waiting for hours to receive medical aid.
The 23-years-old shepherd Şahap Şendol and 17-years-old Celil Ekinci, a border trader, were shot while trying to cross the border into Hakkari from the KRG.
“First, they killed the horses on which the children were riding. When the horses were shot, the children fell and then they shot the children,” Celil Ekinci’s brother Reşit Ekinci said, speaking to Bas News.
There has been no statement issued about the incident from the Hakkari Governor’s Office.
According to media reports, Şahap Şendol went to the KRG while he was shepherding, but he was afraid to return because of the clashes and that Celil Ekinci went to visit his relatives there.
I watched the video footage of injured shepherds posted on Artı Gerçek news website several times. One is seriously injured, a few people seeking assistance. The soldiers came afterwards.
“What are you doing here,” one of the soldiers says. “We had to (come),” replies one of the shepherds and continues; “I am not a terrorist.”
The soldier continues shouting instead of running for help. “Okay brother, don’t yell at the child. Our car is over there, let’s carry it, the child is going to die,” pleads one of the people standing next to the boy lying wounded on the ground, covered in blood.
Now, my brothers and sisters, I will ask that we all listen to our consciences.
When we cry for Palestine, as we should, should we not also cry for the Kurdish children who were shot in our country, as well.
Do we ever stop to think why Kurds are so easily being shot in this country or why even Kurdish tourists are not tolerated?
Why would a 17-year-old Kurdish teenager have to go to Iraq and bring cigarettes under very difficult conditions, becoming a” smuggler,” instead of going to school like his peers?
Why is it that armoured vehicles hit Kurdish children? Why to Kurdish children step on mines and die? Why do those bullets always find Kurdish children? Why were Kurds always shot in this country?
Do we ever ask why a drop of tear does not shed for the Kurds who were shot in Turkey, who are also the citizens of this country, ones which you call “brother”?
Actually, we all know the reason. Striking a Kurd is easy, striking a Kurds has no risk. Killing a Kurd goes unpunished. A Kurd’s life is worthless.
I have been trying to explain the same issue for the last four decades and I am tired of telling, shouting, struggling to raise a voice on what is happening.
What about you? Aren’t you tired of ignoring what is happening in your own country, doesn’t your conscience ever ache? Don’t you have a tear to shed?
Here are some comments targeting Kurds, including myself, on social media:
“Propaganda is what you know the best, stop telling us stories.’’
“Dirty Kurds, you deserve to die like pigs.”
“You are the greatest of terrorists, Nurcan.”
So, what can I say? Let’s strike the Kurds![1]