20-year-old youth from Rojava has been killed in custody by Turkish police after his detention in the southern province of Adana last August.

The youth by the name of Dılo Derviş was arrested by police on the grounds of joining a public demonstration in Adana last August. Despite a court decision for his release at the first hearing on 17 December 2015, he was not released.

Derviş's Lawyer Tugay Berk said his client was unlawfully detained by Adana Directorate of Migration Management, and later sent to the Deportation Bureau in Aşkale district of Erzurum province where refugees from Shengal and Rojava are being held. He was at the Deportation Bureau on 29 December when special operation police forces conducted an intervention on the grounds of a rebellion by refugees.

Berk said Turkish officials informed neither Derviş's family nor him as his lawyer about this process, adding; "We had been told that he would be released after the presentation of several documents. However, police officials have now called his relatives in Adana and told them that he died."

The youth's body is being held in Erzurum Forensic Medicine Institution.

Remarking that Derviş was sent to Erzurum in order for his obstruction from receiving family support and legal assistance in Adana, the lawyer said; "Dılo Derviş had an opponent identity as a Kurdish citizen from Rojava. We are of the opinion that as a result of the tension and war policy executed in the Kurdish region, Derviş was murdered by police while in state custody, unarmed and unprotected; which counts an unacceptable case under war conditions even."

Pointing to claims that Derviş committed suicide, lawyer Berk said his death was suspicious, adding; “Even if he killed himself, this would be a result of an unlawful deprival of his freedom. In any case, the state has an indubitable responsibility and involvement. We demand an urgent explanation on what happened to Derviş, as well as exposure and punishment of those responsible for his death.”