Police officers, soldiers and village guards have been endowed with full authority to kill, especially after the declaration of the State of Emergency, by the AKP government and they are recklessly killing people in Northern Kurdistan. In these last couple of days, armored vehicles running over and killing civilians on the streets and the highways have occurred with increased frequency. In many of these incidents, the AKP mercenaries don’t even feel the need to stop and look at what happened. They are never arrested, they are never indicted. They are never even asked to give statements. In executions by armored vehicles, evidence is either tampered with in favor of the murderers or outright destroyed.

8 MURDERS IN 1 WEEK IN LİCE

The murders caused by armored vehicles in the last two days in Lice show how much the AKP forces have gone off the rails. 2 citizens lost their lives and 18 others were wounded when a midibus transporting special operations units hit a minibus on the Lice-Bingöl road on June 19. Their relatives were ran over by armored vehicles the day after, on their way back from the mourning ceremony of the murdered civilians. Mahmut Öner (74), Mevlüt Dağtaş (64), Abdulhamit Dağtaş (63), Fikri Demirbaş (53) and Zeynep Demirbaş (76) lost their lives when an armored vehicle hit them on their way back from the mourning, in Lice’s Fis plains.

In Lice, an old woman named Pakize Hazar on her way to collect her pension check from the district center on July 14 lost her life when an armored police vehicle ran her over in the middle of a street. The armored vehicle fled without waiting to see what happened. Hazar’s sister was forced to collect her body parts.

Also in Beytüşşebap yesterday, a military armored vehicle hit a car by the district entrance and 3 citizens were wounded.

25 LIVES TAKEN SINCE LAST JULY

Since last July when the State of Emergency was declared, police and military armored vehicles have caused the following deaths and wounds:

In Mardin’s Nusaybin district, on June 9, the armored vehicle transporting special operations police hit a motorcycle and M. Ş. B. (17) was seriously wounded. The child is still in the hospital, and one of his legs have been amputated below the knee.

In Van on April 28, one of the two civilians hit by a police vehicle was Sami Uçan, and he lost his life in the hospital. 7 people were wounded in the city by armored vehicles that week.

In Van city center on April 18, an armored vehicle hit two people on 2 Nisan Avenue. Abdulvahap Taş was seriously wounded, his lungs burst as a result of the impact and he lost consciousness. Taş stayed in the hospital for days.

In Karşıyaka neighborhood in Şırnak’s Silopi district on April 3, the panzer type police vehicle tore through the wall of a home. Brothers Muhammet (7) and Furkan (6) Yıldırım were sleeping in the room the vehicle burst into and they were killed. The courts didn’t arrest the perpetrators and the murder was dismissed as an “accident” and “fate”. Despite the fact that there were claims that the policemen were intoxicated as well as reckless.

In Diyarbakır’s Ofis district on March 29, a Kirpi type military armored vehicle hit the minibus waiting for passengers in the stop. 4 passengers were wounded. In April 2016, in the same spot, a Kirpi type military armored vehicle had hit Hatun Elhuman (55) trying to cross the street and Elhuman had lost her life.

In Şırnak’s İdil district on March 21, a civilian vehicle on its way to Cizre was hit by an Ejder type armored vehicle. Okan İnce, Bahadır Beyazlıoğlu and another unidentified man lost their lives in the incident.

In the police checkpoint on the Siirt-Batman road on March 3, Kerem Arslan (34) was ran over by an armored vehicle and lost his life. The vehicle was backing up and Arslan was on the phone at the time.

In Mardin’s Dargeçit district on February 9, Berfin Dilek (7) was going home from school when she was hit by an armored police vehicle. She lost her life.

In Cizre on October 24, 2016, Hakan Sarak (5) was playing on the street when he was ran over and killed by an armored police vehicle. The police who ran the boy over didn’t stop and fled the scene. Sarak bled to death.

In Yüksekova marketplace on October 8, 2016 a Kobra type armored vehicle opened fire on civilians. Citizens Aydın Tümen, Serhat Buldan, Rahmi Sefalı and Nejdet İşözü lost their lives in the shooting, and 2 others were wounded. The massacre caused outrage in the district. Later, the authorities claimed the armored vehicle’s gun had “jammed”.

In Dersim’s Seyid Rıza Square on September 6, 2016, a Kobra type armored vehicle ran over an old woman named Naciye Özdemir (71). The passersby surrounded the vehicle when it tried to flee and stayed there until the prosecutor came to the grounds. But this murder was also covered up later in the process.

In Hacıbekir (Xaçort) Neighborhood in Van’s central İpekyolu district on August 30, 2016, Mustafa Duman (17) was sitting in his yard when an armored vehicle randomly opened fire. One of the bullets hit Duman on the head and he was seriously wounded. He lost his life on September 7 while under treatment in the hospital.

In Van city center on July 24, 2016, 4 year old Taha Kılıç was ran over by a Kirpi type armored vehicle in front of the Ipekyolu District Security Directorate and lost his life. The family claimed the police intentionally murdered their son.

In Yüksekova on July 18, 2016, in Xirvatê (Büyükçiftlik) town, Sürmi İnce (55) was bringing breakfast for her children who were harvesting crops in the fields when she was shot at from an armored vehicle and died.