Turkish soldiers and police raided Ahmet Ataman’s home in Çelibibağı neighborhood in Van’s Erciş district in the middle of the night. The Ataman family stated that the house had been set on fire. Nurettin Ataman said his brother Ahmet Ataman and brother’s wife Hediye Ataman were inside the house and that Hediye Ataman’s burned body was retrieved from the house that was torn down with diggers in the morning.

PEOPLE WHO TRIED TO STOP IT WERE DETAINED

Reports say the soldiers and police entered the neighborhood at around 3.00 a.m., surrounded the house and opened fire, citing there were “PKK members inside”. The state forces didn’t allow anybody near the house and battered and detained Halit Ataman, Ömer Ataman, Suphi Ataman and Kamuran Yiğit, all relatives of Ahmet Ataman who came to the scene and tried to intervene.

“WE DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BROTHER”

Hediye Ataman’s body was retrieved from the rubble of the house torn down with diggers after the fire subsided in the morning. Nurettin Ataman said they couldn’t learn what happened to his brother, and that the police didn’t allow anybody near the house, and they battered and locked them up in a nearby house.